By the first of May the machinery was in place, and everything was in running order. Cloth bearing the name of "Hardtimes" was produced, and the first blankets ever made west of the Rocky Mountains were sold at auction. The first pair went to Mr. Watt for $110, and the others brought $75 to $25. At first all the product that could be turned out found a ready market; competition, however, soon set in and the managers of the mill were undecided what course to pursue. Unwilling to discontinue the enterprise Watt was consulted, and agreed to take the entire product of the mill for a period of three years at a fixed price. By an aggressive process of advertising, in which he personally carried the goods into all the important places along the line of the old Holladay stage route, both in Oregon and California, a market was created for the goods. In three months after the agreement had been made the managers of the mill were willing to give a large consideration in return for a relinquishment of his contract. The goods found such ready market that the building and machinery were doubled. Prices continued to rise; debts were paid off; the value of the stock rose; a gristmill was built by the company; the race through the town constructed, and salaries of officials were raised "as high as their consciences would allow them to take." A woolen fever began to spread through the country. Mills were built at Oregon City, Brownsville, and Ellendale. This was the period of greatest prosperity. Conditions changed, but Watt was not then connected with the business. Divisions had arisen among the stockholders of the company, and Watt had disposed of his stock in 1866, when it sold for a value of $800 per share. He continued to be interested in sheep to the close of his life, and large flocks of the finest breeds were kept on his farm under the care of a Scotch herder employed for the special purpose. He was ever interested in furthering the sheep industry in other parts of Oregon, and it was partly through his influence that sheep were first placed upon the ranges of eastern Oregon.
But the dreams of the dreamer broadened as time passed. In 1866, when divisions led to his withdrawal from the woolen mill, the crop of wheat in the valley was unusually large. The wheat industry had been increasing for years. Oregon was rapidly passing from the fur trading and pastoral stages of industrial life to that of agriculture. With an ever-increasing supply the market was restricted, and here was a problem to attract the mind of Watt. Shipments of wheat were made to California, but the markets beyond had tempted only the most daring. One line of steamers had been established between Portland and New York and four or five vessels had been drawn into the trade. The Sally Brown was the first to make the trial and Watt was the man who gathered up the cargo which she carried from the wheat fields of the Willamette. Ever in the van through life Watt conceived the idea that a cargo of wheat could be sent to Liverpool, the market of the world. With him to think was to act, and in 1868 he went through the valley gathering wheat for the first cargo to the greatest wheat market in existence. It was an adventure in magnitude exceeding anything that he had tried before. Failure would mean a heavy loss, and success would usher in a new day for the industrial life of Oregon. The cargo was gathered and the vessel set forth on the long voyage. The destination was reached and the grain inspected. It was unlike any that had ever been seen before on the docks of the great market. The inspectors had never seen kernels of wheat so large. The decision was pronounced that it could not be right, and the whole cargo was condemned as water soaked and unfit for the market. The loss fell heavily upon the consignor of the cargo, but a beginning had been made that was destined to grow until Oregon's industrial isolation should be ended.
In closing this paper it requires but a few words to sum up the chief characteristics of Joseph Watt. He is best seen in the narration of his life. Ever engaged in enterprises that were ahead of his time, he belonged to the vanguard of industrial development in Oregon. Ever a dreamer, he met with heavy reverses but yet retained a competence sufficient for a comfortable old age. Independent and genuine in his character, there was no cant in his make-up. One of the company of kindred spirits that includes the names of Nesmith, Matthieu, Clark, Boise, Minto, Crawford, and others, his company was always appreciated, for he was genial and sociable in disposition. By the Indians he was loved, and they gathered about him at his home in Yamhill as they would about no other. Deeply interested in all that pertained to Oregon, he was truly one of her benefactors. Always loyal to the early state builders, he conducted a party of them in an excursion to the East when the railroad connection was completed. Always deeply interested in the Pioneer Association, Watt was its president for a time and rarely was absent from its meetings. By gift from his widow the author of this paper has deposited in the vaults of the Oregon Historical Society the little book in which he kept the names of the members in their own handwriting. It is worn and soiled through frequent use, but it will ever be a valuable reminder of the earliest of our state builders, as well as a reminder of him whom the author has chosen to designate as a "pioneer captain of industry in Oregon."
JAMES R. ROBERTSON.
DOCUMENTS.
TWO WHITMAN SOURCES.
Correspondence to the New York Spectator which describes Doctor Whitman as a passenger on board the steamer Narraganset on Long Island Sound. Doctor Whitman is on his way from New York to Boston.
Editorial from the New York Daily Tribune of March 29, 1843.
ARRIVAL FROM OREGON.