The mistake of the builders of Portland was in not reserving the river front for a levee. The approach to the city is rendered unsightly by the ugly rears of stores and warehouses, and by the peculiar appearance of the two-storied wharves, constructed for convenience of landing during extreme high and low water. Without these unpleasant feature*, Portland would present from the river a very attractive picture.
The site of Portland was first taken up in 1843 by a man named Overton,—a Tennesseean,—who sold his claim the following year to Messrs. Lovejoy and Pettygrove, who erected a log-house at the foot of what is now Washington Street, and began to clear the land, which was surveyed into lots and blocks in 1845. A second building for a store was erected that winter, near the first one. It was not, like the dwelling, of logs, but a frame covered with shingles, and went by the name of the "Shingle Store" long after more ambitious competitors had arisen.
The growth of the embryo town was by no means rapid, as the year of its "taking up" witnessed the first considerable immigration to Oregon. Of these one thousand immigrants, a few stopped in Oregon City, the recognized capital of the Territory, and the remainder scattered over the fertile plains, in quest of the mile square of land for which they had come to this far-off country. The same continued to be true of the steadily-increasing immigration of the following years; so that it was not until 1848 that Portland attained to the dignity of a name.
Of the two owners, one, Mr. Pettygrove, was from Maine, and desired the bantling to be called after the chief town of his native State. With the same laudable State love, Mr. Lovejoy, who was from Massachusetts, insisted on calling the town Boston. To end the dispute a penny was tossed up, and, Mr. Pettygrove winning, the future city was christened Portland. When it is taken into consideration that Portland, Maine, is nearly two degrees'farther south than Portland, Oregon, and that roses are blossoming in the gardens of the latter, while snow lies white and winter winds whistle over the leafless gardens of the former, the older city has no occasion to feel concerned for the comfort of its godchild.
