State of Oregon - Lane County

Lane County. Bounded north by Benton and Linn, east by Wasco, south by Douglas, and west by Douglas and the Pacific Ocean. Area, 4,900 square miles. Assessed valuation of property for 1873, $2,566,424. Population, 7,000. County seat, Eugene City. Principal towns, Butte Disappointment, Cresswell, Cottage Grove, Junction City, and Springfield. This extensive and wealthy county embraces the southern portion, or head, of the great Willamette Valley, and extends from the summit of the Cascade Range to the sea, giving it a variety of soil, climate, and productions, and a pleasant diversity of scenery. The Calapooia Mountains separate it from the valley of the Umpqua, and a range of low, grassy hills, slightly timbered with fir, pine, and oak, and watered by many springs, juts out from the range to near the centre of the valley, dividing it into two prongs. The western portion is quite mountainous, but to the south extends Oregon's broad and fertile valley. The Willamette is navigable for eight months of the year to Eugene City, and at times a few miles above, thus affording means of transportation to the farmers' products. The Oregon and California Railroad crosses the county, giving every convenience desired for trade and travel. The county is exceedingly well watered, the surrounding mountains sending many rapid streams to the main river. The McKenzie Fork is quite a large stream, rising in the northeast and running through a broad and extensive valley to the Willamette, having numerous lateral branches, presenting a large area of most desirable farming land. The Long Tom is a large stream taking its rise in the Coast Range, and running through the western prong of the valley, joins the Willamette 25 miles below Eugene City. The Siuslaw rises in the southern part of the county, and after a northwesterly course of 75 miles empties into the ocean. These streams furnish an unlimited water power, and their services will be brought into requisition when demanded by the greater development of the State. The fine climate, fertile soil, and grand scenery of this section attracted to it the earliest settlers of Oregon, and at the present time Lane is one of the wealthiest counties, though yet sparsely populated, and the resources imperfectly developed.
Officers: J. M. Thompson, County Judge; Joel Ware, Clerk ; C. W. Fitch, District Attorney ; S. B. Eakin, jr., Sheriff; John G. Day, Treasurer ; J. W. Parks, Assessor ; George H. Thurston, Surveyor; A. Sharpies, Coroner; R. G. Callison, 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.