Appendix A. The Legend of the Gold-Filled Boot on Calloway Creek

Appendix A

The following accounts of the "Legend of the Gold-Filled Boot" and the history of Tampico are quoted directly from Royal G. Jackson's McDonald-Dunn Forests: Human Use and Occupation, A report submitted to John Beuter, Director of School Forests, School of Forestry, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon. June 1980. 404 pp.

The Legend of the Gold-Filled Boot on Calloway Creek

Dame Rumor has it that an honest, law abiding citizen of the Soap Creek district was wending his weary way homeward from what is now our fair city of Corvallis. As he approached Calloway Creek, he heard strange sounds and determined to investigate. He came upon three men diligently digging as if in search of something. As he stood watching the strange episode, he swears he saw a miner's boot uncovered and that this boot was full of gold dust (Mason

One of the persistent stories that surfaces from the historical record of the School Forests, is a legend of a miner who buried a gold-filled boot somewhere near Calloway Creek, in the present day Arboretum. The legend relates to the Settlement and Transportation themes, therefore, a capsule follows of the alleged events. In 1855 or 1856 a miner from the gold fields of California stopped at a Corvallis saloon to fortify himself for the remainder of the journey to Salem, where he was to visit his sweetheart. After imbibing he began to brag about his successes; on leaving the saloon he proceeded toward the now nonexistent town of Tampico. The route to Tampico was along an old road that passed by Calloway Creek (about a mile and a half from Tampico and within a few hundred feet of the northeast corner of our arboretum tract," according to Mason). Fearing that he was being followed, he placed the gold dust inside a boot and buried it.

The miner was never heard again, according to the legend, and three men in Corvallis--Hale, Livingstone, and Zimmerman--began to greatly prosper shortly thereafter. The passerby who happened upon the three men digging for something was seen: "Immediately steps were taken on the part of the former diggers to 'shovel out the brains' of the onlooker, who was able to save his head only through forceful and rapid use of his pedal extremities . . . "(Mason, 1926,

No evidence was found by the researcher to support this story. According to Harriet Moore (1979) there is a similar story that is associated with Silverton, Oregon. She suggested that both are probably unsupported. Marvin Rowley once encountered a man in the Forest near Calioway Creek who was looking for the location of an old road. On questioning him, he disclosed to Rowley that he had a map that located the site of the gold-filled boot. Rowley did not ask to see the map, and nothing more was heard about that particular individual.

Mason's summary, written in 1926, of the gold-filled boot legend, included reference to Oregon's first telegraph line that followed the old turnpike. No other information could be found that shed additional light on this claim. Mason described it as follows:

the thoughts that sped along Oregon's first telegraph line which passed by Calloway Creek and followed political doings, and the myriad activities of human endeavor gladdened or saddened the people of that early day as does the telegraph of today ... The only existence of this early activity, partly grown over staples, can still be seen on some of the trees along the route.

With the development of rail transportation and the building of the West Side Highway in the Valley, came the decadence of Tampico and the once oft traveled road became useless. The telegraph line fell into disrepair and the well-worn ruts gradually filled, leaving only a faint line along the hillside where once an important road directed the steps of sturdy pioneers to and from Corvallis and Portland (p. 13).

No other reference to such a telegraph line was found; none of the informants interviewed for this research had heard this claim.

Tampico

Oregon is a pleasant place For dancing, fun and foli-o, But you may search it o'er and o'er, You'll find no place like Tampico.

Hurrah, hurrah for Tampico, Three cheers for our town Tampico, Corvallis never can take the shine. To it we never will resign.

One of the towns in Benton County that has gained notoriety over the years is the now non- existent town of Tampico that was located 10 miles east of Fort Hoskins on the road from Corvallis to Dallas (T 10 5, R 5 W, Section 24). As the poem indicates, Tampico was considered to be a bustling little town that provided more than its share of entertainment (Sommer, 1976). According to some sources, it was a complex of saloons, race tracks, stores, dance halls, and other buildings that drew settlers from miles around, who came for general revelry and for ordinary business. It was a stage station and a trading post on the old Territorial route (Portland and Umpqua Valley Road) during the early days. The plat for the town was filed with the county clerk on November 16, 1857, but the town was probably laid out several years earlier. According to the courthouse records, the townsite came into the possession of Green Berry Smith, by whom the plat was annulled and canceled on January 23, 1860. The cause for this action has been the subject of some speculation on the part of historians.

In the 1940's the WPA initiated an historical records survey project to compile information on the historical records of counties. As a part of that project research on the various small Oregon towns was completed, one of which was Tampico. The following capsule of Tampico's history is drawn from that research.

In 1853, David D. Davis started a store and stage station beside a spring among the oak trees. At that place during the following year a post office, under the name of Soap Creek, was established. Davis was appointed as the postmaster. Another source states that William S. Crouch was the first postmaster at Soap Creek (Payne, 1959, p. 486). The name of the post office was changed to Tampico, and the community began to prosper. Twice a week the stage brought freight, mail, and passengers to Tampico. James O'Neal and William Beatty ran the first boarding house and livery stable; wild horses were broken at $1 a head in a corral attached to the stable. Wiffiam Griffith was the first blacksmith; he also taught singing, conducted debates and directed other gatherings in the nearby school house. A Mr. Roberts15 ran a tavern at the south end of town; McDavis16 operated a carpentry enterprize; Crouch and Roberts were merchants who brought silk and satin to the pioneer community; Davis, who gave Tampico its name, ran a variety store; William Bowers operated the Arcade Saloon.

