The White Man Cometh

Before the arrival of the white man, the estimated Kalapuya population numbered 15,000. The Santiam band of the Kalapuya inhabited the territory along the North and South Santiam Rivers and the Mill and Champoeg Creeks.

Missionaries & Klickitat Tribe

The Methodist missionaries arrived in 1834, followed by the Catholic missionaries in 1839.  Both welcomed new settlers.  And the settlers came. Unknowingly they destroyed the Kalapuya food sources by plowing tarweed, Camas fields and the prairies.  New crop species were planted.  Fences were erected, dividing plant gathering areas and preventing the use of fire to encourage the growth of traditional foods.  With disease and conflict, members of the Klickitat tribe, traditionally inhabiting Southern Washington, moved south into the Willamette Valley and inhabited the area from Rickreall in Polk County, south into Lane County.  By 1841, the population of the Kalapuya people was reduced to 600 individuals from epidemics of smallpox, measles, tuberculosis, malaria, influenza and pneumonia.

Reservations:  

In 1848, Oregon became a territory of the United States.  On November 9, 1855, President Franklin Pierce issued an order to form the Siletz Reservation for the Coast, Willamette and Umpqua tribes. On June 30, 1857, President James Buchanan signed an order to form the Grand Ronde Reservation. Some of the Kalapuya people were sent to the Siletz Reservation on the west side of the Coast Range, but most were sent to the Grand Ronde Reservation on the east side of the Coast Range near the Yamhill River.

When the Kalapuya arrived at the reservations, there were no shelters, food or supplies, despite government promises.  Soldiers took their weapons so they did not have the ability to hunt.  By 1880, only 351 Kalapuya Indians survived.  By 1910, only 130 were left to share about their culture and society, language, village life, basketry, medicines, clothing, trade, storytelling and spirituality.

To learn more:  Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, www.grandronde.org
                         Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, www.ctsi.nsn.us

Settlers:

The Railway: 

The Pacific Railway Act was approved by the U. S. Congress in 1862.  In 1866, the U.S. Congress bequeathed 3.7 million acres from the public domain to build a railroad from Portland to the California state line. During the spring of 1868 began the construction of the railroad connecting Oregon and California through the Oregon and California Railroad Company (O&C).  Under the guise of Ben Holladay, railroad workers including Chinese laborers extended the tracks from Portland to Oregon City in 1869, to Salem in 1870 and to Roseburg in 1872.

The working capital to construct the railroad included a 7% bond issue of $10.5 million, most of which was sold to German investors.  Unfortunately, the Oregon and California Railroad (O&C) experienced a nine-year hiatus due to lack of funds and near bankruptcy.  In 1881, the German bond holders sent Henry Villard who resumed construction southward.  Tracks entered Grants Pass in 1883, to Ashland in 1884 and connected with the Central Pacific at the Siskiyou Summit in 1887.  Under new management from the Southern Pacific Company, the line from Portland to San Francisco was completed in December of 1887.

As an incentive to foster development of the region, the state and federal governments granted the O&C a total of 3.7 million aces of land, most of which was scattered in a checkerboard pattern along a sixty-mile-wide strip of land from Portland to San Francisco.  The grant required that O&C sell the land to settlers for no more than $2.50 an acre in 160-acre tracts. Regrettably, timber speculators purchased large tracts of rich forestland for as much as $40/acre.  By 1904, The Oregonian newspaper reported that more than 75% of the land sales had violated federal law.  Newly elected President Theodore Roosevelt vowed to investigate the matter, which led to the “Oregon land fraud trials in 1904-1908” and the conviction of U.S. Senator John Mitchell, U.S. Congressmen John Williamson and Binger Hermann from Oregon, and Oregon State Senator Charles William Fulton. In total, over 1,000 politicians, businessmen, railroad executives, and others were indicted. Many were eventually tried and convicted on charges including fraud, bribery, and other corruption.

In 1915, 2.6 million acres of the original O&C lands were reclaimed by the federal government and are managed by the Bureau of Land Management under the U.S. Interior Department. 

 Railroad in Turner & Marion: 

The Oregon & California Railroad Company (O&C) incorporated on March 17, 1870 and held approximately 700 miles of standard gauge, steam operated railroad.  Much of its acquisition included the Oregon Central Rail Road (east side of the Willamette River), Oregon Central Railroad (west side), Western Oregon Railroad, Portland & Yamhill Railroad, Albany & Lebanon Railroad and Oregonian Railroad.  By 1872, the O&C Railroad extended from Portland to Roseburg, but along its way it created growth in isolated towns which soon emerged as freight and passenger stations.  These included Canby, Aurora, Harrisburg, Drain, Oakland and Yoncalla. 

In 1870-1871, O&C planned a train station to be located next to Mill Creek, southeast of Salem in Turner.  The materials shipped from East Portland to build the station were erroneously unloaded seven miles south of the intended location.  Rather than reshipping the materials, the decision was made to build a station in Marion and to build another station at Turner on Mill Creek.  Today the main railway track from Portland to California now bisects the Hunsaker homestead.

Turner.  “Four Donation Land Claims occupied the current city limits and the Delaney family were the first settlers.  The City of Turner was founded in 1871 when the Oregon & California Railroad passed through the area.  A rail station was constructed and named Turner in honor of Henry L. Turner a well-known pioneer and a flour mill owner in the area.  By 1878 Turner had a population of 70, a flour mill and two granaries. In the early 1900’s, Burkland Lumber Company was the dominate industry until it closed in 1974.” (from CityofTurner.org)
The City of Turner has a population of  2,284 (2018).

Marion:  “Marion Pickard donated land for the railroad at Marion in 1870 and the railroad was completed to Portland in 1871. The hotel, sawmill, tannery and livery stable was possibly on the east side of the tracks.  There was a grain elevator near the tracks, south of the depot.  The farmers from Scio hauled their grain by four horse teams to ship by train from here.  The livery stable cared for the teams and the drivers were made comfortable at the Hotel. At one time the railroad did more business in Marion than any other town in the Willamette valley with the exception of Salem.  All of the grain from Stayton, Scio, Lebanon and surrounding vicinities was brought to the three warehouses here.  Ovid Pickard, brother of Marion Pickard, remembers having seen one hundred four-horse team wagons standing in line to unload grain here.” (from: Willamette Heritage Center as reported by Margaret Jane Webb Davidson, 1882-1971; https://www.willametteheritage.org/ )
Marion is an unincorporated community with a population of 485 (2018).

Banner:
Source: Horace E. Scudder, A History of the United States of America (New York: Sheldon and Company, 1897) 275
Copyright © 2004–2020
From: ClipArt ETC, part of the Educational Technology Clearinghouse and is produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology, College of Education, University of South Florida, etc.usf.edu Retrieved November 30, 2020, from https://etc.usf.edu/clipart/14500/14569/west-train_14569.htm