way interferes with our property, order him off and if he refuses make it rough for him." 52
and again, a month later, more mildly, perhaps:
"I understand the new railroad company recently or- ganized in Portland for the purpose of appropriating the company's road at the Cascades are about to send a party up to make a regular survey. They will probably go up this week. I wish you to collect toll from each one if they cross Tooth bridge. Don't fail in this. You will also order them not to survey the road occupied by us. This is all I want you to do. If they persist in the face of all this, let them go ahead but never give possession." 53
In December, 1869, three years after the above episodes, the Chapman company, after filing amended or supple- mentary articles of incorporation 54 extending the project to include a line from Portland to The Dalles, filed suit in Multnomah County, Oregon, for condemnation of a right of way over the Oregon Portage, alleging disuse by the owner of the property. The Oregon Steam Naviga- tion Company denying the allegation, the jury visited the spot and decided that the defendant was entitled to a verdict. 55
After two years more, in August, 1871, after the in- corporation of his expanded project, the Portland, Dalles and Salt Lake, Chapman tried again to obtain the coveted strip of land. He offered the Navigation Company $500 for sixty feet of right of way four and a half miles long, and was of course refused. Then he went into court to obtain his dues. The suit was not pressed, and only came to trial on June 12, 1873. The jury, like the former one, went to the Cascades to view the premises, and when their verdict was given it required a payment for the desired strip of ten thousand dollars and costs. 56
52 Letter J. C . Ainsworth to Joseph Bailey, December 20, 1866. 53 Letter J. C. Ainsworth to Joseph Bailey, January 20, 1867. 54 Oregon Daily Herald, November 7, 1869 . 65 Portland Daily Oregonian, December 7; December 14, 1869 . 56 Portland Daily Oregonian, August 12, 1871; July 15, 1873; June 19, 1873.
