The evolution of the small towns that originated in Oregon's settlement communities remains undocumented in the literature of the state's history for the most part. Those accounts that do exist are often amateurish, and fail to establish the social and economic links between Oregon's frontier towns to the agricultural communities in which they appeared. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate an early settlement community and the small town that grew up in its midst in order to better understand the ideological relationship between farmers and townsmen that helped shape Oregon's small towns.

Ranching and lumbering were two of the primary economic practices in a small rural study area south of Philomath Oregon (in Benton County), from first Euro-American settlement through 1930. Ranching was common but lumbering was restricted by geographical and market transportation problems until after 1900. Catalysts for change came in the form of individuals and advanced technology. The introduction of trucks marked a cusp between two eras for both loggers and cowboys. Two important historical facts were discovered through oral history-gathering, regarding this rural area: first, the story of the first successful lumber company to build a mill close to Philomath, and second, the occurrence of a remarkably popular Round-Up in this small town, in 1916. The two primary oral informants were both born at a rural mill settlement established by this lumber company, at the foot of the Coast Range, in the southwest part of the study area. Junctions (and distinctions) between geography and economy, city and country, loggers and ranchers, and oral and written history are highlighted in specific detail. Because of long geographical isolation from big lumber markets, this region's timberlands, mills, loggers and lumber companies remained in the hands of local people, into the 1950s. This area thus underwent a history quite different from coastal logging history. Attention to local oral sources and specific catalysts for change in other such small rural regions would broaden current historical understanding of the history of the West, and the Pacific Northwest. / Graduation date: 1999

Block 1 of the Averill Addition played an important role in the early commercial development of Bandon, Oregon, a town located on Oregon's south coast. Retail establishments located on the block supplied the local residents with a variety of merchandise for the period of 1886-1914. During this period Bandon served as the export-import center for the Coquille River area. Ships maintained a regular schedule between Bandon and San Francisco, California, Bandon's primary trading partner. A fire in 1914 destroyed all but one major structure on Block 1 of the Averill Addition. Partially rebuilt, structures on the block were once again destroyed in a second fire in 1936, which ravaged the entire downtown district. Microfilmed copies of the Bandon Recorder, Bandon's first newspaper, provided first-hand accounts of events during the early years of Bandon's growth, and were supplemented by regional histories. Primary sources for this project included census reports, Coos County deed records, oral interviews, maps, and historic photographs. The purpose of this report is to explain Euro-American occupancy of Block 1 of the Averill Addition as a supplement to an archaeological investigation conducted on the block in 1988. A description of the historic artifacts recovered from Site 35CS43 (Block 1 of the Averill Addition) concludes the report and indicates the types of items that remained on the site after 100 years of Euro-American occupancy. / Graduation date: 1993

171, xi p. Two print copies of this title are available through the UO Libraries under the following call numbers: SCA OrColl F884.D3 H55 1934; SCA Archiv Theses H558

xi, 134 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm Notes Typescript Thesis (M.A.)--University of Oregon Includes vita and abstract Bibliography: leaves 130-134 Another copy on microfilm is located in Archives

This thesis describes investigations of archaeological materials recovered from Site ORBE2, an early-twentieth century historic site in Corvallis, OR. The archaeological materials were found only after construction workers had excavated trenches underneath the still-standing structure on the site in order to install a new foundation. Over 1500 artifacts were recovered from back-dirt piles which had been left surrounding the structure from the construction worker's excavations. The analysis of the artifacts contributes to the field of archaeology in four specific ways: 1) it performs an archaeological analysis on an early-twentieth century Euro-American site, an era upon which few previous investigations have been done. 2) it develops a history of the site, 3) it combines the results of the history and the analysis of the archaeological data from functional and chronological perspectives, determining possible past life-style information on these residents, and 4) it exhibits the utility of performing an archaeological analysis on a site where the archaeological materials were recovered from an urban renewal/construction zone, and has provenience limited to a lot or site association. / Graduation date: 1997

xii, 169 p. : ill. (some col.), maps. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / This thesis examines the possibility of a broader approach to the concept of "context" within the practice of historic preservation by producing a more inclusive model for preservationists to use in reading dynamic cultural and environmental systems. The industrial landscape of Astoria, Oregon with its buildings and ruins of once dominant fishing and canning industries serves as a case study to explore this idea. The author examines late 19th century and early 20th century industrial development in terms of cultural influx, industrial landscape development, and vernacular architecture. This thesis explores how the landscape has responded to influences such as economic shift, environmental change, migrant populations, and technology, and how cultural landscapes and the natural environment combine to form a distinct human geography as reflected in architectural and material remains. Many of the issues raised are specific to maritime, west coast, and extractive industrial settlements. / Committee in Charge: Dr. Susan Hardwick, Chair; Shannon Bell

