Oregon
He started a cooper shop in Oregon City and got his barrel-making stock from William Overton, one of the founders of Portland.
Stephens refused Overton's offer to sell him his Portland land claim for 300 new salmon barrels because he planned to bid for another claim, which he secured in 1845 and on which East Portland was founded. East Portland was also known as Stephens' Addition. In 1846 he made 1000 flour barrels and 400 salmon barrels for the Hudson's Bay Company, and in 1847 he made 400 beef barrels for shipment to the Sandwich Islands.
In East Portland he operated the first ferry, located near the present location of the Morrison Bridge. It began operations in 1846, and was the first ferry in what became Multnomah County (it was part of Twality District at that time). During the California Gold Rush, Stephens sold his land and headed south to the gold fields.
He returned in 1850 and purchased land in what is now Southeast Portland from John McLoughlin. Stephens laid out the town from the Willamette River to East First Street, and from Glisan Street to Hawthorne Street. Dividing his land into town lots, which he offered to settlers on their own terms, Stephens was said to materially aiding the development of the east side of the river. The Stark Street Ferry across the Willamette River began operating in 1853. In 1855, he helped organize the Pacific Telegraph Company.
Stephens expanded East Portland in 1861 and opened the East Portland Savings and Loan Bank. In 1862, he donated the land for the construction of the Oregon Hospital for the Insane in East Portland. The bank, which was at First and Oak streets closed in 1873. Stephens operated a ferry across the Willamette River at Oregon City for 17 years.
Read more about this topic: James B. Stephens
Famous quotes containing the word oregon:
“When Paul Bunyan’s loggers roofed an Oregon bunkhouse with shakes, fog was so thick that they shingled forty feet into space before discovering they had passed the last rafter.”
—State of Oregon, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“In another year I’ll have enough money saved. Then I’m gonna go back to my hometown in Oregon and I’m gonna build a house for my mother and myself. And join the country club and take up golf. And I’ll meet the proper man with the proper position. And I’ll make a proper wife who can run a proper home and raise proper children. And I’ll be happy, because when you’re proper, you’re safe.”
—Daniel Taradash (b. 1913)
“The Oregon [matter] and the annexation of Texas are now all- important to the security and future peace and prosperity of our union, and I hope there are a sufficient number of pure American democrats to carry into effect the annexation of Texas and [extension of] our laws over Oregon. No temporizing policy or all is lost.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)