According to this account, people travelled from miles around to gather at Tampico for news, mail, recreation, business, and related matters.

People would come there from all direction on Saturday to hear the news. Some would have letters from the East, and any bits of news was passed around. Then some diversions were always planned, or at least something diverting happened. One day there would be horse race way. Another time there would be a shooting match with, perhaps, a pig for a prize. Sometimes when men had differences of opinions they would arrange to settle it at Tampico on Saturday afternoon. Many were the fistic encounters on the green at Tampico (Oregon Historical Records Survey, 1942, p. 35).

This account was recorded by Mrs. Annie Brown, a resident of Suver, Oregon during that time (1940's). It was also noted that Tampico had the principal race track in that part of the Willamette Valley, where some of the finest horses in the country raced. The general portrait of the community: a raucous, bustling community given to abundant revelry, that rivaled Corvallis in many respects. Some have assumed that Green Berry Smith acquired the property upon which the town was located, in order to end its legal existence. There are other opinions about the major outlines of Tampico's history.

Local historian and ex-O.S.U. Archivist Harriet Moore, believes that the reputation of Tampico is exaggerated. According to Mrs. Moore's research, the stories of boisterous

George W. "Wash" Roberts (1824-****), an early Benton County pioneer and owner of the DLC to the immediate south of the David D. Davis claim.

16 Probably "Mac" Davis, a son of David D. Davis.

behavior at the town are not in any way associated with Green Berry Smith17. . Smith, who often made loans to the citizens of Benton County, was a respected farmer and state legislator. She speculates that Smith may have acquired the tract by a foreclosure on a debt, because most of his property was located in the southern part of the county at that time.

Mrs. Moore also questioned that a stage passed through Tampico, because stage coaches between McMinnville and Corvallis did not travel on the west side of the river:

You had a stage coach between Portland and Lafayette, you had one between Lafayette and McMinnville on the west side, but the stage otherwise came down to Salem and crossed the river. They came to Albany down through Jefferson and Albany, and crossed the river on Rainwater's Ferry, and came on to Corvallis. They didn't hit Tampico. I've gone through the way bills

Moore pointed out (1980) that there was mail service, and that Mrs. Avery's brother, Edmond Marsh, was the mail carrier and worked from Dallas. Marsh travelled by mule, however, as they were not using stages for mail delivery at that time.

Another point of disagreement stems from the belief that the soldiers from Fort Hoskins partook of Tampicos ' s revelry:

The saloon was favorite gathering place for soldiers stationed at Fort Hoskins in Kings Valley west of Tampico. They came into town to drink, fight, and race horses. Gamblers boarded in Tampico for weeks and even months to participate in the town's sprees (Sommer, 1976, p.2).

Moore pointed out that there were no roads from Fort Hoskins to Tampico in that time, that the soldiers did not have horses for their use--they would have had to walk the distance. Also, there was a road built from Hoskins over to Siletz and she believes that any liquor purchased would have come from a settler store outside the blockhouse at that location. As for the general social environment of Tampico, Harriet Moore noted that:

. . I can't see how they could have even had three saloons. You hear that they had three saloons and that they had a race track. I feel quite certain that there is authenticity about a race track out there. . .. Race tracks came up all

17 Editor's Note: Subsequent research has determined that Green Berry Smith was disliked by many of his neighbors and relatives, as attested by several legal filings against him during the 1840s and 1850s. In addition, Ms. Moore's research on stage travel was apparently limited to a single commercial enterprise. Otherwise, who delivered the mail or kept the Crouch Store stocked? It is probable that several delivery and/or personal stage lines served the Tainpico community through time; particularly between 1848 (the start of the California Gold Rush) and 1860 (the start of the Civil War).

over the country. That seemed to the practice. . . . We know that there was a track out here at Fairplay. .. . We know there was some kind of a race track out here south of town (p.7).

By 1885 David Fagan was already designating Tampico as a "has-been" in the county -- gone, except for a few remains, but not forgotten:

Who of the "old-timers" is there that does not remember Tampico, situated just south of the old Soap Creek crossing on the old pack trail. A quarter of century ago this was a place of considerable importance and famous for the "high jinks" held within the bar-rooms. But the glory of Tampico has departed, and for years past it has been a pasture for browsing cattle and nibbling sheep; only a few dilapidated houses remain (p. 455).

Therefore, Tampico's pastmundane or ribald-- is not agreed upon, but it is known that the town existed at that location and that Green Berry Smith, for whatever reason he may have had, annulled it in 1860. Marvin Rowley (1979) remembers a school house that was still at the townsite as late as the 1960's. It was used for storage at that time.

References

Mason, Earl G. 1926. UA Partial Zoological Historical Summation of the Arboretum Acreage," The Annual Cruise. The Forest Club, Oregon Agricultural College, Corvallis, Oregon.

Moore, Harriet. 1979 (August 3). Personal Interview with Royal Jackson. School of Forestry, OSU, Corvallis, Oregon. On file with the Homer Museum.

Payne, Edward R. 1959 (December). "Oregon Territorial Post Office and Hand-Stamped Postal Markings," Oregon Historical Quarterly.

Rowley, Marvin. 1979. Personal Interviews with Royal Jackson and Jennifer Lee. School of Forestry, OSU, Corvallis, Oregon. On file with OSU Research Forests.

Sommer, Jo. 1976 (March 7). "Tampico," Oregon Statesman (Section B).

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