R. C. Finley selected a "site on the Calapooia just northwest of the butte where Americus Savage lived as a perfect location for intercepting valley traffic headed north to the new Albany mill. . ." In 1858, "Savage agreed to sell some of his land and about 1858 Finley and his partners, Alexander Brandon and P. V. Crawford, began building the mill." On December 1, 1858, Finley purchased the right to build a dam across the Calapooia on the R. M. Elder DLC south of the Savage claim and 'to operate a race on said dam, for milling purposes'.
"Finley obtained Territorial water rights in 1858, one year before Oregon became a state. When the mill at Crawfordsville ceased to operate, in the late 1940s the Boston-Thompson mill became owner of the number one water rights on the Calapooia River." {Shedd by LCHS members Margaret Carey and Patricia Hainline, p 10-11}
Clara Thompson continued, "Americus Savage sold land to P. V. Crawford and R. C. Finley on which was built the 'Boston Mills', still operating there, though now known as 'Thompson's Mill.'
"With my parents when they came to Oregon were two of father's brothers. One of them, Uncle John Morgan, married Prudence Savage, a daughter of Americus Savage.
"When Americus Savage sold land for the 'Boston Mill' a small village was started there. This was called 'Boston' or 'New Boston'. It never became much of a town but at one time there was a store, a blacksmith shop, a post office and a carding mill.
"Another uncle, my father's brother, was Thomas Morgan. He did not come to Oregon with father, but somewhat later and with the train that brought the Ward family. Uncle Tom was about 11 years old when he came and he always made his home with my father, never marrying. Uncle Tom and my brother Orange Morgan had a carding mill at Boston. [Thomas Morgan came to Oregon in 1845 at age 25 and married Lydia B. Courtney on December 1, 1847. Thomas Ward married Miller Morgan's cousin, Hannah Morgan, in Des Moines County, Iowa on November 14, 1844. With their daughter, Mary, the Wards traveled to Oregon, where Anderson Ward was born on September 9, 1847 in Eastern Oregon.]
". . .The postmistress at the town of Boston was Mrs. Billy Simmons. She was first married to a man named Warner and later to Simmons. Simmons owned or managed the mill at Boston for a time. One of Mrs. Simmons daughters by her first marriage was Mrs. S. P. Brock some of whose family still live near the Boston Mills. . . [The application for the Boston Mills Post Office was dated May 1, 1869 and signed by Americus Savage. The post office was to be located 20 yards from the Calapooia River. It was noted that eighty families were living within "a circle of 3 miles." The map accompanying the application shows the post office location on the road between Albany and Eugene City. The post office of "Boston Mills" was established on September 21, 1869. The Brownings say that it was changed to "Shedds" on August 28, 1871 and in turn changed to "Shedd" on November 13, 1915. However, the post office application signed by William Simmons to move the post office to Shedds was completed on February 25, 1871 and approved April 17, 1871. {National Archives, post office applications & "Oregon Post Offices" by Emil & Elsie Browning} William "Billy" Simmons was the first postmaster at Boston. {Past and Present Towns of Linn County, Oregon by Dean Armstrong and Michael Strom, p 8} The post office application changing the name from Shedds to Shedd was dated December 15, 1915 and signed by M. G. Coon on December 21, 1915. {National Archives, post office applications}]
"The blacksmith shop at Boston may have been run by Captain Frank Shedd for whom the town of Shedd is named. He did not come to Oregon as early as some [1864]. . ." {PS, Vol 4, p 82-86}
The first 1937 interview with Eliza (Finley) Brandon continued. "My father built the original mill at the old town of Boston, near Shedd. In this venture he had two partners. Father owned a one-half interest in it and Alex Brandon and P. V. Crawford each owned a one-quarter interest. The first Boston Mill was soon destroyed by fire. I do not think that my brother is right in what he said concerning the cause of that fire, but I will tell you what I think. With the flouring mill there was a carding factory. In the carding machine a fire was kept burning constantly to warm the wool as it was worked. I believe that the fire originated in this carding machine.
