SOUTHERNSOt"O Or~nn' i.~ 3T,~`7,E-.8 - t'f'j' 1- p7-'..n---"<'.i - t 3 ASHLAND, OREiN 9 I2.c' ORE an W 250 C) 2. CD/955 w m LU YE 0L u-j z Lo CD CDr co C)r en ;C 0 z CD -J THE CHARACTER OFSCD C0 C-J DOUGLAS COUNTY ;C To Cam 0 SOUTHERN OREGO!'1 ST, K- i - LIBRARY ASHLAND, OREGON 97520 T HE C HA RA C TER O F DO0U GL A S CO0U NT Y B Y DOUGLAS COUNTY PLANNING CONIVISS ION Roseburg, Oregon PRICES Within Douglas County - $1.00 Outside Douglas County Second printing, March 1956 T HE CHA RA C T ER O F D0U G LA S CO0 U N T Y DOUGLAS CQUI'TY1 COURT Carl C. Hill, Countyr Judge E. R. ifetzger, Couanty Commissioner Frank Ashley, County Commissioner DOUGLAS COU11TY PLANNJING COIvHIAISSION Members Ex.-officio Members 0. J. Fett, Chairman T. Claude Baker, County Sanitarian George Wilcox, Vice Chairman Morris Bowlher, County Assossor Robert Franks, Secretary Den B. Ii'ving, County Surveyor C. C. Fosback J. Roland P~arker, County Agricultural Agent Tom Lillebo Ernie Seaton J. L. Aikins Staf f J. Haslett Bell, Planning Consultant James M. Coleman, Planning Technician Frank L. Johnson, Planning Technician Douglas County Planning Commission Roseburg, Oregon Gentlemen: Accurate and full information of Douglas County is essential as a proper base for good planning. This report is a compilation of information, that for the most part, is available to everyone. The assembling, arrangement and writing of the report, however, is the result of a great amount of work by the County Planning Staff. The preparation of the drawings included in the report required considerable research and field work on the part of the staff. This study makes available information on the resources of the County that should prove a ready reference to those interested in the future progress and welfare of Douglas County. Constant help from County departments was given in the preparation of this report. We are especially grateful to the U. S. Forest Service, Forest and Range Experiment Station in Portland, the Roseburg offices of the U. S Bureau of Land Management and the Wpqua National Forest, the Roseburg Chamber of Commerce and the Siskiyou Cascade Research Center of the U. S Forest Service. J. Haslett Bell Planning Consultant - a - THE CHARACTER OF DOUGLAS COUNTY INDEX I PROGRESS OF HISTORY------ Pages to II WEATHER---------- -- -- -- ---- Pages to 12 III TOPOGRAPHY AND GENERAL LAND USE Pages 13 to 17 IV AGRICULTURE---- -- -- -- -- --- Pages 18 to 26 V FORESTS--------- -- -- -- ----- Pages 27 to 37 VI MAINERALS-------- -- -- -- -- --- Pages 38 to 4~2 VII INDUSTRY AND TRANSPORTATION -- Pag-es ~43 to VIII TRADE--------- -- -- -- -- ---- Pages to 50 Ix ELECTRIC POWER----- -- -- -- --- Pages 51 to 52 X RECREATION - -- -- -- -- - Pages 53 to 55 xi POPULATION ---------- Pages 56 to 64. SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS - - Pages 65 to 66 PLATES FRO11TISPTECE - DOUGLAS COUNTY PLATE I NOfflvAL ANW1~AL PRECIPITATION---- -- -- ----- 7 Page PLATE II WEATHER- ---------- ------------ -- -- ---- 11 -7 - Page PLATE III LAND CAPABILITIES CLASSIFICATION MAP ---- 15 -- Page PLATE IV SOILS YlAP OF THI: AGRICULTUIRAL AREAS - --- 19 -- Page PLATE V EXISTING LAND USE-------- - -- -- -- -- ---- -- Page PLATE VI MINERALS DEPOSITS MAP------ -- -- -- -- --- 42 -- Page PLATE VII ROSEBURG MH~OLESALE AND RETAIL TRADE AREAS - 4~8 -- Page PLATE VIII DISTRIBUTION OF PUPULATION----- -- -- -- --- 60 PLATE Ix POPULATION GROWTH OF OREGON, DOUGLAS COUNTY AND CITY OFF ROSEBURG -- Page 63 - b - DOUGLAS COUNTY O R E G O N .. I "THE CHARACTER OF DOUGLAS COUNTY" I THE PROGRESS OF HISTORY 1543 Bartolome' Ferrelo, a pilot for Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo, continu=d northward after Cabrillo's death, in one of the ships that formed an expedi- tion sent out by the Mexican Government to find the famous Straits of Anian. These Straits were supposed to form the northern passage around America back to the Atlantic Ocean. Ferrelo came in close to the land around the forty- third parallel of latitude and is thus said to be the first white man to see the Oregon Coast. The land he saw here would, no doubt, have been the Douglas County Coast near the mouth of the Unpqua River. 