Columbia-Tillamook-Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Smith, Captain Milton August 10, 1874 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com November 10, 2009, 1:30 pm Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 231 - 232 Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company One of the best known and most popular men along the Columbia river is Captain Milton Smith, of Rainier, who has been actively identified with river transportation practically from the time he attained his majority. He has been successful in a business way and stands among the solid substantial citizens of his community. A native of Oregon he was born near Salem, on the 10th of August, 1874, a son of Joseph and Sarah (Hall) Smith. His father was born in Ohio, where he was reared and educated. On May 12, 1846, he left Independence, Missouri, with a large emigrant train bound for Oregon and was seven months on the way, arriving in southern Oregon over the old Applegate trail. They reached Forest Grove, November 29, having come up the Rogue river to the Willamette valley. Mr. Smith took a donation land claim of six hundred and forty acres on French Prairie, near Salem, and developed a good farm, to the operation of which he gave his attention until 1874, when he moved to Salem, where he lived for one year. He then went to Buena Vista, Polk county, where he built a sawmill, which he operated until 1880, when he sold it and went to Tillamook bay, Tillamook county, building the first sawmill in that locality. In 1888 he sold that mill and, removing to Rainier, Columbia county, erected another mill, which he operated with the help of his three youngest sons until his death, which occurred April 20, 1896. He took a keen interest in the affairs of the country and fought in the Indian war of 1855-56. He was a charter member of Champoeg Lodge, No. 1, F. & A. M., this being the first Masonic lodge established in the state of Oregon, and was one of its first masters. On July 5, 1848, in Salem, Oregon, Joseph Smith married Miss Sarah Hall, who was born in Illinois and was but thirteen years of age at the time of her marriage. Her parents, Reason B. and Sarah Hall, came to Oregon in the same company with Mr. Smith and took up a donation claim at Buena Vista, Polk county, where they spent their remaining years. Mr. Hall was a veteran of the Mexican war. In 1854 he platted and named the town of Buena Vista in Polk county, located on his donation claim, and in 1856 he made a strong bid for the capital of the state, which at that time was located at Corvallis but eventually was removed to Salem. Mrs. Sarah Smith died in 1920. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith were born eleven children, namely: L. W., deceased; Mrs. D. B. Martin, of Gladstone, Oregon; Dr. W. P. Agnew, of San Francisco, California; Mrs. D. F. Robinson, deceased; Mrs. B. S. Hoover, deceased; Mrs. C. B. Patterson, of Salem, Oregon; R. B., of Junction City, Oregon; B. T., deceased; Milton; and two who died in infancy. Milton Smith received his education in the public schools of Tillamook Bay and Rainier, and during his boyhood spent much of his time along the river, which had a great fascination for him. His early hobby was making models of boats, which he sailed on the river, and thus he cultivated an interest which has remained with him to the present time. In 1894, when the big flood submerged all of the lower part of Portland, he took a small rowboat, which he owned, to the city and carried passengers to various parts of Portland, for which service he charged five and ten cents, according to the distance. He carried on that taxi business for two days, when the water subsided and he returned to Rainier, with a tidy little sum earned through his foresight and efforts. When twenty years old Captain Smith built a small steam tugboat at Rainier, which he operated on the Columbia river, and when he was twenty-two years of age he pulled a fishboat for John Bryant for seven months, in which way he cleared one hundred dollars, the first real money he ever possessed. That was the beginning of a long and successful career on the river, as he gradually increased his fleet until now he is the owner of seven tugboats, which he operates on the Columbia river and its tributaries. When he was twenty-five years old he took the examination and was granted a master's license. Captain Smith has always been interested in boats and in 1910 designed and built his first speedboat, which he named the Oregon Kid. He entered it in a number of races on the Pacific coast, beating all competitors, and then took it to Chicago and entered it in competition for the William Randolph Hearst trophy for motor boats not over thirty-two feet long, open to the world. The Oregon Kid, sailed by Captain Smith, won the trophy, which was a magnificent plaque of mahogany and silver, valued at seven hundred and fifty dollars. The Oregon Kid was the first boat in the world to officially make a speed of fifty miles an hour. The same year, at Chicago, Captain Smith won the William Hale Thompson trophy, and at San Francisco in 1915 the Oregon Kid, sailed by the Captain's son, Wilbur J., won the Pacific coast championship, the lad being but fifteen years old at the time. This now famous boat also won the championship at Astoria, Oregon, in 1914 and 1915. The captain has a splendid collection of silver cups and other trophies won in competition on the Pacific coast and the Great Lakes. Though he sold his speed boats several years ago, he has never lost his interest in the sport and still spends much of his time in designing new models. In 1896 Captain Smith was united in marriage to Miss Catherine Van Zelfden, who was born in Holland and is a daughter of James and Anna (Struijk) Van Zelfden. Her family came to the United States in 1885, locating at Pella, Iowa, where her father bought a small farm, on which he lived until his death. To him and his wife were born three children, namely: Mrs. Cornelia Versteeg, who lives in Portland, Oregon; Mrs. Catherine Smith; and Simon, of Garden Home, Multnomah county, Oregon. Captain and Mrs. Smith are the parents of two children, Wilber Joseph and Sarah Avis, both of whom were born in Rainier. Wilber J. was graduated from the Rainier high school and Oregon Agricultural College and now owns and operates a tugboat on the Columbia river, making his home in Rainier. He is a member of the Masonic lodge at that place. In 1920 he married Miss Leone Baker, who was born and reared in this state, and they have a son, Ray Milton, born in Astoria, Oregon, April 29, 1921. Sarah Avis Smith was graduated from the Rainier high school, received the Bachelor of Science degree at Oregon Agricultural College and is now at home and assists her father in his office work. Captain Smith is a member of Rainier Lodge, Nos 24, A. F. & A. M.; is a Royal Arch and Knight Templar Mason and belongs to Portland Consistory, A. A. S. R., and Al Kader Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., at Portland. He has erected a fine, modern residence in Portland, at 663 Willamette boulevard, where he now makes his home. He has always dealt fairly with his fellowmen and throughout the range of his wide acquaintance stands as a man among men, well meriting their confidence and respect. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/columbia/bios/smith997gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 7.8 Kb