State of Oregon - Marion County

Marion County. Bounded north by Clackamas, east by Clackamas and Wasco, south by Linn, and west by Polk and Yamhill. Area, 1,734 square miles. Assessed valuation of property for 1874, $4,000,000. Population, 11,000.

County seat and Capital of the State, Salem. Principal towns: Aurora, Aumsville, Brooks, Butteville, Hubbard, Jefferson, Silverton, Sublimity and Woodburn. The county occupies a central and important position in the great valley of the Willamette, having that beautiful stream along its entire western border, giving it superior commercial advantages which, combined with the rich soil, its manufacturing facilities, its noble forests and mines, render it one of the most prosperous in the State.

The southwestern portion, bordering the Willamette, is a broad and level prairie, interspersed with groves of timber, and well adapted to farming. Good Indian corn is raised in this section but, generally, the climate of Oregon is not favorable to the successful cultivation of that grain. The southern portion of Marion is hilly, interspersed with prairie, and is an excellent wheat growing section.

Locally the different sections of the valley are designated as French Prairie, Howell Prairie, Salem Prairie, and the Santiam Prairie, Two thirds of the entire area is arable and capable of supporting an agricultural population of 100,000, though scarce a twentieth of that number are now engaged in cultivating its fertile and inexhaustible soil.

The eastern portion of the county is extremely mountainous, the crest of the Cascade Range being its limits. The North Santiam runs along the southern border and in its valley is a large area of excellent farming and grazing land. Pudding River is formed from numerous branches rising in the Cascades, and runs northerly through a large and fertile valley.

The facilities for marketing the products of the county are furnished by the navigable river along its western border, and the Oregon and California Railroad which passes through it. Manufacturing is extensively carried on at Salem, Aurora, and other localities, the many mountain streams furnishing abundant power for the purpose.

The schools are numerous and well sustained, the county being divided in fifty-five school districts, besides which are three academies and one university. Every village boasts its numerous and neat church edifices, presenting to the stranger evidences of cultivation, refinement and good society.

Officers: J. C, Peebles, County Judge; D. N. Murphy, Clerk, Recorder, and Auditor; J. J. Whitney, District Attorney; T. C. Shaw, Sheriff, and Tax-collector; J. E, Boynton, Treasurer; K. L. Hibbard, Assessor; A. Gesner, Surveyor; E. R. Fiske, Coroner; H. P. Crooks, Superintendent 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.