More than one hundred years have passed since the Chinese laborers first landed in this country in the mid-nineteenth century. Yet their history remains cloudy. This phenomenon is quite understandable if one considers the facts that most of the laborers were illiterate, did not have the ability, and never intended, to speak for themselves. It is true that many scholarly works have been published, but few were written by Chinese historians. As a matter of fact, Chinese scholars are unaware that a small number of their countrymen played a strange, pitiful role in American history. The published works reflect the viewpoint of only American observers. The labor of the Chinese workers was indispensable to the development of the frontier West at a time when resources were abundant and labor hands were few. So much work had to be done building railroads and dams, digging mines, clearing farm lands, canning salmon, etc. And the Chinese were welcomed to every line of manual work. There was a time when nearly every family at Astoria of Oregon and Olympia of Washington hired a Chinese as servant, as some writers claim. When the great number of whites moved in from the east, along with them came the floating laborers and the European immigrants, as well as the labor union. Conditions changed rapidly, the Chinese found themselves not only excluded from all employment, but persecuted everywhere. California was the state which first utilized Chinese labor and first expelled it. This unfavorable circumstance forced the Chinese to flee from California to other states. The purpose of this paper is not to give an account of how the Chinese were maltreated in a country known as a free, equal land opened widely to the whole world, but rather tries to find out how they survived, what were their daily problems, sorrows, and happiness, if any, and what were their inner feelings, their attitudes toward the white hosts. In short, the paper is written in an attempt to reconstruct their life in an alien land. In addition, the paper tries to answer the question why this oriental group appeared so peculiar in their behavior, as some whites commented, that they were both condemned and contemned. One of the crucial problems facing the researcher in the field of early Chinese immigration history is the lack of original materials. This is the common defects in all the published works on this subject. Fortunately for the author, by an unique chance, he was able to study numerous objects left in a Chinese grocery store, the Kam Wah Chung Co. at John Day--a small town once a busy mining area in Eastern Oregon. The pioneer artifacts in this town are disappearing, though the gravels of the old gold placers are still visible along the hillsides and canyons. But the queer old building of the Chinese store is still standing stubbornly as it did one hundred years ago, on a road called Canton Street So many objects were left in the building that the city of John Day is endeavoring to open it as a museum. From a historical point of view, many of these objects are very valuable. Among them are a great number of letters. Some were sent to the laborers from their families, in care of that building. Others were from the laborers to their homes, and for some unknown reason had not been sent to China. They are unique and of special importance to this paper. Perhaps nowhere else in the United States, or in War-torn China, can one find such a number of first hand records about the early Chinese in this country. Although few significant events, romantic affairs, or anything exciting can be expected of them, still, one can reconstruct a plain sketch of their life from these materials. The paper, though it only presents a small picture of the Chinese group in Eastern Oregon, is aimed to serve, hopefully, as a footnote leading to an understanding of how the early Chinese immigrants once lived in the Pacific Northwest.

This thesis studies the development of the Portland, Oregon Chinese immigrant community between 1850 and 1910. Chinese immigrants first arrived in Portland in the mid-1850s and quickly created businesses as well as social institutions they transplanted from China to the U.S. West. They also established intricate relationships among themselves and with members of the surrounding white community. County and state court records held at the Multnomah County Courthouse and National Archives in Seattle, Washington, reveal much about the Chinese immigrant community in Portland and provide a window into a society that left few written records. Through the analysis of hundreds of court cases held at the Multnomah County Courthouse in Portland, this thesis reconstructs four broad aspects of Portland's Chinese immigrant community. The first chapter discusses the arrival and establishment of Chinese immigrants in Portland. The second chapter discusses Chinese experience with white missionaries in the courts as both groups battled for custody rights to Chinese women and children. The third chapter looks at the case of United States v. John Wilson, which revealed how Chinese and whites had collaborated to establish one of the largest and most successful immigrant and opium smuggling rings on the West Coast. With the aim of profiting from Chinese exclusion, the white and Chinese operators of this ring bridged racial barriers that had, for decades, divided the two groups. In chapter four, finally, the thesis examines social conflict within the late nineteenth century Portland Chinese community. This chapter describes how internal conflicts in Portland Chinatown, stemming from traditional social associations transplanted from China, played as strong a role in shaping the Chinese community in Portland as did exclusion laws determined to end the entry of Chinese to the United States.

Oregon City lies at the base of Willamette Falls. It was one of the few known points in the Oregon Territory, as the destination for thousands coming overland to lay claim to the acres upon acres of forested land. Presently, Oregon City is known by its proximity to Portland. The two neighboring settlements were considered "long-distance," when on a spring evening in 1889, energy generated from the falls was carried through 14 miles of recently-laid copper wire to power streetlights in downtown Portland's Chapman Square. It was the first ever long-distance transmission of electricity. Oregon City, the oldest incorporated settlement west of the Rocky Mountains, is a town in transition, as it attempts to reinvent itself as something more than an old mill town, building on its natural beauty and historical significance. This essay collection showcases the history and character of Oregon City, highlighting the people and places that have called it home.