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The Roseburg News-Review May 19, 2006
It’s the size of Connecticut, home to everything from beaches to snowy mountains to rich, wet forestland. Douglas County is touted as the hundred valleys of the Umpqua — a formidable slogan that defies the curious to explore and count them all.Though the meaning of the American Indian word used to describe the river that passes through the region, “Umpqua,” is lost to time, the spirit and splendor that define Douglas County remains.
Douglas County covers 5,071 square miles. It is the fifth-largest county in Oregon, and nearly 40 percent of it is covered by forest land.
Before pioneer settlement, several American Indian tribes called the Umpqua basin home.
On the coast were the Lower Umpqua and Washington-state émigrés, the Kalawatsets. To the north, along Elk and Calapooya creeks, were the Yoncalla-Kalapuya. In the main valley, along the creeks and river from the base of the Cascades to the eastern edge of the Coastal range, were the Umpqua. The Molalla lived in the slopes of the Cascades near Diamond Lake, while the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians occupied the southwestern portion of the county.
The Hudson’s Bay Co. trappers brought the fur trade to the area in the 1820s. They were followed by missionaries, miners and farmers.
Charles, Jesse and Lindsay Applegate were among the first settlers to cross the Oregon Trail in 1843. The tragic drowning of two Applegate children in the Columbia River and danger of the Cayuse Indians inspired Jesse Applegate to act as captain of a team to locate an alternative southern road into Oregon.
In 1846, Jesse and Lindsay Applegate, and Levi Scott — for whom Scottsburg is named — set out through the Umpqua Valley with a dozen other settlers. Their endeavors resulted in development of the Applegate Trail, which cleared the way for the first wagons through the area.
When the Oregon Donation Land Act went into effect in 1850, it spurred mass movement to the region. Umpqua County was created in 1851 along the banks of the river. The first meeting of the Umpqua County Court was in Elkton in 1852. Later sessions were held in Green Valley and Yoncalla.
A portion of Umpqua County was renamed Douglas in 1852, for U.S. Sen. Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, a congressional advocate for Oregon statehood. A decade later Umpqua County was entirely absorbed by Douglas County.
Winchester was the county seat until 1854 when Deer Creek, renamed Roseburg in 1855, usurped the title after winning a popular election.
Timber and agriculture have been important to the economy, but other natural resources have helped.
From the Calapooya to the Umpqua mountain ranges, the beauty of the area has captivated and enticed the curious for centuries. It still lures them here today.
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