Fort Briggs - Josephine County, OR
N 42° 07.961 W 123° 36.672
10T E 449487 N 4664689
A historical marker located just off Holland Loop Rd.
Waymark Code: WMXF36
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 01/04/2018
Views: 0
A wooden historical marker highlights a former military fort that existed across the field to the west (picture of it above) and tells us:
| FORT BRIGGS
A REFUGE FOR WHITE SETTLERS DURING THE INDIAN WARS OF 1855-1856 STOOD ON THIS SITE. GEORGE E. BRIGGS TOOK UP A DONATION LAND CLAIM IN FEBRUARY 1854 AND BUILT A CABIN OF SQUARED LOGS. HE FARMED AND RAN A FREIGHT PACKING OPERATION IN 1856. BRIGGS, THEN A STATE LEGISLATOR, INTRODUCED THE BILL WHICH FORMED JOSEPHINE COUNTY FROM A PART OF JACKSON COUNTY. FORT BRIGGS BURNED TO THE GROUND IN 1908.
JOSEPHINE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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After doing a little online research, I discovered a webpage that highlights a little more history and tells us:
[1855-1856] A stockaded settler log house converted to a fort on the land donation claim of George E. Biggs (section 35, twp 39 south, range 8 west) during the Rogue River Indian War. The fort provided shelter for some 80 settlers along Sucker Creek in the Illinois River Valley. The squared log house and two barns were enclosed with a stockade. The fort was abandoned for military purposes at the end of the war but remained standing until 1908.