Tuberale
Gold Member
From: Oregon Trail: The Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean, By Federal Writers’ Project, c. 1939, p. 130
MEACHAM, 157.7 m. (3,681 alt, 70 pop.), was named for Col. A. B. Meacham, a member of the Modoc Peace Commission. The ill-starred Hunt party, after its wanderings in the Snake River wilderness, passed this way. It was near here that the Dorion child, born a few days earlier, died. Across this region covered wagons creaked and men and women trudged, sustained by the nearness of their goal. Later, stage drivers cracked their long whips above plunging eight-horse teams to hurry them to the Meacham Tavern. So recklessly did they drive that passengers were often injured, and Meacham’s coachmen figured in editorial diatribes of 50 years ago. Two large trees that formerly stood near Meacham sometimes concealed bandits, who preyed on the stage passengers. A series of bold robberies, including that of the Wells Fargo Express, occurred at this point.
Comment by poster: this needs to be carefully researched. Another hold-up happened in or about 1900 in what was later called Stage Gulch. The bandits were followed to the Blue Mountains, but a rainstorm obliterated their trail. Following directions from one of the robbers, Umatilla County Sheriff Til Taylor recovered the cache under a blown-down tree. Til Taylor did not become sheriff of Umatilla County until 1902, so this could not have happened much later. Taylor found the cache concealed among the branches of a recently blown-down tree. Within 6 months most of the needles from this tree had covered the saddlebags and chest obtained from the hold-up. Sheriff Tilman D Taylor (Till) made 2 trips to the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem to interview the robbers. They admitted hiding the robbery proceeds near Meacham, where they were later arrested. Taylor found the cached money and returned it to the stage company, in exchange for a reduced sentence for one of the robbers.
These caches may be the same, and merely confused by people over time.
MEACHAM, 157.7 m. (3,681 alt, 70 pop.), was named for Col. A. B. Meacham, a member of the Modoc Peace Commission. The ill-starred Hunt party, after its wanderings in the Snake River wilderness, passed this way. It was near here that the Dorion child, born a few days earlier, died. Across this region covered wagons creaked and men and women trudged, sustained by the nearness of their goal. Later, stage drivers cracked their long whips above plunging eight-horse teams to hurry them to the Meacham Tavern. So recklessly did they drive that passengers were often injured, and Meacham’s coachmen figured in editorial diatribes of 50 years ago. Two large trees that formerly stood near Meacham sometimes concealed bandits, who preyed on the stage passengers. A series of bold robberies, including that of the Wells Fargo Express, occurred at this point.
Comment by poster: this needs to be carefully researched. Another hold-up happened in or about 1900 in what was later called Stage Gulch. The bandits were followed to the Blue Mountains, but a rainstorm obliterated their trail. Following directions from one of the robbers, Umatilla County Sheriff Til Taylor recovered the cache under a blown-down tree. Til Taylor did not become sheriff of Umatilla County until 1902, so this could not have happened much later. Taylor found the cache concealed among the branches of a recently blown-down tree. Within 6 months most of the needles from this tree had covered the saddlebags and chest obtained from the hold-up. Sheriff Tilman D Taylor (Till) made 2 trips to the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem to interview the robbers. They admitted hiding the robbery proceeds near Meacham, where they were later arrested. Taylor found the cached money and returned it to the stage company, in exchange for a reduced sentence for one of the robbers.
These caches may be the same, and merely confused by people over time.
