The Boone Society, Inc. Family Reunion will be held in Wilsonville, OR July 31- August 3rd. and what a program is planned! Two full days will be devoted to touring this historic and stunningly beautiful area! Included on the agenda are the Columbia River Gorge, Mt. Hood, Barlow Road (part of the famous Oregon Trail), Multnomah Falls, the Oregon Coast and Salem, the state capitol. Of course many Boone sites will be visited and observed. For additional information, registration, reservations, etc., go to the Boone Society, Inc. web site at <A HREF="http://www.boonesociety.org/">Boone Society Home Page</A> or <http://www.boonesociety.org/>. Geraldine Ingersoll, Director and Membership Committee Chair The Boone Society, Inc.

Each night, when it came time to camp, the lead wagon would swing out and around, the others following in turn, till the very last wagon had become a part of the completed circle. Then at a given signal each driver would stop his team. They were always quite ready and willing to stop when the day's travel was done. Each wagon came into position so that its tongue rested against the wagon just ahead, the lead wagon stopping just behind the one that had been last in the line during the day's march. Then the tents were pitched within the big circle and a guard fire was kindled in the very center. I think of it now as a queer place for a guard fire. One night in the wee hours, when everything was as quiet as a prairie night could be, everyone was brought to his feet by the bang of a big musket. On the still night air, it sounded like a cannon. Hearts pounded, women and children screamed and cried, men scrambled in the darkness for boots and guns. We were in a bad Indian country and Indians, it undoubtedly was. Everyone waited for the answering volley or rain of arrows. The camp was in an uproar before the sound had died away. Every man and boy, who owned a gun held it cocked and ready. Women and children were told to get behind whatever protection they could find. We waited, But nothing happened except what had already happen to Zander's old black mule. He had somehow slipped his tether rope and being sociably inclined had attempted to join the group around the guard fire. A lad on guard, seeing the poor blundering fellow, had mistaken him for an Indian and shot him square between the eyes, when he failed to answer the challenge. The gentle old beast had crumpled in his tracks without making a sound. Zanders was furiously angry, but no one was sorry for him. He was as mean as a man could be and no one liked him. No one was sorry for the old mule, for Zanders was cruel to everything that belonged to him. our men had already had trouble with him. He was arbitrary and quarrelsome. Walt Davies Monmouth, OR

Hi Listers Great weather summaries here http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/Portland/climate/ Last Year's City Summaries: Astoria , Eugene, Portland, Salem Portland Monthly Summary is now CURRENT... Yesterday's City Summaries: Astoria, Burns, Eugene, Medford, Pendleton, Portland, Salem Last Month's City Summaries: Astoria, Burns, Eugene, Medford, Pendleton, Portland, Salem Laura

Here's something to consider (which I occasionally point out to my students): The First Transcontinenal was completed May 10, 1869. The First Moon Landing was completed July 20, 1969. About 100 years, 10 weeks. ---BW Bob Wier mailto:wierb@rocky.edu 11:59 PM MST Sunday, March 17, 2002 Rocky Mountain College, Billings MT. Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus

Hi all: I'm looking for anyone with this couple in their family tree. They are on the 1847 Oregon Trail list, but I have conflicting data in the place and dates of some of their children. Good hunting, Cecil Cecil Houk, ET1 USN Ret., AG6I PO Box 530833 San Diego CA 92153 res San Diego CA 92154-3654 NEW EMAIL ADDRESS mailto:cchouk@cox.net ANDERSON-BLAKELY-EGGERS-FORD-HOUK-KIMSEY-MONTGOMERY-RULAFORD-SIMPSON Searchable GEDCOM: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/~cchouk See also: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/~donhouk My Web pages menu: http://members.cox.net/cchouk/