"Soon after the fire the Boston Mill was rebuilt. All of the massive timbers for both mills were cut and hewed out by hand in the woods near Crawfordsville and then hauled to Boston. This was done twice, once for each building, an immense task.
"The town of Boston was never very large. I know that Crawford lived there, and Alex Brandon, my father's partners. My own husband was Thomas Brandon, a brother to Alex Brandon.
"Yes, they used to hold fairs at Boston in the early days. The fairs were not really held at Boston, but in the country, across the Calapooya River to the eastward, at the foot of Savage Butte. Savage Butte is a small hill lying between Saddle Butte and the Calapooia. Sometimes it is called Bunker Hill because it was near Boston, and at one time two settlers fought there over a land claim. They called that 'The battle of Bunker Hill.' The Savage for whom Savage Butte was named was Americus Savage. He owned the original claim on which Boston was built. My father bought the mill site from him. Americus Savage committed suicide in 1876. He left a letter requesting that he be buried on Savage Butte, with specific directions where the grave was to be made, and how it was to face--quite differently from the usual manner of facing a grave. [It is located on the lower part of the north side of Savage Butte, away from other graves in the cemetery on the east side.]
"My father, R. C. Finley, died in 1892 [August 5, 1882]." {PS, Vol 1, p 48-49}
--- > Insert Boston Mill timber {Glenn Harrison}
Anna (Brandon) Morgan noted, "My name is Anna Morgan. My husband's name is Elza Morgan. He is a son of Joseph William Morgan and grandson of Miller Morgan who came to Oregon in 1847.
"My maiden name was Anna Brandon and I am a daughter of Alex Brandon who was an early millwright and miller connected with the Finley mill at Crawfordsville and the 'Boston' mill on the Calapooia near Shedd. . .
"My father came to Oregon in the year 1851. With him was his brother, Thomas Brandon. . . He was a carpenter and millwright and helped to build the mill at Boston, Linn Co. Oregon. He owned one-fourth interest in that mill, P. V. Crawford owned a one-fourth interest, and 'Uncle' Dick Finley owned a half interest.
"Besides his mill interests, father did general carpentry. He built the schoolhouse here in the Morgan District where I now live.
"My father's brother, Uncle Tom Brandon, married a daughter of R. C. Finley, father's mill partner. Her name was Eliza Finley. She still lives at Halsey at a very advanced age. 'Aunt Eliza's' sister, Finley's oldest daughter [Sarah], married Cyrus Vawter who was also a very early miller at the Finley Mill at Crawfordsville. Thus the Finley's became more or less connected by marriage to all of his hired millers. . ." {PS, Vol 4, p 14-15}
The interview with James Vawter Crawford and Mary P. (Cowgill) (Crawford) Coon continued. "Philemon Vawter Crawford finally went into partnership with Richard C. Finley, the pioneer mill builder who established the old flouring mill a short distance below Crawfordsville in 1858. Together Crawford and Finley promoted the building of a new mill on the Calapooia River a mile or so east of Shedd. That mill they named the 'Boston Mill,' and a town called 'New Boston' sprung up around it. The exact date of the building of the Boston Mill we do not know, but it was sometime in the late 1850's [1858]. It was burned down in 1862, but was rebuilt almost immediately. It is still standing and in use, now owned by the Thompson Brothers. The town of New Boston ceased to exist soon after the coming of the railroad and the establishment of Shedd Station. {Vol 1, p 94-95} [On August 5, 1862, a son, Beverly Vawter Crawford, was born at the Boston Mill . That mill is still operating although it is owned by David and Merlene Babits. The Boston Mill Society has made an offer to purchase the mill for use as an interpretive center for the agriculture, industry and social life of the Willamette Valley.]
