We began the contract about the first of April and finished it near the end of May. I was compassman on substantially all the lines of the contract, while Mr. Elder wrote the field notes and made the plats.
I received a commission as a United States deputy surveyor, April 25, 1852, from John B. Preston, surveyor-general of Oregon.
As soon as the contract was completed we went to Oregon City, and Mr. Elder proposed that my name should be associated with his in a contract for subdivisions, so as to be able to obtain a contract of ten townships, instead of five, the number usually awarded to one deputy in a single contract.
I was to work for him and have charge of one party, while he would have charge of a second party. I agreed to this. The contract to Elder & Webster was dated June 8, 1852, and was for the subdivisions of townships 3 and 5 south range, 2 west; 1, 3, 4 and 5 south range, 3 west; and 2, 3, 4 and 5 south range, 4 west. This included all the townships, with two exceptions, of which we had made the surveys of the exterior lines, and included two townships in range 2 which had been surveyed by Deputy William Ives. The number of miles contained in the contract to be surveyed was estimated at 660. The subdivisions, or interior lines of a township, amount to about 60 miles, provided there are no streams or lakes to be measured. All streams considered navigable are measured on both sides.
In this contract were portions of the Willamette and the Yamhill Rivers, which were measured.
We left Oregon City on or about June 9th. We made up two parties. Mr. Elder managed one party and I the other. In my party were Henry S. Gile, from Alfred, Maine, a very intelligent man, who acted as one of my chainmen; James M. Fudge from Sangamon county, Illinois, also a very fine young man (he was killed by the explosion of a steamboat boiler a short distance above the falls at Oregon City, in the spring of 1854); Andrew Murphy, an intelligent Irish-American citizen from St. Louis, Mo.; and James O’Connor, as compassman. The last named was an inhabitant of Oregon, a young man. At this time I do not remember the names of Mr. Elder’s party with the exception of Matthew Murphy, a brother to Andrew, and who assisted Mr. Elder in the management of the compass before the contract was completed.
We had good working forces on this contract and consequently had a very pleasant time. I made considerably more than half of the surveys with my party.
We were engaged on this contract about four months, or until about the 8th of October, when we went to Oregon City and made up our field notes and plats, and returned them to the surveyor-general’s office. Mr. Elder paid me something more than $100 a month for my work.
My health had continued good all through the summer, until just previous to the time of finishing of the contract, when I was taken ill but managed to lead my party and do my work until the survey was completed.
After we went to Oregon City I did not improve. I procured some medicine once or twice from an English physician. Mr. Elder said I was afflicted with a fever of some kind, and I thought later that probably he was right. Be that as it may, I was quite sick for three or four weeks, although I was out more or less every day during the whole time. Finally, I began to improve, and about the first of December I had nearly recovered my usual good health.