The Cosmopolitan Character
of Portland-Changing Character of its Early
Population-Their Vices and Habits-Moral and
Social Conditions of Early Days-General
Stability of Present Society-Culture and
Refinement of the People-Public
Amusements-Excursions, Public Festivities
and Celebrations-Events Connected with the
Celebration of the Completion of the
Northern Pacific Railroad.
As may be inferred from the
foregoing pages, the staid residents who
made the city were men and women of a
morality, religious conviction and sturdy
force of character not exceeded by any class
of people in America. But it must be noted,
in any just estimate, that Portland has been
a most cosmopolitan spot. From the first it
was the landing place for ships, and they
came from all ports. French and English as
well as Americans tied up at our docks.
Sailors coming ashore from long voyages,
whereon they had lived on salt beef, some of
which had been well apostrophized in
seafaring song, as "old horse," and upon a
very limited supply of grog, felt the usual
jubilation of the jolly tar off duty, and
sought whom and what he might devour. To
meet the wants of such men, came the
abandoned wretch with his "blue ruin" and in
latter times with his scorpion juice. More
infamous means of satisfying the long denied
passions of the seafarer, were sought and
supplied.
Immigrants from across the plains, naturally
an honest and moral class, reached Portland
destitute, eager, and without the restraints
of their old home about them. During the
time of gold, men acquired a directness and
bluntness, often leading to bravado,
especially in those naturally ill-balanced
or light. The "luck" of the mines bred a
feverish unrest, developed abnormally a
love, of excitement and speculation, and
magnified the desire of gambling. The
gamblers of the Mississippi River flocking
to the Pacific shore, brought with them
their manners, morals and tone, and set up
on the Columbia and Willamette very much
their former methods of business. They were
a class of hard drinkers, stimulating
them-selves for successive nights of
indulgence in their games, and among the
excitable and feverish people who came from
all parts, their example was a sort of law.
The perverse notion that friends meeting
must drink together, that a bargain must be
sealed by a drink, that any big luck must be
celebrated by a drink all around, that a
good story could not be very well told, or
very well listened to without a drink, that
going off on a "prospect," or a safe return
home, or good news from the folks, or bad
news either, or getting well, or feeling
sick, or in fact almost every occurrence or
mental state, must be accompanied by a
little social drinking, became all but
universal. This was mixed up with so much of
good will and human feeling, and anything
else seemed so sour and graceless and was
referred to as a niggardly desire of saving
one's money, and keeping to one's self what
belonged to the "crowd," that even men
trained in temperance, accepted it as the
rule of the West. The inevitable' tendency
of men from all parts of the world, adopting
a course of life common to all, which would
eliminate many former ideas of religion and
morality, moved the masses toward a
recklessness of health and life not before
known. The comparative absence of women
stimulated grossness and coarseness of
speech and manners, and the temptation
toward immorality was greatly intensified.
Portland got the full benefit of all this,
and from early days was a place where
drinking was carried to a most ruinous
extreme, and men of the finest capabilities
sank under the blight, not living out half
their days. Gambling, and other indulgences
were carried to the same violent and wild
excess. Bloody affrays or murders were not
so frequent here as in the mining camps.
Even with all these unfavorable influences,
however, there was a high moral tone in the
early days, and it is said that the bagnio
was so discountenanced as to be obliged to
leave the city. The young men of the place
were all in good fellowship, and in time of
distress, as in the winter of 1852, bonded
together to care for the sick. With the
coming of the Chinese, however, further
inducement to brutal indulgence was added.
With the building of railways a large
floating population of men away from, or
without homes, and not on their best
behavior, came on pleasure excursions to our
city, crowding the low hotels, and saloons,
the theatres, and places of popular
amusement. To satisfy the thirst of such
men, came the cormorant class, who live
chiefly on the disease and death of their
fellows. To increase their business and
swell their profits, these caterers to
public vices added attractions which swept
in the young, unstable and thoughtless, as
well as satisfied the cravings of those
already indurated. Thus the demand of the
vile for vile pleasures led the way to the
establishment of a kind of trade, which in
its turn bred still further corruption.