Somewhere near the crossing of the North Platte, we camped at a place called Soap Springs. It was a boggy place. Old Mr. Mills stepped into a sink hole and, as he said: "went in up to his hat band." Niniva Ford's big black ox blundered into one during the night. In the morning he was found and pulled out before Niniva was up. He was covered, all but his head, with the thick blue mud. Niniva made a great fuss when he could not find his big black ox. Everyone else "hook up." There was a lone blue ox grassing about that no one seemed to claim. Niniva was asked if it were not his. He said: "No my ox is black." Finally he was advised to take it anyway, the owner perhaps had yoked up the black ox by mistake. There seemed nothing else to do, so Niniva, mad as a hornet, went out to catch the ox, while everyone looked on and laughed. After a while Niniva laughed about it too, but he did not at first. He was still too mad at the man that he thought had taken his big black ox. If you have ever wondered who started the story about Paul Bunyun and his big Blue Ox then think about this true story of Cecils family. Walt Davies Monmouth, OR

Hello Listers --- I remember the Vanport Flood, but not from an adult viewpoint. I was 7 years old at the time. My father Arnie Gabriel was a fireman with the Portland Fire Department at the time and I remember the smell. He had to go work with the sand bags. I am sure he did more but that is what I was told. I remember my mother Alice, telling him to go to the garage to change clothes. The smell stayed with us for a long time. I have enjoyed reading about it thank you all for sharing. Jo Gabriel Slingerland

Joan and all the others: This site about the Columbia Slough and Vanport reminded me that I have been "in" the Columbia Slough. In 1957 I was a senior in high school and work in the TV shop of Harold Ellsworth. His shop was on NE Broadway just a few blocks from my school (US Grant Hi). Harold built a cartop boat, and I went with him for the maiden voyage. Dear Harold made two serious mistakes when he made that boat. The controls for throttle and stearing were backwards! We put the boat in the water and pushed off. He started the engine..... We went about 10 feet before the boat turned over and dumped us in the water. This happened VERY fast. The only thing we lost was the bag of hamburgers that was to be our lunch out on the Columbia River. I never again went "swimming" with Harold. Cecil mailto:cchouk@cox.net ----- Original Message ----- From: "crystalwoman" <crystalwoman@montana.com> To: <OREGON-TRAIL-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, March 16, 2002 4:36 PM Subject: the Vanport site was excellent > jim: > > Thank you thank you so much for aiding me in getting more history on where > my mother lived and worked during WW11 while welding on the ships there in > the shipyards..... > > The site you sent me to is excellent: > http://ccrh.org/comm/slough/vpconstruc.htm > > Happy Trails, Joan > > Also, visit my 4 personal home pages on spirituality and genealogy: > http://www.geocities.com/crystalwoman_2000/roots.html > crystalwoman@montana.com > >

jim: Thank you thank you so much for aiding me in getting more history on where my mother lived and worked during WW11 while welding on the ships there in the shipyards..... The site you sent me to is excellent: http://ccrh.org/comm/slough/vpconstruc.htm Happy Trails, Joan Also, visit my 4 personal home pages on spirituality and genealogy: http://www.geocities.com/crystalwoman_2000/roots.html crystalwoman@montana.com

Amazing you ask, as my husband and i were saying only today mom is fortunate to be healthy in that way and alive at 76 y.o. Even though she did the work for 2 yrs, she could have gotten that yes, as they put her in the pipes(and they did not have proper ventilation back then) since she was only 98 lbs and she would weld in those tough areas. Happy Trails, Joan *_~ Also, visit my 4 personal home pages on spirituality and genealogy: http://www.geocities.com/crystalwoman_2000/roots.html crystalwoman@montana.com > Sharon, let me add one more thing... > A lot of the people died of lung-cancer from the asbestos that was used abundantly at the shipyards during that time. > Was your mother spared that lung disease? > Doneva

Hi- Thanks for your reply, however: A few people now have confirmed to me that my mom (now 76 y.o.) having said she lived in Vancouver City OR was most likely meaning Vanport OR (which is a combination name of Vancouver and Portland OR) Mom mostly said she lived in Portland OR as a teenager when she worked in the Kaiser shipyard there and they were hard workers and long hours and their different shifts would make record times in building ships for the Navy to use in WW11...she would be so tired mostly that she slept when in the house or worked in the shipyard, doing nothing else except writing letters home to her boyfriend(later my dad) and her mom and aunt in Brooklyn NY. Anyway, the houses(not apt bldgs) were in a housing project built for people working in the shipyard building ships for WW11(from ca.1941-1945) All the houses were plainly built and without insulation, decoration, or overhangs, as well as no foundations i have now been told. When it flooded that Sunday a.m., the houses which were just sitting on concrete and not anchored down easily floated away..... Happy Trails, Joan *_~ > Hi, > Perhaps Vancouver City was on the Washington side of the Columbia River > (near where Vancouver is today) and it also was washed away when Vanport was > flooded in 1948. > My husband's older sister lived in Vanport when very young and I have seen > photos. It was a large "town" made up of apartment buildings. They may not > have been expensive or elaborate, but it definitely was NOT what comes to > mind when the word "shantytown" is used. Just had to include my opinion! :) > > Sharon Foree > S_Foree@Prodigy.net > >

