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Ml 48106 18 BEDFORD ROW. LONDON WC1R 4EJ. ENGLAND 8116755 Rykow ski, T h o m a s Jo n PRESERVING THE GARDEN: PROGRESSIVISM IN OREGON The University o f Oklahoma Ph.D. 1981 University Microfilms i ntern Stionel300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 Copyright 1981 by Rykowski, Thomas Jon All Rights Reserved THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE PRESERVING THE GARDEN; PROGRESSIVISM IN OREGON A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY THOMAS JON RYKOWSKI Norman, Oklahoma 1981 PRESERVING THE GARDEN; PROGRESSIVISM IN OREGON APPROVED BY _ DISSERTATION COMMITTEE PREFACE The Progressive era has long been an area of keen historical interest and debate. The most famous parti­ cipants such as Theodore Roosevelt, Upton Sinclair, Ida Tarbell, Robert LaFollette, William J. Bryan, and Woodrow Wilson were colorful and effective. The reforms such as the initiative and referendum, direct election of senators, presidential primary, women's suffrage, prohibition, and the struggles against political and business corruption were of great importance to pre­ serving democracy. The motivation and direction of Progressivism had always interested me but when I began to look at Oregon, the conclusions and perceptions I had developed had to be discarded. I embarked on an ambitious approach to view Oregon from another perspec­ tive. The major problem which confronted me was why such a conservative state without the problems faced by other states would become the leader in implementing Progressive reforms. What I found was a movement motivated by the importance of personal independence, reverence for land iii and nature, and a desire to maintain a way of life. Thus the Oregonians' efforts which were labeled as progressive or forward looking were actually preservationist. The legislation passed was an attempt to protect and thus perpetuate the established society. The first Americans in Oregon came mostly from the Midwest where their ances­ tors had settled after leaving New England- Oregon represented a place where people could live surrounded by a pleasant bountiful setting which was protected by great distance from the problems facing Eastern society resulting from industrialization, ethnic and racial diversity, and urbanization. Oregon was viewed as a place of refuge from problems and Oregonians protected their special place then and now. Progressivism, like the Know-Nothings, American Protective Association, and later the Ku Klux Klan attempted to keep Oregon white, Protestant, independent, and free from the complexities of modern, industrial society. Progressivism was an preservationist attempt to preserve the status-quo. Its lasting success is obvious when one visits Oregon today. As always, my debts are great. I acknowledge the aid and assistance of many people and institutions: to the History Department at the University of Oklahoma for a Graduate Assistantship; to the staff of Bizzell Memorial Library at the University of Oklahoma for office iv space, inter-library loan and generous assistance at all times. I also wish to thank the following libraries and staffs at the following institutions and libraries: the Oregon collection at the University of Oregon; the Oregon State Historical Society; Oregon State University; and San Diego State Uhdversity. On a more personal level, I owe a deep sense of gratitude to several people. Dr. H. Wayne Morgan has directed my dissertation with skill and his patience and insistence on academic excellence were instrumental in the completion of this study. I also offer my appre­ ciation to my parents Thomas A. and Alice Rykowski for their encouragement and assistance over the years. Lastly, I thank my wife Susan for her faith in me as a historian and for her ever present support. TABLE OF CONTENTS P r e f a c e ................................................iii Chapter I. The Beginning ............................... 1 II. Pre-Progressive Movements ................... 30 III. Progressivism........................... 55 IV. Progressive Politics; 1900-1910 74 V. The Oregon System, 1909-1912 99 VI. The Progressive Party in O r e g o n ............... 124 VII. Epilogue: Progressivism Leaves its Legacy . 150 Foot n o t e s ............................................. 173 Appendix 1. Progressive Profile: Results ........... 191 Bibliography ........................................ 195 VI PRESERVING THE GARDEN: PROGRESSIVISM IN OREGON CHAPTER I THE BEGINNING The most ancient inhabitants in the Northwest lived along the shores of vast lakes in the interior. The early Indian groups found there conditions suitable to best sustain life; a steady supply of water, animal life, and shelter in the caves around the water's edge. Ten thousand years ago people lived in this area,^ and were skilled in weaving the bark of sagebrush into shoes, baskets and weaving mats from cattail leaves. They had stone awls, flakers and polishers and became adept in the use of bows and arrows. They used nuts, berries, and roots but they failed to develop horticulture. The presence of chipped obsidian arrowheads found with the small bones of birds and larger bones of bison and 2 deer reveal they were also hunters. These people probably differed little from one another whether they occupied the land that became Washington or Oregon.^ Then about two thousand years ago the cultures of 1 the area began to develop more individuality. An early center of cultural development grew along the lower Fraser River in British Columbia which influenced the whole northwest coast with stone carvings of animal and human figures demonstrating that the people had developed a body of ritualistic and symbolic lore.^ The artistic styles influenced the Tsimshian, Tlingit, Nootlas, Bella Coolas, Kwakiutl and Haidas tribes which occupied the islands and the coast to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. These more northern Indian groupings of the Pacific Northwest placed strong values on personal prestige. Their society was materialistic and competitive with personal prestige determined by an individual's ability to give away and destroy wealth such as canoes, blankets, and oil. The potlatch was a feast and a competition in which a chieftain of one clan challenged another to equal or exceed him in the destruction of goods. These traits were less important farther south one traveled and the Indians of Southern Oregon had more in common with the cultural patterns of Northern California.^ While cultural similarities prevailed, there were many differences. Language diversity posed a severe problem for communication among most of the tribes. In western Washington, the predominant language was Coast Salish, but from the mouth of the Columbia south to Tillamook and east through the Cascades, Chinookan language was 2 spoken. There were so many different languages and dialects that neighboring tribes could not communicate with one another.® The coastal tribes were politically atomistic. The governmental unit was an autonomous village which was sometimes a single large household. There was no tribal concept and leadership was inherited in a ruling class but reinforced by possession of wealth. Each village was independent and had its own lands for berry gathering, hunting and fishing and the residents would move en masse from winter to summer habitations. There was little competition for possession of these locations. Warfare was also rare and thus enmities between villages 7 were rare. The Chinooks obtained their slaves, a cause of many conflicts, by trade rather than war. The coastal or Indian groups West to the Cascades had the advantage of a rich environment with consumable goods easily g accessible to them with a minimum of labor. Wood and water were the sources and the means of their livelihood and of these there was no limit. Famine and poverty were virtually unknown among them. The forests of the Northwest extended from Alaska to Northern California where straight grained, easily split cedar was accessible to village sites; housing, utensils and clothing were made from it. The waters of the coastal areas were the larder for the Indian, 3 and a hunter armed with bow and arrow had his choice of geese, swans, and duck which twice a year migrated through the region.

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