History of Rainier
The
following history of Rainier, Oregon was published in the program for
Rainier Days in the Park 2008. It was originally written by Mrs. Grace
Reid, credited as Rainier's Oldest Living Pioneer. The exact date it was
written or originally published is not given, however some clues in the
text ("...as late as eighteen hundred and ninety, which is just
twenty-four years ago." and "...held in 1857, almost 60 years
ago.") date it to around 1914. I suspect it was first published in
the newspaper around that time, and may have been broken up into
segments and spread over several issues. There are a couple of editor's
notes included that seem to have been added much later, but are still
very out of date (i.e. The Rainier Mineral Soap Factory "is now owned
by the Rainier Union High School District; gift of the Rainier Women's
club.") appearing to have been added sometime between the 1920s and
1970s, suggesting that this history was republished at a later date, and
that it was this version that the Rainier Eagles copied for the 2008
Days in the Park program. A passage also seems to have been accidentally
left out of the second paragraph, presumably referring to Lewis & Clark.
Other portions may have been left out as well due to space limitations,
and there are several typos that I have tried to retain as I have know
way of knowing where they originated. Grace Reid lived at least into the
1920s, as Anna Zerzyke mentions in her
Story of Rainier 1805-1925
that Mrs. Reid "took an afternoon off" to help her gather information
about Rainier's schools.
As you read
this, keep in mind the historical context of the time it was written.
The First World War was just starting, if it had started at all. It had
only been about a decade since the Wright Brothers flew the first
airplane. Henry Ford had started his car company only a decade ago and
the now-famous Model T was only introduced about 4 years ago. Most
long-distance travel was still by riverboat, or by trains with steam
locomotives and wood-bodied passenger cars. The city of Longview,
Washington was still a decade away, and the land across the river where
it would be built was occupied by farms and a small town called
Freeport.
HISTORY
of
RAINIER
BY MRS. GRACE REID - RAINIER'S
OLDEST LIVING PIONEER
The theme of history of Rainier has been written several times but yet
it has never lost its interesting points for the old as well as the
young. Although for the present historian there remains no new or
exciting details.
Rainier is a thriving city on the Columbia River, between the ocean and
Oregon's largest city, Portland. Rainier is over a hundred years old and
when first founded it had a very promising outlook. If old legends
handed from generation to generation are reliable, the early eighteen
hundreds. They camped a few days under a large cotton wood tree near the
Rainier Mineral Soap Factory, at the foot of Washington Street. (ed.
note: the factory is now owned by the Rainier Union High School
District; gift of the Rainier Women's club).
From the time of Lewis & Clark's visit in the early eighteen hundreds up
to eighteen fifty we are unable to collect and records of events. From
that time on to the present date we are writing this history with the
aid of Mrs. George Moeck Sr. and the city recorder's book.
Rainier was founded in 1850. It was then home of the red man (better
known as the Indian) The Indians has a strong hatred of the whites or
Boston men as they termed them. In order that the whites could feel safe
they built a fort of large capacity just below the place where is now
the Columbia River Meat Company on Cleveland and Water Streets. (ed.
note: now perhaps near the Medical Dental bldg.).
There were two tribes of Indians around Rainier, the Cowlitz and the
Chinook. These Indians with the aid of others from the upper Columbia
has planned a massacre for the Lower Columbia Puget Sound country. But
instead of reaching this point as was first intended they crossed the
river at a point above St. Helens and turned up lewis River.
Consequently the Indians from the Lower Columbia were not in that raid.
The whites were too strong for the Indians around Rainier, so aside from
petty thievery they were of no trouble to the early settlers of our
city. Relics of the old fort were visible until the last twenty years.
It is said to have been a very beautiful piece of work. It was made of
large fir logs stood on end, were from forty to fifty feet in height
with a platform all around the top for sentinel.
Rainier was also the head of deep water navigation. The vessels that
sailed the ocean never went beyond this point, and until the Northern
Pacific Railroad put a ferry across the river at Kalama this was also
the place where the transportation across the river for points in Canada
and Northern Washington was carried on. The people that crossed here
used to meet passengers was by batteaux, large flat boats on the plan of
a scow. This boat was propelled by six or eight stalwart men, and in
order that they could keep stroke with one another they used to sing a
pecular chant.
Rainier's first industry was a trading post, people for miles on both
sides of the Columbia came to Rainier to buy and sell their produces and
supplies. This business has been kept up pretty briskly to the present
time.
In eighteen hundred and sixty there were several stores, boarding
houses, two hotels, a church, schoolhouse, dwellings and sawmill of
which not a thing is left to bring back recollections. For in eighteen
hundred and sixty one and two there was a sever winter which demoralized
business to such an extent the Mr. Minear and his followers left Rainier
and moved to The Dalles, Oregon. The winter lasted until late spring and
consequently everything was spoiled by late planting of crops. In the
early days, if man had milled sawed lumber, he always moved it with him
if he happened to move from one locality to another. But it was seldom
that a settler moved after once getting a home started, because it cost
considerable to travel in that time. When Mr. Minear left, he left
Rainier, a desserted village. In nineteen hundred and thirteen Mr.
Minear's first home in Rainier was destroyed, on order that Joseph Silva
might erect four up to date cottages on New Bedford Street.