Marthy Jane and I were close friends till we were grown, till she married Ephraim. Then after a time we lost each other, for Ephraim. had never liked me. I do not remember why, it may possibly have been because I have never really like Ephraim. He was the younger brother of Niniva Ford and Niniva was always good to me. When we were on the plains I liked to ride with him. He drove a big covered "hack" and it was very nice in there on the cushioned spring seats. Sometimes "Ephy" drove. He did not ask me to ride with him, but he liked little Mary Ayers and used to take her in the front seat with him. She was a nice little thing and I liked her, but I did something that I have always been sorry for. Prickly pears are all that their names imply, some of them even more than that. One day I found one that had so many thorns that there was hardly room for another. Mary was riding with Ephraim. As they passed where I was trudging along, kicking up dust with my bare feet and acting as though I'd much rather walk than not, I reached up the prickly pear to Mary and not understanding exactly what it was, she caught at it and filled her hand with the ugly thorns. Ephy took them out and disliked me more than ever.I do not know why I did it. I had no malice toward Mary and I had no desire to ride with Ephraim., for I did not like him. I suppose it just happened without any special reason. Things did sometimes. Mother, who neither especially liked Mary or disliked Ephraim., spanked me soundly. I have always regretted it, the prickly pear, not the spanking. I'd had so many spankings that one more or less didn't really matter. Mary has been gone many years and I am still ashamed and sorry about the prickly pear. Walt Davies Monmouth, OR

My ggrandparents, Charles and Roseann (Echelberger) Hill came to Oregon to visit friends in 1875 by train from Nebraska. For some reason, they chose to go home by wagon, along the Oregon Trail. I have the hand-written original journal of that trip home from south of Eugene to Portland, and east to York County, Nebraska, where Charles was one of the (or the) first settler after the Civil War. They ended up with 13 kids, and in 1924, their next to youngest, Mabel, and her husband, Floyd Masters, and their 6 six kids plus Floyd's mother, "Mother Masters" (Laura Haney Masters) in an automobile! - Diane Wagner diwag@attbi.com

Hi Gang: For the record Ephraim Ford married Martha Jane Garrison 27 FEB 1851 in Yamhill Co., OR. Nineveh Ford married Martha Jane Simpson 15 JUN 1848 in Marion Co., OR. I don't know if any of Ephraim's descendants are still living, but several of Nineveh's are. Cecil Cecil Houk, ET1 USN Ret., AG6I PO Box 530833 San Diego CA 92153 res San Diego CA 92154-3654 NEW EMAIL ADDRESS mailto:cchouk@cox.net ANDERSON-BLAKELY-EGGERS-FORD-HOUK-KIMSEY-MONTGOMERY-RULAFORD-SIMPSON Searchable GEDCOM: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/~cchouk See also: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/~donhouk My Web pages menu: http://members.cox.net/cchouk/ ----- Original Message ----- From: DaviesWalt@cs.com To: cchouk@cox.net ; or-roots@sosinet.sos.state.or.us ; OREGON-TRAIL-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Saturday, March 16, 2002 12:15 PM Subject: [or-roots] Aunt Charlotte's Book ( Nineveh and Ephraim Ford) Marthy Jane and I were close friends till we were grown, till she married Ephraim. Then after a time we lost each other, for Ephraim. had never liked me. I do not remember why, it may possibly have been because I have never really like Ephraim. He was the younger brother of Niniva Ford and Niniva was always good to me. When we were on the plains I liked to ride with him. He drove a big covered "hack" and it was very nice in there on the cushioned spring seats.