1578 Sir Francis Drake, in his voyage around the world, also came north along the American coast looking for the Straits of Anian. The accounts of Spanish, or Mexican, historians state that he put into a poor harbor near the mouth of the Umpqua, or it might have been the Rogue; this to put a Spanish pilot, by the name of Morera, on the beach. This gave the pilot a 3,500 mile walk back home. Drake turned west and went back to England across the Pacific and around the Cape of Good Hope. i603 Ensign Martin de Aguilar in command of a small vessel (a fragata) with Antonio Flores as his pilot, sailed up the west coast of North America to around the forty-third degree of latitude. Not far from Cape of Blanco, they stated on the ships log and upon charts, they came to a rapid and abundant river lined with trees. The small ship tried to enter the river but 1as prevented from doing so by the rapid current. They named this stream "The River of Aquilar". This fragata was one of three ships sent north under Viscaino on a voyage of discovery. This expedition probably also was searching for the Straits of Anian. 1778 In March of this year, Captain James Cooke, on his famous voyage of discovery in the Pacific, came from The Hawaiian Islands, which he had named "The Sandwich Tolands', to the Coast of Oregon, which land area he called "New Albion". He struck land about the 440 parallel and strong winds forced him south to the mouth of the Rogue River. When weather became fair he went on up the coast to Alaska. 1827 Jedediah S. Smith, a trapper, first came into the west coast country from Salt Lake region, ie came down the Humbolt River into the Sacramento Valley and took back a fine lot of furs. He made a second trip in 1827, but decided to bring his furs north to Fort Vancouver. He came north to the Umpqua River. While building a raft in this river his party was attacked by Indians and only Smith and two men escaped to Fort Vancouver. 1827 Fort Unpqua was established by the Hudson's Bay Company on the Umpqua River opposite the mouth of Elk Creek as the trading post of that company in this southern Oregon area. 1832 Ewing Young came to the Ubpqua on his first trip into Oregon. Young was then a trapper out of Sante Fe. He came into California and followed Smith's route into Oregon. He returned to Santa Fe but within a short time came back into Oregon to settle in the Willamette Valley and to take a very responsible part in early Oregon history. 1 184o A petition was forwarded to the Federal Government in Washington for the establishment of some form of territorial government in Oregon. 1841 The funeral of Ewing Young in February of this year became an occasion for action toward a provisional government of the Oregon Country. 1843 July 5th - The famous meeting at Champoeg where the first Oregon Pro- visional Government was formed. Among its first acts was the dividing of the Oregon Country into four "districts". The line of the Yamhill River from the Pacific Ocean to the Rocky Mountains divided the Oregon Country one way and the line of the Willamette 1IUver extended north to Canada and south to California divided the country the other way. Of the four districts thus formed the southwest "District" was called the Yamhill District and the southeastern District was called the Champoeg District. What is now Douglas County lay partly in the Yamhill District and partly in the Champoeg District. 1844 May 14th, the first regular election was held to elect the first officerE of the Provisional Government. These officers appointed a committee to draw up a constitution. They also passed acts requiring a gubernatorial executive instead of an executive committee of three. 1845 June third, another territorial election was held and George Abernethy was elected the first Governor of the Oregon Country. Joseph L. Meek was named Sheriff. 1846 A party of fifteen men under the command of Major Thorp from the Willamette Valley explored the Umpqua Basin. 1846 A party of pioneers including Levi Scott, John Scott, Lindsay, and Jesse Applegate left the site of the present City of Dallas to find a road location south into California. They went by the site of Corvallis, crossed the Umpqua and worked south and east into the Iaamath Valley. 1847 December 23, the Provisional Government established boundaries of a new Polk County whose boundaries were not too far from the present boundaries of this County. 1848 August 14, an act was passed by the Congress of the United States making Oregon a Territory. General Joseph Lane of Indiana was appointed Territorial Governor by President Polk and Joseph Meek was made Federal Marshall. 1850 Captain Levi Scott laid out the town of Scottsburg on the Umpqua River. This site was a logical place from which to serve the new settlers of this area coming in from the Willamette Valley. Winchester Payne and Co., of San Francisco, sent their schooner "Kate Heath" with 100 men aboard headed by Mr. Winchester to establish supply points for the miners in northern California. This party found the wreck of the ship "Bostonian" and its crew and cargo on the site of the town of Gard- iner named in honor of the owner of that ship.