![]() On September 22, 1848, he sold the entire townsite, save only for 64 sold lots and two blocks each for himself and Stark, to Daniel H. Three years later, Pettygrove had lost interest in Portland and become enamored with the California Gold Rush. On November 1, 1846, Lovejoy sold his half of the land claim to Benjamin Stark, as well as his half-interest in a herd of cattle for $1,215. They flipped a coin to decide, and Pettygrove won. When it came time to name their new town, Pettygrove and Lovejoy both had the same idea: to name it after his home town. īored with clearing trees and building roads, Overton sold his half of the claim to Francis W. Legend has it that Overton had prior rights to the land but lacked funds, so he agreed to split the claim with Lovejoy, who paid the 25-cent filing fee. In 1843, Tennessee pioneer William Overton and Boston, Massachusetts lawyer Asa Lovejoy filed a 640 acres (260 ha) land claim with Oregon's provisional government that encompassed The Clearing and nearby waterfront and timber land. As early as 1840, Massachusetts sea captain John Couch logged an encouraging assessment of the river’s depth adjacent to The Clearing, noting its promise of accommodating large ocean-going vessels, which could not ordinarily travel up-river as far as Oregon City, the largest Oregon settlement at the time. The site of the future city of Portland, Oregon, was known to American, Canadian, and British traders, trappers and settlers of the 1830s and early 1840s as "The Clearing," a small stopping place along the west bank of the Willamette River used by travelers en route between Oregon City and Fort Vancouver. ![]()
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