PLSO July/August 2019

22 Vol. 42, No. 4 The Oregon Surveyor | The Lost Surveyor Entrance sign to Government Camp, Oregon on the south slope of Mt. Hood near the Barlow Road. Most of us hold a handful of jobs in our lifetime, but our current Lost Surveyor held enough for several people in multi- ple lifetimes. In addition to being a fairly prolific surveyor he was also a civilian member of the United States Mounted Ri- fles until his arrival in Oregon City where he was a school teacher and ferry oper- ator. In Oregon he worked as a contract mail boat operator, Assistant Clerk to the Council of the Oregon Senate, Territori- al Librarian, First Probate Judge, school teacher and County Surveyor in Wasco County, US Deputy Surveyor, stagecoach driver and farmer. In Washington he was once a laborer and a County Surveyor. In Canada he was a cannery worker and in Alaska he tried his hand at seal hunting. This issues’ surveyor was born in Clark County, Illinois in 1825 where he ob- tained an education in Civil Engineering or Surveying. In 1849 he set out for the Cali- fornia gold fields by way of New Orleans. He set off toward New Orleans on a joint venture with his brothers, however, after arriving in New Orleans his share did not come to enough to purchase a ticket for the voyage to California. He then head- ed north to Missouri where he joined the First US Mounted Rifleman as a civilian. Their exact route to Oregon is unknown, however, it is likely that they followed the Oregon Trail and arrived in The Dalles near the fall of 1849. The regiment was split at The Dalles with most of the soldiers taking passage down river to Vancouver, but a small group passed over the Barlow Road. As a side note, Government Camp is named for the results of this decision. With only about a third of their stock re- maining the group was forced to abandon their wagons along the journey. Some of those wagons were found in the area of Government Camp. It is likely that our surveyor was with this detachment because he arrived in Oregon City on November 15, 1849. At nearly 24 years old he abandoned plans to continue to California and left the cav- alry to try his hand at school teaching in Linn City (West Linn). In a very short time, our Lost Surveyor recognized the need for surveyors to support the ever-grow- ing population of settlers and in 1850 he began his surveying career in the north- west. He surveyed for Dr. JohnMcLoughlin and others to satisfy claim notifications, new townsites and county roads. Soon he was traveling up and down the Columbia River Gorge and surveying Do- nation Land Claims on both sides of the river. His own claim is near The Dalles and the town which bears his name to- day. After surveying a claim on the north side of the Columbia River for his cousin, Asbury, our Lost Surveyor from Illinois, Justin Chenoweth crossed the river and began to survey a claim of his own. Find- ing no help from the Indians or the locals he surveyed the claim alone and then en- dured a treacherous journey to Oregon City via the Columbia River, Fort Vancou- ver, and Portland to file his claim. After filing his claim, he accepted the aforementioned Assistant Clerk Posi- tion in Oregon City. After a brief time of public service, he returned to survey- ing and participated in the surveying of Portland before returning to The Dalles. Continues on page 25 T