State of Oregon - Columbia County

Columbia County. Bounded north and east by the Columbia, south by Multnomah and Washington, and west by Clatsop. Area, 470 square miles. Assessed valuation of property for 1874, $264,661. County seat, St. Helens. Principal towns: Columbia City, Marshland, and Ranier. The county is generally hilly, with a margin along the Columbia and the Willamette Slough, subject to overflow from the first of June to the middle of July. The bottom land is very fertile, and when not inundated is covered with a luxuriant growth of very nutritious grass, yielding from two to three tons of hay to the acre, and furnishing an almost inexhaustible pasturage. The hill lands are covered with noble forests, and valuable mill-sites are abundant. Coal in large veins exists near St. Helens, and iron ore of a high percentage, and in inexhaustible quantities, is found in various parts, constituting an undeveloped resource of great importance. The majestic Columbia flows along the entire eastern and northern boundary, and fine harbors for the accommodation of the largest vessels and ocean steamers are on its banks. The Klaskanine River is a considerable stream in the interior of the county, emptying into the Columbia. The Nehalem rises in Columbia and flows westward through Clatsop into the Pacific. Along these rivers are valleys of large size and of fertile soil, but generally so heavily timbered as to make them more desirable to the lumberman than to the farmer. The population is sparse-but the situation and resources are so favorable as to invite a rapid increase. The business of catching and preserving salmon is extensively carried on in this county, employing a large capital and returning large profits. The abundance of fish which swarm the river at certain seasons invites enterprise in this direction and the business is rapidly increasing, adding materially to the wealth of the county.
Officers; Dean Blanchard, County Judge; George Merrill, Clerk and Recorder; H. Y. Thompson, District Attorney; James Dart, Sheriff and Tax Collector; Joseph Copeland, Treasurer; (vacant), Assessor; Merit Pomeroy, Surveyor; John E. Gilbreath, Superintendent of Public Schools.

Pacific Coast Business Directory | Oregon Territory Index

Oregon Directory and Gazetteer

Source: Pacific Coast Business Directory for 1876-78, Compiled by Henry G. Langley, San Francisco, 1875.