Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Callan, Arthur C. February 7, 1876 - 
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Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com May 15, 2009, 8:14 pm

Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     ARTHUR C. CALLAN.  Varied and important interests have profited by the 
resourcefulness, the enterprise and keen discernment of Arthur C. Callan, a 
Portland business man whose constructive efforts have been of direct value to 
the city as well as a source of individual prosperity.  His activities have 
also extended to the field of public service and his career has been 
characterized by the accomplishment of much good.  A native of Omaha, 
Nebraska, he was born February 7, 1876, a son of Thomas and Catherine Callan. 
His father had valuable real estate holdings in Omaha, owning the Grand 
Central Opera House, the Grand Central Hotel and the Tremont House. In 1888 he 
migrated to Oregon, arriving in Portland on the 2d of April, and was connected 
with the Union Pacific Railroad Company. While associated with the Kilpatrick 
& Collins Co., he aided in building the extension of the Union Pacific line 
from Portland to Puget Sound and was engaged in railroad construction work for 
many years, also contributing materially toward the development of the coal 
fields of this region. His upright, useful life was brought to a close in 1901 
and Mrs. Callan was called to her final rest in 1920.

     Arthur C. Callan received his early instruction in Omaha and was a boy of 
twelve when his parents came to Portland, where he completed his studies. His 
first position was that of bookkeeper for a hardware firm and later he was 
transferred to the sales department. He mastered every phase of the business 
and subsequently became a traveling representative of a wholesale hardware 
house of San Francisco, California. In 1904 he went to Seattle, Washington, 
continuing as a traveling salesmen, and afterward was made manager of the 
Seattle branch of the Pacific Hardware & Steel Company. In 1905 he was 
transferred to Portland and successfully managed the business of the 
corporation in this city. He became the manager of the Portland Rolling Mill 
in 1906 and operated the plant until 1912, when the business was consolidated 
with that of the Seattle Steel Company and the Doak Steel Company of San 
Francisco. After the merger was effected the industry was operated by the 
Pacific Coast Steel Company, with which Mr. Callan was identified until 1914, 
when he disposed of his stock in the corporation. He then turned his attention 
to the real estate business and about 1914 was the first man in Portland to 
make use of the word realtor in an advertisement. When the United States was 
drawn into the vortex of the World war he reentered the steel industry and 
organized the Columbia Pacific Shipping Company, becoming one of its directors 
and a member of the executive board. He started the campaign for wooden ships 
and in order to create interest in the project he instituted a ship model 
contest for school children. In 1919 he formed the Pacific International 
Company, of which he became the executive head, and in 1920 sold his stock in 
the Columbia Pacific Company. At one time he had charge of the business of 
Callan & Fortier, a Seattle firm. He served as a director of the Open River 
Transportation Company, with Hon. J. N. Teal, T. D. Honeymen, A. H. Devers, 
George Lawrence, Henry Hahn and S. M. Smears, which company operated boats on 
the Columbia River as far as Lewiston, Idaho, and this was the beginning of 
the fight for lower rates in the Columbia Basin territory. He was a member of 
first commission appointed to draft a minimum wage law for Oregon, 
representing the employers. He was active on the transportation committee of 
the Portland Chamber of Commerce, serving several years as its chairman, and 
organized the conference between the Chamber, Port and Dock Commissions, which 
brought about a consolidated front in the fight for the Columbia Basin case. 
His energies are now devoted to the real estate business, of which he has made 
a deep study, and is an acknowledged expert in this field of activity. He has 
done a large amount of appraisal work and served the interstate commece 
commission in the capacity of valuator. Mr. Callan has negotiated many 
important transfers of property and his advice in regard to real estate 
investments is always to be relied upon. Endowed with business ability of a 
high order, he has been able to scatter his energies without lessening their 
force and his probity is above question.

     In 1909 Mr. Callan was united in marriage to Mrs. Myrtle L. Hunt, of St. 
Paul, Minnesota, and their attractive home is a center of the social and 
cultural life of Portland. Mr. Callan is an adherent of the republican party 
and in 1917 was chosen to represent his district in the general assembly of 
Oregon. When the present insurance law was passed he was chairman of the house 
committee and was also a member of the committee that framed the bill for the 
present plan of road development. At all times he worked for the best 
interests of the state and was appointed a member of the board of 
commissioners who settled many of the fishing disputes between Oregon and 
Washington. During 1919-20 he was vice president of the National Foreign Trade 
Council and was councillor for the United States Chamber of Commerce. At one 
time he was a director of the Portland Chamber of Commerce, which he has 
represented at Washington, D. C., and also served on the Portland traffic and 
transportation committee. His affiliation with the Northwestern Realty 
Association dates from its inception, for which he is partly responsible, and 
he also belongs to the Portland realty board. In Masonry he holds the thirty-
second degree and his identification with the Benevolent Protective Order of 
Elks covers a period of thirty years.  Mr. Callan is a past chief ranger of 
the Foresters and something of the nature of his recreation is indicated by 
his connection with the Portland Golf Club. His is a well rounded development 
and the principles that govern his life are those which constitute the basis 
of all honorable and desirable prosperity. Fred Lockley wrote of him as 
follows in the Oregon Daily Journal of January 17, 1920:

     "Arthur C. Callan is secretary and treasurer of the Pacific International 
Company of Portland. His middle initial stands for 'Centennial,' so it is easy 
to figure how old he is. A day or so ago I was having my hair cut in the 
Journal barber shop. As Arthur stepped up to the cash register to pay for a 
shave, he pulled out a handful of silver. I noticed there were several 
quarters and four or five dimes. He laid down a half dollar and pocketed his 
change. 'Why did you do that?' I asked. 'Why did I do what?' he answered. I 
replied, 'Why did you give the cashier half a dollar when you had the exact 
change in your hand?' ‘I would have had to pay a fine of fifty cents if I had 
spent a dime,' he responded. I thought he was trying to get gay with me, but 
when I looked at his eyes I saw he was in earnest. 'I haven't spent a dime for 
over eleven years,' he continued. 'A little over eleven years ago my wife 
wanted a dining room table. We didn't feel that we could afford it. One day 
she said, 'I know how we can pay for it and never miss the money. Whenever you 
receive a dime in change put it aside and don't spend it. I'll do the same. If 
either of us spends a dime we will pay a fine of fifty cents into our table 
fund.' I agreed and faithfully turned all the dimes I received in change over 
to my wife. One day I came home and found a new dining room table. 'It's all 
paid for,' my wife said. 'I paid for it in dimes.' We decided to keep up the 
saving of dimes. Several years later a sudden emergency arose. I needed one 
thousand dollars at once. I didn't like to go to the bank to borrow it. I told 
my wife about it. She said, 'I'll lend you a thousand dollars from our dime 
fund.' Right then I decided that saving dimes was a worth while plan. During 
the past year or more we have bought a five dollar War Savings stamp each week 
out of the dimes we save. Sometimes I will start out gayly in the morning with 
a five dollar bill and the first man I buy something from will apologize for 
having to give me my change in 'chicken feed' and will hand me five or ten 
dimes. It's surprising how many dimes you receive in change in the course of a 
week. Try it for a month or so and you will be surprised to find how much 
money you save.'"


Additional Comments:
History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. II, 
Pages 683-685



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