Long, Jacob

The following data is extracted from History of the Pacific Northwest, Oregon and Washington, 1889.

JACOB LONG. - This venerable pioneer, the first to settle in the north end of Indian valley, and whose seventy-four years have but little bent his frame, was born in 1815 in Pennsylvania. At the age of nine he became a pioneer of the West, moving with his parents to Ohio. At the age of seventeen he took his flint-lock rifle and made a tour of the woods and prairies of the old West, visiting the French and Indian trading-post of Chicago, and spending a winter on the Elkhart river in Indiana, with Schomack, the chief of the Pottawottamies.

Returning home he learned the trade of a blacksmith, and in 1840 went West, spending five years hunting and trapping in Indiana. Marrying, and entering a tract of land, he cleared and improved a farm, until in 1854 he made a removal to Iowa. In that state he made two farms, also working at his trade.

Ten years later he took the final jump, coming to Oregon in 1864. He lived successively in Multnomah and Polk counties, but in 1871 sought once more a home in the wilds, where the indigenous animals were still living in abundance. This was Indian valley; and he was the first settler in the northern part. He has indefatigably hunted the elk, deer, bear, cougar and wolf; and his catch of wolverines, lynxes, wild cats, catamounts, beavers, otters, fishers, martins, minks and coyotes has furnished pelts, the sales of which have kept his family in comfort. He has many stories to tell of sharp encounters with such fierce animals as the cougars, and is one of those very interesting characters of our borders. The valley around him has settled and is thriving since his first advent, and his own family of nine children are among the prosperous.

Source: History of the Pacific Northwest, Oregon and Washington, 1889

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