Mr. Blanchard came to Rainier in the fall of eighteen hundred and sixty
four. All that remains now of Rainier when Mr. Blanchard came are the
old mill and store on Water and Cowlitz Street and the home of Mrs. S.
W. Dibblee on Commercial, between the New Bedford and Virginia Street.
If the builder and former owner of Mrs. Dibblee's home could revisit
this old home he would be unable to recognize the place, on account of
the street improvements and the alterations of the house. In later years
Blanchard bought land from Dobbins, Fox, Warren and Harris donation land
claims and from that time on there has been a new era for the city of
Rainier. When Mr. Blanchard arrived there were a tribe of Cowlitz
Indians on the eastern part of the town, and a tribe of Chinook Indians
on the western part. There were Indians here as late as eighteen hundred
and ninety, which is just twenty four years ago.
C. E. Fox, James Dobbins, John Harris and F. M. Warren were earliest
land holder of this section of the country. All four of these men came
to Rainier in or about the year 1850.
C. E. Fox had what is now known as Rainier proper, which originally
consisted of 24 acres, but he owned three hundred and twenty acres,
which was bounded on the north by the Columbia River, on the east by
Washington Street, but Rainier proper is bounded on the north by the
Columbia River, on the east by Washington Street, on the south by Union
Street and on the west by Harrison Street.
James Dobbins donation land claim lies west of C. E. Fox's and runs west
along the river to Dibblee Stock Ranch. F. M. Warren's property lies
east of the Fox Donation Land claim and up he river the the Thayer
place. The John Harris land claim is between the Fox and Harris Donation
land claims.
Of small incidentals that happened from 1850 up until the incorporation
of our beautiful city on the Columbia is that: C. E. Fox and wife were
the first with people to be married on this part of the country. Dean
Blanchard had the first general store; M. S. Ladd founded the Ladd
Tilton Bank, Portland, Ore had the first saloon; it is said that this
western country of ours, fifty years ago was the hiding place of
fugitives from the east and other countries.
In the days of our ancestors, the only time that they had time for
pleasure or to gather for social chats when there happened to be a
wedding, a funeral or maybe a religious service, now they never had many
of these doings so you can see how much better and easier ways we have
of the present day in bringing one another in to close friendship. We
have Ladies, Aides, Gentlemen's Smokers and tangoe teas. But never the
less whenever anything of note happened in the early days everybody
turned out to see what was being done by his fellow beings.
The first Fourth of July held in this part of Oregon was held in
Rainier, on the Methodist church property, now owned by Mr. and Mrs. A.
L. Clark. This great celebration was held in 1857, almost 60 years ago.
All the patriotic people from as far up the river as St. Helens and as
far down the river as Cathlamet came to Rainier to have part on the
great glorious Fourth of July.
Although Rainier was founded in early 1850, it was not incorporated
until 1885, that is the part bounded on the north by the Columbia River,
on the east by Washington st., on the south by Union Street and on west
by Harrison. The corporation papers were issued on November 25 and
reached Rainier sometime during the following year. The first town and
state election was held in the Blanchard and Muckles store which stands
on the corner of Cowlitz and Water Street. The result of the election
was that Dean Blanchard, Joseph Silva, Merritt Pomerya and Enos Eston
were elected first trustees of the city of Rainier.
Since incorporation of Rainier there has been quite a change in business
and appearance of the town. Instead of having a population of 100, they
now have about 2,000 and instead of 15 voters as shown by the
registration book, there are close to 1,400 voters in Rainier now. Where
there used to be large knolls and plenty of not to many mud holes there
are now Macadam streets. We also have a municipal water and sewage
system, while the Oregon Washington corporation is supplying us with
electric and last but not least of all the North Bank Railroad are
preparing plans to electrify the railroad between Clatskanie and
Rainier.
Now for a few closing remarks and a few more comparisons. Stop a moment
and think how our ancestors were compelled to travel, is was a case of
sail, swim, walk, cantor or ride horse back or stay home and wonder what
your neighbor was doing. I say neighbor because if you lived thirty
miles away you were considered a neighbor. But as I was saying when
something of interest was going to happen they usually went. Regardless
of the sneaking Indians and the difficulty of traveling. If the people
of today do not have plush cushions on the train seats, automobiles,
speed boats, automatic elevators and a policeman or two in each street
corner they began to complain about the hard mode of travel, in a few
years from now everybody will have to have an aeroplane or do more
complaining. From holding conversations with the old settlers they say
that the people of today hardly enjoy themselves as much as the pioneer
that crossed the plains in a crude wagon with no spring and drawn by
oxen, and Indians always watching for a chance to attack them. I was
also told that those who traveled in their prairie schooner felt better
than the millionaire who travels in his private car.
In closing, I would like to note that since 1914,
Rainier's population has not seen significant growth and nothing ever
came of the "plans to electrify the railroad between Clatskanie and
Rainier." I also wonder what was considered a "speed boat" in 1914, and
if Rainier had automatic elevators and two policemen in every block at
the time, and I am surprised that even back in 1914, when flying was
still so new that scheduled air mail hadn't been established yet, people
were already thinking that someday everyone would have their own
airplane.
Go back to
PLACES - Rainier,
Oregon
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