With the increase of foreign commerce, in
1868, and onward, the foreign sailor class
became much larger. With the rise and growth
of the salmon fishing business, the
fishermen of the Columbia River, many of
whom were of low character, made periodical
trips to Portland to spend their earnings,
as did also the miners, and to some extent
the ranchers, from east of the mountains.
Men of their class, from a life of hardship
and peril, and social privations, frequently
made their trip to the city for nothing but
amusement, which meant dissipation of the
most violent description. Opium joints from
the Chinese appeared, and the variety
theatre was set up. A passionate sort of
existence without purpose, unguided by
principle, reckless of money and health, and
even destructive to life, was followed by
these migratory crowds. It is always
observable that in a time or place, where
men are shifting about, and come upon others
with different religious views, doubt is
thrown upon the fundamental ideas of life,
and especially to those of slight conviction
who see in religion chiefly an irksome
restraint, a general insensibility and
prodigality spring up. Life becomes easy,
free, generous, impulsive, careless, intense
and self destructive.
Portland is not well yet out of these
conditions incident to all our frontier
cities. But the times of deliverance are
nearly at hand since to a large extent the
manner of life which first brought the evils
is passing by. The mining camps, the
ranches, the fishing stations, the logging
camps, are not now occupied as they once
were by men away from home. The home has
been taken to those places, and the fathers
and sons do not feel the craving for, not
being without, social life, as when away
from all such privileges. The railroads will
never again be built by armies of men
gathered up from the four winds. The main
lines have been put down, and the others
will be provided with workmen from the
laborers living along the line. More than
all, other towns divide with our city the
rude classes. Portland is not so much as
formerly, the headquarters of amusements.
The " rough crowd " will not flock here from
all points, since they find what they want
nearer home. As our city grows in
population, in the steady laboring classes,
in families, in large business, in extensive
wholesale connections, and in the pursuits
of the higher classes, the transient and
vicious element will at least become
proportionately less.
There has been a noticeable improvement in
the tone of the people as to temperance
since the earlier years. It is not now, as
then, the fashion for the leading public men
to drink to the point of intoxication, and
to excite the entire place by their
excesses. There is at least much more
conventional, and probably much more actual
restraint of the appetites.
Along with this state of private vice,
public corruption exists only too
extensively, crime against the ballot and
complaint against the officers of the law,
being only too common.
The above is a fair, concise statement of
the immorality of Port-land. We have
preferred to thus sketch it boldly, thinking
it improper in any one attempting to write a
history to omit any facts, which go to work
up a complete view of the subject. Perhaps
the worst feature of it all has been a weak
acquiescence in all this on the part of the
better classes as something necessary and
inevitable, or at least profitable.
On the other hand there is much hope for
future improvement. The general stability
and growth of the State, and the fashion
that reprehends excess have already been
spoken of. A strong effort to improve the
sanitary conditions of the city; an
intelligent interest in education; great
activity on the part of benevolent societies
and the churches; and at least the dawning
perception that that which is destructive of
human life, happiness and activity cannot be
of any use, in any way, to a great and
flourishing city, are signs of progress
toward the higher civil order, not only of
the old East, but of the great new West of
the future. A general denunciation of
political corruption and official negligence
and connivance with crime, goes to the same
end.
It must always be remembered, in charity,
that a commercial city has great evils to
contend with, not of its own seeking, and
most difficult to eradicate.
In the face of all that has been said above,
the general quiet and tranquillity, and good
order of the place is quite marked. Affairs
of blood are not common; house breaking,
violent robbery, or affrays are but few.
Popular tumults are unknown. The order in
processions, or excursions, or in public
assemblies is good. A general spirit of
urbanity and civility prevails, and the
virtue of hospitality is nowhere more
marked.
For particulars in the special field of
schools, churches, and societies, the reader
is referred to the chapter under these
headings. He will find by such reference
that large and wide endeavors are made
toward mental culture and moral melioration.
