Levi Scott (pioneer) - Political Career

Political Career

In 1846, Scott, along with his son, as well as Jesse Applegate, Lindsay Applegate and others, set off to create a southern route into the Willamette Valley. The route authorized by the Provisional Government of Oregon would travel southwest from Fort Hall and take the Rogue Valley and Umpqua Valley before turning north to the Willamette Valley settlements. This Southern Route has become known as the Applegate Trail.

During the Cayuse War Scott was made a captain and was responsible for sending dispatches for the Provisional Government south to California. Following his involvement in the war, he settled in 1848 along Elm Creek in Douglas County, Oregon, with the valley named Scotts Valley in his honor. In 1850, Scott founded Scottsburg along the Umpqua River. Mount Scott in Crater Lake National Park in Southern Oregon is also named after Levi.

Scott then entered the political field when he was elected to the Oregon Territorial Legislature in 1852. He represented three southern counties, Umpqua, Douglas and Jackson as a Whig in the upper chamber Council. Scott won re-election twice, serving through the 1854-55 session. He returned to politics briefly in 1857 as a delegate to the Oregon Constitutional Convention. Scott represented Umpqua County as an Anti-Democrat.