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John P. Walker house--one of the
few remaining homes in Ashland that reflect its early settlement,
before the boom brought by the railroad
Photograph by Terry Skibby |
The original Oregon Trail to the Willamette Valley was extremely
hazardous and in 1846 Jesse Applegate led a small group of trailblazers
in search of a southern route that did not require facing the challenge
of the mighty Columbia River where so many pioneers had perished.
The Applegate Trail, also known as South Emigrant Road, they opened
up was indeed a safer way that traversed the Rogue River Valley.
Applegate and his companions did not linger, however, but returned
to the Willamette Valley settlements they already knew. This situation
would soon change as a result of federal legislation and gold fever.
The Donation Land Law, passed in 1850, provided public land to
settlers in the Oregon Territory. It allowed a single male settler
to claim 320 acres and a married couple 640 acres (half to be held
by the wife). A Donation Land Claim could be filed by any citizen
of the United States who had declared intentions before December
1, 1850, and who had resided on and cultivated the land for four
consecutive years. Long before the railroad brought prosperity to
Ashland, encouraged by this federal legislation, the earliest European
settlers in the Ashland area came seeking agricultural land. Although
most of their original homes are gone now, the John
P. Walker House remains as a reminder of those days. The 1849
California Gold Rush boom moved north and when gold was discovered
in Jackson County, miners came, along with the businesses to support
them.
One of the mills built near the Plaza, displaying the earliest
name for the town--Ashland Mills
Courtesy of The Terry Skibby Collection |
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At first Ashland, like so many western towns, was an all-male enclave.
Robert Hargadine and Abel Helman filed the first Donation Land Claims.
Helman had mined in California with Eber Emery; together they built
the first sawmill in the valley, powered by water from Ashland Creek.
After becoming satisfied with the prospects they found here, men with
families in the east returned to bring them to Ashland. In April 1853,
Isaac Hill brought his family overland by wagon. His wife Elizabeth
was the first white woman to arrive--soon to be joined by others in
a familiar pattern of western settlement.
Because of Ashland's
proximity to water power beside Ashland Creek, among the town's
first enterprises was milling. The lumber, woolen, and flour mills
built near today's Plaza accounted for the town's being designated
as "Ashland Mills" when the first post office was established in
1855. The Plaza also was conveniently close to the Stage Road (as
today's Main Street was then called). This meant that supply wagons
had easy access to the north-south route also used by passenger
stage coaches.
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W. H. Atkinson and Isaac Woolen
Houses, c.1881-- homes of Ashland families during its transformation
from small farming center to central business community
From the National Register collection |
Soon the hills above Ashland became dotted with orchards as nurserymen
came to explore the possibility of growing different kinds of fruit
in this climate. Perhaps the experience of Orlando Coolidge best exemplifies
this endeavor. In 1866 Coolidge, who had established the first plant
nursery in Jackson County in 1862, planted acres of almonds in the
hills above town. Although pears eventually became the fruit of choice
in this climate, the Orlando Coolidge House
(one of the mansions at the north end of historic Ashland known locally
as "The Three Sisters") stands as a monument to his success. The other
two adjoining residences, The Isaac Woolen House
and The W. H. Atkinson House, were homes of
families active in the years during which Ashland changed from a small
farming supply center to a functioning business and cultural community,
supporting churches, a bank, and a newspaper.
Early settlers in the west depended upon fraternal orders to provide
social activity and a sense of community; they acted as burial societies
as well (part of Mountain View Cemetery was
developed by the Independent Order of Oddfellows). In Ashland one
of the outstanding examples of the buildings constructed by fraternal
groups to house their activities is the hall of the Independent
Order of Oddfellows (IOOF Building), begun
in 1879.
Ashland Cemetery, the oldest in the city
Photograph by Terry Skibby |
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Although most of the homes they constructed are no longer standing,
the early pioneers provided for the burial of their dead and Ashland
has three historical cemeteries. The oldest, Ashland
Cemetery, has burials dating from 1860, while many prominent early
settlers also rest in Hargadine Cemetery.
There were 854 people living in Ashland on September 28, 1880,
when stage coaches carrying President and Mrs. Rutherford B. Hayes,
General William Tecumseh Sherman, and party made a brief stop in
Ashland. The crowd of 2000 listened to speeches and then watched
four small girls present a tray of Ashland-grown peaches, pears,
apples, plums, grapes, blackberries, almonds, and figs. Orlando
Coolidge had planted well.
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