PLSO The Oregon Surveyor January February 2021

The Lost Surveyor 22 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 44, No. 1 Continued from previous page T The surveyor on the right is actually the right bank of both Spring Creek and his namesake, the Williamson River, at the Williamson River rest stop on the east side of the highway. The Williamson River is named for Lieutenant Robert Stockton Williamson. The Beaver Board reads, “A Pacific Railroad survey party searching for a practicable route for a railroad to connect the Sacramento Valley with the Columbia River passed near this point bound north on August 20, 1855. Lieu - tenant R.S. Williamson headed the party with2nd Lieutenant Henry L. Abbot second in command. Among the officers in the army escort were Lieutenant Phil S. Sheri - dan and Lieutenant George Crook. Dr. J.S. Newberry was the Chief-Scientist with the survey party.” [Photo 1 and 2] Collier Memorial State Park [Photo 3] spans both Spring Creek and the William - son River and thus is on both the right and the left of the water bodies as well as Highway 97, which is of course the route to Oregon Institute of Technology. The Williamson River rest stop is actually “hosted” within the Collier Memorial State Park Day Use Area. The park, which is one of Oregon’s best outdoor logging muse - ums, was donated by Alfred and Andrew Collier of Klamath Falls as a memorial to their parents, Charles Morse Collier and Janet McCormack Collier. [Photo 4 and 5] Charles Morse Collier was a U.S. Deputy Surveyor and a Deputy Mineral Survey - or who surveyed throughout southwest and southern Oregon. Collier was also a Lane County Surveyor between 1886 and 1913 and surveyed portions of the McKenzie Highway. From Jerry Olson’s work “Surveying South of the River,” the Colliers were another Oregon surveying family which included: • Arthur James Collier (1866–1939)— said to be a U.S. Deputy Surveyor for U.S. Geological Survey and a professor at University of Portland and University of Oregon; • Ethan Alexis Collier (1877–9170)— Oregon PE 645—Worked various surveying positions around the state and for the Oregon State Highway Department; • George Collier (1868–1948)— Compassman for William J. Byars and for John A. McQuinn (Authors note—some of my peers reading this will recognize McQuinn as someone we recently retraced before the fires); • Henry Latimer Collier (1853–1925)— Railroad Surveyor in the southeast and Survey Examiner in the west; • Robert Haskell Orville Collier (1864–1921)—U.S. Deputy Surveyor known as Robert Haskell Collier and as a surveyor as Robert Orville Collier. He surveyed east of Eugene. At the time of this publication, I am hap - py to report that both of these locations were narrowly saved from the fires of 2020 and remain in good condition. The next time you travel Highway 97 to or from Oregon Tech, stop in and say hello to two of our peers from Oregon history, relax and stretch your legs a bit at Collier Memorial State Park and Day Use Area, and the Williamson River Rest Area. x References • Oregon State Parks Website: https://stateparks.oregon.gov • Jerry Olson website, www.olsonengr.com , and “Surveying South of the River” by Jerry Olson continued T Photo 2: Williamson Beaver Board