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1906
January 2 1906 Hope Villa (La.) Jan. 2nd 1906
Silas J. Day Esq.
Jacksonville, Oregon
Dear Sir:
I was very glad to get a letter from an old acquaintance in reply to my letter of inquiry, as it makes time and distance seem less. To begin with I am the same J. W. Hillman that lived in Jacksonville the time you refer to and the one who had command of the expedition that found the bodies of the Ledfords after the massacre by the Rogue River Indians, and incidentally I may mention that on that expedition I had with my company Col. Kelly of the Oregon militia, Mr. Abbott, Indian agt. and Bob Davis–a nephew of Jeff Davis–neither one joined the command but went along to see what was being done. Col. Kelly was very anxious to have me muster in under the law of Oregon, but by doing so I [would have] lost my command of the men as he then would be my superior officer. I refused to do so, and I think it was his influence that caused the merchants of Jacksonville to refuse to renew supplies for a further chase of the Indians, as he claimed I might bring on another Indian war by chastising any band of Indians whom I might find. Abbott was the man who found the cache where the bodies were buried, and he so reported to me on his return to camp.
Now as to my history. I was born in Albany, N.Y. March 29th 1832. In ’48 my father moved with his family to New Orleans, La. In the spring of ’49 we joined the overland expedition sent by the government to Oregon. Deady of Oregon was in the same expedition. We arrived in Oregon City in Sept. of the same year and sailed for Frisco by ship Aurora, Capt. Kilbourn commanding. Before sailing I helped load the ship and had charge of a raft of lumber down the Willamette to the mouth of the Columbia. After staying in San Francisco a short time we went to Mariposa; from there my father returned to N.O., and I drifted around Cal. a short time, then made Jacksonville, Or. my headquarters. I married my first wife in (’67 I think) in N.O. With her I returned to my mining camp on Granite Creek–John Day country. My wife’s family were on the Evening Star when she foundered, and my wife and self returned to La., where I have since lived. Children by my first wife all dead. In 1876 I married my present wife and have two married children–one boy and one girl. The boy is assistant civil engineer on the T&P R. Rd.
Some years ago an Oregon lawyer wrote me [probably B. F. Dowell]; he had accidentally discovered that I was entitled to pay for services in the Oregon war and agreed to collect for me half, which I agreed to give, and he sent my share I suppose. I had forgotten that I was entitled to anything, but the govt. would not recognize the agreement between Col. Ross, Charley Drew and myself, which was that I was to get $16.00 dolls. per day for special express riding and $4.00 per day for my horse–that was after Mrs. Wagoner and her daughter were killed. I am getting a pension, but I refused to make application as long as I could attend to my own farming operations, as they should be.
I was and am still opposed to pensions unless under rigid investigation the party is worthy of the same, and just now I think of it I recd. your letter while in bed suffering from my shattered knee and just before your letter was handed me I extracted a piece of bone from my knee which had been causing me much agony. I have been in correspondence with Mrs. Martha Rapp of Ashland for some time past, and she has kept me pretty well posted about Rogue River Valley and its pioneers. I think she could write a history of the valley and its old settlers which would be valuable to the oldtimers. I am not used to the pen and have written myself tired, and yet I would like to inquire if you know of any survivors of the relief of Galice Creek? That is a little portion of history of Southern Oregon I have never seen in print, and I don’t think there are any living but myself that knows the particulars. Ross and Drew and myself were the parties to the relief of the creek, and I was the one to whom the very dangerous task was given, and possibly I will write its history and have it published in the Sunday Oregonian. They have published several articles of S. Oregon written by myself.
Have I been explicit enough?
Wishing you a long life and a prosperous new year
I remain yours truly
- W. Hillman
P.S. I enclose the one-dollar application for June.
Silas J. Day Papers, Lilly Library, Indiana University.
July 1 1906 Regular mail service is established between Fort Klamath and the Park.
July 12 1906 Construction begins on the first permanent house for the superintendent at Annie Springs. Torn down about 1935.
Summer 1906 $600 appropriated to begin construction of the Rim Camp Trail to the water. The Superintendent felt the informal one down to Eagle Cove, with cable handrails, was just too dangerous.
September 2 1906 Harry Pelts and three other men claim to be the first men to drive a car from Klamath Falls to the rim of Crater Lake with a running time of 6 hours.
Fall 1906 Albert C. Allen of Medford drives a, seven horse power, single cylinder Olds Curved Dash Runabout, with one seat, steered with a tiller, and powered by a chain drive into the Park. Allen’s car is pulled part way by two mules. “When we high-centered again, with the car nearly tipping over on the badly sliding raid, I quit. It was bust for me. But I had driven quite a distance inside the boarders of the park. I was the first one to drive an automobile inside Crater Lake Park. However, I had driven the first car into the park and the second on up on the rim. After that I made the trip often, but few others cared to attempt the heavy grade to the rim with its three switchback and where large cars had to back and fill to get around some of the sharp curves. Soon after this I mentioned to Bill Hodson, owner of the first garage in Medford that I intended to drive my new Thom right up on Crater Lake rim on a certain day. This gave Bill an idea for some advertising, so he sent one of his Buicks up on the rim just the day before I drove my Thomas there.” But Allen does become the first person to take a motion picture of the Lake.
1906 W.E. Hodson claims to have driven the first car to the park, pulled part way by horses. J.O. Shively claims to be the first auto passenger.
Season 1906 Visitation: 1,800 est.
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