Elijah Bristow Historical Markers - Pleasant Hill, OR
N 43° 58.052 W 122° 56.033
10T E 505303 N 4868268
These historical markers reside just off Hwy 58 in Pleasant Hill, OR.
Waymark Code: WMFHYJ
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 10/23/2012
Views: 1
The Elijah Bristow Historical Markers memorialize Elijah with two markers highlighting his accomplishments as a pioneer of Oregon and Lane County's first white settler and established Lane County's first church, school and was the first postmaster within the county as well (the website links I've provided mention these points as well as the historical markers). There is also a chimney monument near this marker which contain stones that represent all that remain of the Bristow cabin, which was built not far from here.
The large, wooden marker says the following about Elijah Bristow:
OREGON HISTORY
BRISTOW MONUMENT
ELIJAH BRISTOW, A VETERAN OF ANDREW JACKSON'S ARMY, ERECTED HIS CABIN HERE ON PLEASANT HILL IN 1846, EARLIEST YEAR OF SETTLEMENT IN LANE COUNTY. HE AND HIS WIFE SUSANNAH THEN LED IN ESTABLISHING THE COUNTY'S FIRST CHURCH AND FIRST SCHOOL. THIS REPLICA OF THEIR FIREPLACE IS FROM THE ORIGINAL STONES.
There is another, smaller marker which gives a more detailed account of Elijah's life and says the following:
ELIJAH BRISTOW
April 28, 1788 - September 19, 1872
In 1845 Elijah Bristow and his wife (Susannah Gabbert Bristow) left their home in Illinois and traveled overland to California. They came to Oregon in the spring of 1846, following the Hudson's Bay trappers' route to the northern Willamette Valley. In June 1846, with Eugene F. Skinner, Felix Scott and William Dodson, Elijah Bristow explored the upper Willamette Valley seeking a place to settle. He was struck with the beauty of a site between the Coast and middle forks of the Willamette River and said, "What a pleasnt hill. This is my claim." The area is now known as Pleasant Hill.
On the side of a small hill near a little stream he built his cabin and later filed a claim for 638.41 acres of land. He and his wife were among the first pioneer residents of what became Lane County. Several of his family moved from the mid-west frontier to the Pacific Northwest over the Oregon Trail in covered wagons and filed for land claims around his. He lived here to the age of 84 with his children and grandchildren around him. The stones used in the chimney monument near this marker are all that remain of the Bristow cabin.
Oregon Historical Marker Committee - Oregon Travel Information Council - 1998
The Elijah Bristow State Park is named after him as well and there is another website here that shows a depiction of Elijah's cabin and gives some more history on he and his wife.