ent direction for a road to the interior,[1] which was compelled to return without effecting its object. Port Orford, however, received the encouragement and assistance of government officials, including the coast survey officers and military men,[2] and throve in consequence. Troops were stationed there,[3] and before the close of the year the work of surveying a military road was begun by Lieutenant Williamson, of the topographical engineers, with an escort of dragoons from Casey's command at Port Orford. Several families had also joined the settlement, about half a dozen dwelling houses having been erected for their accommodation.[4] The troops were quartered in nine log buildings half a mile from the town.[5] A permanent route to the mines was not adopted, however, until late the following year.
Casey's command having returned to Benicia about the 1st of December, in January following the schooner Captain Lincoln, Naghel master, was despatched to Port Orford from San Francisco with troops and
- ↑ Or. Statesman, Nov. 4, 1851.
- ↑ Probably stories like the following had their effect: 'Port Orford has recently been ascertained to be one of the very best harbors on the Pacific coast, accessible to the largest class of vessels, and situated at a convenient intermediate point between the Umpqua and Rogue Rivers.' Rept. of Gen. Hitchcock, in 32d Cong., 1st Sess., H. Ex. Doc. 2, 149; S. F. Alta, July 13th and Sept. 14, 1852.
- ↑ Lieutenant Kautz, of the rifles, with 20 men stationed at Astoria, was ordered to Port Orford in August, at the instance of Tichenor, where a post was to be established for the protection of the miners in Rogue River Valley, which was represented to be but 35 miles distant from this place. After the massacre on the Coquille, Col. Casey, of the 2d infantry, was despatched from San Francisco with portions of three dragoon companies, arriving at Port Orford on the 22d of October.
- ↑ Saint Amant, 41–2, 144; Or. Spectator, Dec. 16, 1851.
- ↑ 32d Cong., 2d Sess., H. Ex. Doc. 1, pt. ii. 105–6; S. F. Herald, Nov. 8, 1852.
Williams' wounds except that in the abdomen healed readily. That discharged for a year. In four years the arrow-head had worked itself out, but not until the seventh year did the broken shaft follow it. Davenport, like Hedden, was unhurt, but wandered starving in the mountains many days before reaching a settlement. Williams was born in Vermont, and came to the Pacific coast in 1850. He made his home at Ashland, enjoying the respect of his fellow-men, combining in his manner the peculiarities of the border with those of a thorough and competent business man. Portland West Shore, June 18, 1878.
