< Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 25.djvu
This page needs to be proofread.

OREGON'S FIRST RAILWAY

235 this David Hewes resurrected the little engine, had it repaired and presented the relic to the State of Oregon. On its side a brass plate reading OREGON'S FIRST LOCOMOTIVE Presented to the State of Oregon by David Hewes, A Pioneer of San Francisco, Cal. Illustrative of the development of commerce up the Columbia River by the Oregon Steam Navigation Company. The Lewis and Clark fair of 1905 came to an end, but no arrangements were made by the people's repre- sentatives, the State Legislature, for a permanent abode for the pioneer locomotive, and the State Historical So- ciety asked the Union Pacific System officers at Portland to house it somewhere until the legislators should take the matter up and make an adequate provision for the Pony. For this, nothing has yet been done by the State. The historic relic is deserving of a better fate, and Samuel C. Lancaster, the engineer of the Columbia River Highway has suggested its being placed at Crown Point, but the writer suggests as in his opinion a more desirable location a position in the parkway facing the Portland Union Station, at the head of Sixth Street. Here it should stand on a section of five foot gauge wooden track, with ties four feet apart and planked over between the 6"x6" fir rails which should be faced with strap iron. At the same time it is urged that the Pony be restored to what must have been its original appearance, similar to the second and third locomotives turned out by the Vulcan Iron Works, of which photographs are preserved.

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.