Public Events of Interest
While the people of Portland are not
mercurial or exciteable, and by
Californians, or people "east of the
mountains," are even accused of being
lymphatic, if not somnolent, they are much
given and have been from the earliest times
inclined to recreations and public
amusements. The two forms in which all are
ready to unite as obnoxious to the feelings
of none are the excursion and the
procession. Oregonians having crossed the
plains or doubled the Cape early learned the
pleasures of traveling, and it is almost
universal custom to take an annual trip here
and yonder.
From Portland, excursions by water are
easily made to points up and down the river.
In the Cascade Mountains, and on the coast
are nooks and corners of the rarest beauty
and scenery upon the most ample and lofty
scale. As the summer comes, picnics for the
Sunday schools and churches follow each
other week after week, preferably on
Saturdays, loaded steamboats or trains
speeding out in the clear of the morning and
returning in the cool of the evening, or by
moonlight. Sunday excursions are exceedingly
popular, particularly among the foreign
population, and these usually have their
accompaniment of music. Rides on the river
boats or on the trains to near points are
much indulged in as a recreation of a few
hours. Points thus frequented near at hand
are, Vancouver, Mt. Tabor, Ross Island, and
The White House, a few miles south on the
Macadam road, a particularly popular
terminus for carriage drives; River View
Cemetery on the southern boundary of the
city, Oswego and Oregon City. These places
are frequently thronged Sundays, not so much
by large companies, as by individuals, small
parties and families. The young men of the
city quite generally spend the Sabbath day
in driving, boating, hunting or fishing, at
a distance of 5 to 40 miles from town and
the transportation companies favor them with
reduced fares.
The regular summer vacations are spent
chiefly at the seashore. The beaches at the
mouth of the Columbia River are the places
of most frequent resort. These are: the
Ilwaco or North Beach, in Pacific County,
Washington, on the weather shore from
Shoalwater. Bay, and Clatsop Beach, leading
down to the seaside near Tillamook head.
Both are magnificent expanses of wave-beaten
sand with delightful surroundings of meadows
and grasses. Each has its advocates and
advantages. They are reached by steamers on
the Columbia and both are supplied with
railroad facilities from the point of
debarkation.
As the heat of summer becomes oppressive in
the Willamette Valley, and the freshet of
the Columbia threatens malaria, the
coast-bound steamers are loaded with men and
women, and particularly children. At the
sea-shore they live largely in tents. Many
own lots at the ephemeral cities and have
their own cottages, although there are
accommodations at the hotels. A few weeks or
months, breathing the salt air and of salt
water bathing are certainly of great
advantage to the health, and those thus
spending the hot months preserve their
strength throughout the year. This is
particularly the family method. Yaquina Bay,
reached by the Oregon Central Railroad and
by the Oregon Pacific, is also sought to
some extent for the same purpose. To those
desiring more exciting recreation the peaks
of the Cascade Mountains prove inviting;
they afford all the beauties of precipices,
crevasses, snow-fields and glaciers, and the
perils of Alpine climbing. Mt. Hood is the
greatest attraction, being the nearest and
most familiar. Rev. Dr. Atkinson, of
Portland, and Prof. Woods, the botanist,
were among the first to make the ascent. '
Many others from Portland have followed.
Rev. Mr. Izer, pastor of the Taylor Street
Methodist Church was the first to carry to
the top an iron chest for holding papers,
names of those ascending, etc. Several young
ladies of this city, among them Miss Libby
Vaughn, have stood upon the summit. This is
no small feat, the mountain being about 11,
000 feet in height, and the last 1,000 feet
of the climb very heavy. Rev. Dr. T. L.
Eliot, of Portland, is much at home on this
old volcano, and one of the glaciers bears
his name. Some of the young men of the city
have been in the habit of illuminating this
mountain with red fire on the night of July
4th. As this is early in the season to climb
the snowy sides, the lower peaks not yet
being wholly denuded by the hot suns of
summer, the enterprise is quite difficult.
Nevertheless, it has been done quite
successfully, a party consisting of Messrs.
Yocum, J. M. Breck, Jr., Dr. J. M. Keene,
and several others first accomplishing the
task. The fire was seen over the valley to
the intense admiration of the people and
illustrations of the mountain thus lit up
were made in leading papers of the east.