John Cornett was interviewed by Leslie Haskin on January 8, 1940. His father, John B. Cornett, crossed the plains from Linn County Missouri to California in 1850. He mined for gold near Placerville and in 1863 married Elizabeth Crooks. In 1864 Emma Cornett was born in California and the family moved to Linn County, Oregon, where John was born in 1866. When John was fourteen months old his parents separated and Elizabeth and Emma returned to California. J. B. married Sara Jane Savage, daughter of Americus Savage, on September 3, 1871, and ". . .took up the land where the old town of Boston, Linn County, was located.
"Sarah Savage Cornett, my father's second wife, became to me the only mother I ever knew; I know far more about the Savage family than I do about my own people. She was a real mother to me.
"The father of Sarah, my step-mother, came to Oregon in 1851 bringing his family with him, from Franklin County, Maine. . . [The family consisted of Americus and his wife Mary Ann (Thompson) Savage and children, Prudence, Joe, Luelling called 'Lute', Sarah J. - born in Springfield, Illinois, and Frank.]
"After reaching Oregon, Americus Savage first settled on the west side of the Calapooia River where the 'Boston Mills' (now Thompson Bros. Flouring Mills) was later built. A little later, due to the frequent threat of high water, he moved to the east of the Calapooia and built a house on the summit of a low butte. This butte is now well known by the name 'Savage Butte', but is more often called 'Bunker Hill.' [It is near the town of Boston and a fight over a land claim, known as the battle of Bunker Hill, occurred there.] He remained living on the butte until about 1864 or 1865 and again moved west of the river and occupied a house just east of the present Thompson Mills. On the summit of 'Bunker Hill' there is still plainly visible the cellar pit of Savage's second house. In 1862-1863 [1861-1862], there was a remarkably high water all through this valley. That was the year that the old Finley Mill at Crawfordsville was washed out, Savage, having moved to Bunker Hill to escape high water, and noting this extremely high flood, resolved that it was time to see just where in the neighborhood it was safe to build. (Evidently he was dissatisfied with his home so high up on the Butte. [-L. H.]) He, therefore, took a boat at the height of the winter flood and rowed across the river inspecting the country. He found that there was only one spot free from water between 'Bunker Hill' where he lived and the present town of Shedd [two miles west]. He, therefore, built his third home on that one spot, which, as previously stated, was just east of the present mill. . .
"Of the neighbors who settled near to the Savage claim, the following are among the most prominent. (Some came earlier than Savage did. [-L. H.]) Miller Morgan took up the land about Saddle Butte in 1848. Came to Oregon in 1847. R. M. Elder settled to the south of Americus Savage; he came in 1849. Richard Farwell, who came in 1852, took up the west of the Savage claim. S. P. Brock, who came in 1852, settled to the north of him. . ." {PS, Vol 1, 91-93} Almost every winter there is still flooding of the low-lying fields along the Calapooia River. For several years LCHS member Karl Arnold lived on the Brock DLC. In May 1996, Karl recalled one time during a flood when sheep in the surrounding fields were rescued by moving them to the warehouse floor of the Boston/Thompson Mill.
Thomas Bird Sprenger, son of 1852 pioneer Nicholas and Martha (Bird) Sprenger and grandfather of LCHS Director Ross Sprenger, was interviewed on his farm near Shedd. ". . . When we first came, like most of the emigrants we were none too well supplied with money or materials. When father first came he made a trip to Peterson's Butte [near Lebanon] to buy seed wheat. He had to pay fifteen dollars per bushel which ate into his little supply of money very fast."
"On the Calapooia a little further up was the old Boston Mill, built by R. C. Finley and Crawford but it burned in a very short time. The second mill was built by Sim[m]ons and Crawford." [Billy Simmons bought it later.] {PS, Vol 5, p 7, 3, 4} [Thomas 'T. B.' Sprenger was one of the neighbors who used a team of horses pulling a plow, to cut a path for the runoff in high water. Their work diverted water from the Calapooia River past the Boston Mill and developed the Sodom Ditch. {Ross Sprenger}]
LCHS Directors Doreen Eagy and Irene Githens recalled wearing clothing made from Thompson Mill flour sacks. It was a status symbol to have a flour sack emblem on your back side.