Thanks again...so much. I will do that also... Joan *_~ Also, visit my 4 personal home pages on spirituality and genealogy: http://www.geocities.com/crystalwoman_2000/roots.html crystalwoman@montana.com > The Center for Columbia River History at PSU has an interesting piece > on the Columbia River Slough at http://ccrh.org/comm/slough/table.htm > . If you follow the entire strand by pressing the salmon icon every > time you get an excellent history of the area between North Portland > and Vancouver. Loaded with photos and sound clips. About 5 pages on > Vanport (building, living, the flood). > > Or you can do a Google search for Vanport Flood. > > jim

Thank you for helping me use the correct historical data for my own personal history notes. I am glad someone brought this flood up. Also, your talking of trains and the Golden Spike. We live about 9 mi East of where the Golden Spike is here in rural MT.(it is right beside the Burlington Northern tracks of today) Happy Trails, Joan *_~ Also, visit my 4 personal home pages on spirituality and genealogy: http://www.geocities.com/crystalwoman_2000/roots.html crystalwoman@montana.com > There never was a Vancouver City, OR. She is using that name to > describe Vanport. This can be explained by the naming of Vanport > instead of Vancouver-Portland City. > > It was Kaiser's son's project, was Oregon's second l;argest city, and > it washed away in one Sunday morning. > > jim

My great grandfather came west by wagon train about 1863 or 1864. But he worked on the railroads after reaching Oregon then left Oregon about 1868 for CA. Maybe that will help date trains a little. Marlene

Information has been passed down about the Albert & Nettie (READ) BROWNELL family's move to Oregon in 1884 by train from their home in Caldwell County, Missouri. They came to Oregon with a box car full of all their household goods. We still have the table & chairs that made that trip. They took the Union Pacific standard gauge RR to Green River, Wyoming where they had to switch trains to the Oregon Shortline which was a narrow gauge railroad. This went through Idaho into eastern Oregon. We think that they changed trains again (back to standard gauge) to the Oregon Railway & Navigation company at Baker, Oregon. Now the entire line is standard gauge and is the Union Pacific. They went down the Columbia Gorge to Portland. [Chris' great aunt actually told him that they changed trains the first time in Ogdon, UT but he doesn't think that's right.] The BROWNELL family eventually settled in Albany, Oregon. Jackie & Chris Marshall Amherst, NH

Listers: It really is a small world. I went to school with Isabell: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~cchouk/57/pix/image05.jpg First I find her on Sweet Home On Line. No big deal. Now I get this e-mail from her daughter, what's her name. We are related via a Philpott/McHargue marriage!! And she gave me Philpott data that I did not have. This is one of the advantages of posting your GEDCOM on WorldConnect Project! (That is not a typo thers is no space between World and Connect; it's WorldConnect Project.) Hint! Hint! Hint! http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igmuser.cgi Cecil PS: I told you I was related to just about everyone who lived in Oregon in the 1800's. :-) Cecil Houk, ET1 USN Ret., AG6I PO Box 530833 San Diego CA 92153 res San Diego CA 92154-3654 NEW EMAIL ADDRESS mailto:cchouk@cox.net ANDERSON-BLAKELY-EGGERS-FORD-HOUK-KIMSEY-MONTGOMERY-RULAFORD-SIMPSON Searchable GEDCOM: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/~cchouk See also: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/~donhouk My Web pages menu: http://members.cox.net/cchouk/

>I don't know the answer to that question either, but my family came to >oregon by way of ca and so i was also trying to find that out...trains >began to travel west in 1869 but i dont know when people actually >started to migrate by train... my people moved from MN to Ca and then N >to OR bef 1876.... My gggramma always spoke of the wagon trip as dusty >and hard and bumpy, but i do not know if they did the whole trip by >wagon... if you get info let me know, please... gloria In 1869 the only way from San Francisco to Sherman County was by ship then a series of riverboats or by wagon backwards on the Oregon Trail from Portland (or Seattle over Naches Pass). By 1890 they could have come from San Francisco to Portland by train (Southern Pacific) then to Sherman County by steamboat or train (Union Pacific). By 1912 they could have come from San Francisco to Klamath Falls on the Southern Pacific then to Sherman County on the Great Northern (or SP&S) through Bend and Wishram. jim