Exhibits
Oregon Trail Cutoff Fever
Welcome to our first online exhibit. Click on the tabs below to learn about this harrowing journey "west.” Photos will soon be added.
The Rescued
Found near Butte Disappointment on October 16, 1853, young Martin Blanding was seventeen years old when rescued. He is the poster boy for the Lost Wagon Train because he was the first member of the party to be rescued and brought word of the straitened conditions of the emigrants to the Lane County families near Pleasant Hill.
Martin went on to become a schoolmaster and Lane County’s first school superintendent. Later he became a partner in Goldsmith and Blanding, a mercantile store, as well as one of the investors in the Springfield Woolen Factory. Admitted to the local Masonic Lodge in 1858, he had attained high degree by 1870.
Although the date of his marriage to German immigrant Caroline A.F. Blanding is not clear, they had a son and daughter during the 1860s (Francis and Emma). Martin’s health failed during the late 1860s and he died of “consumption” (tuberculosis) in 1870.
At age fourteen, Tennessee native and future two-term mayor of Eugene, Joseph D. Matlock, accompanying his parent’s six or seven wagons, drove his family’s cattle from Dade County, Missouri to Oregon. His family took up land near Goshen and young Joseph attended schools in Goshen and Eugene, even attending ill-fated Columbia College until it burned. The year 1862 found both he and his dad working in the Florence mines. During the same year he married his first wife, Elizabeth Rutledge, and farmed for two years. Following his wife’s death, he taught school, becoming the county superintendent of instruction. He then went back to farming and stock raising near Pleasant Hill for fifteen years, and was quite successful.
Venturing into politics, he became a state legislator in 1874, and helped establish the University of Oregon. He was a 10 year veteran of the city council, and served two non-consecutive terms as Eugene mayor, 1895-97 and 1907-1910. In between his terms, he went north to Alaska for the Klondike Gold Rush! During his second term as mayor, Eugene suffered a cholera outbreak due to the unsanitary condition of the water supply. Mayor Matlock was instrumental in pushing for public ownership of the utilities which became today’s Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB).
Matlock became a Mason several years prior to launching his three story J.D. Matlock & Co. Dry Goods store at the corner of 8th and Willamette in 1886. For a time head of the local Democratic party, he was an active Mason, participating as a Shriner and Knight Templar, as well as a member of the International Order of Odd Fellows. Married three times (Elizabeth Rutledge, Louisa Rutledge, Mrs. Sarah Durant) with a total of 8 children, he lived until 1921.
2007 Passport to the Past Winners
Plan your next visit to the Lane County Historical Museum soon! It’s easy!
- We're Open
- Tuesday through Saturday
10 am to 4 pm - Closed Sundays and Mondays
- Affordable Admission
- Adults $3.00
- Seniors $2.00
- Youth (15 - 17) $.75
- Free unlimited admission for Society members!
- We’re easy to find next to the Lane County Fairgrounds
- If you’re heading east on 13th Avenue, you’ll see our building between Monroe and Jefferson on the right. Look for a sign that says, “Museum Entrance”
The address is 740 W. 13th Ave. - Get directions here
- Mailing Address
- Lane County Historical Society
- P.O. Box 5407
Eugene, OR 97405-3819 - Free Parking
- There’s plenty of free parking in the lot east of the Museum at the corner of 13th and Jefferson. Walk through the gates to enter the Fairgrounds. Walk past the white Clerk’s Building on your right and turn right for the Museum entrance.
- Handicapped Access
- The Main Exhibition Hall and Museum Store are accessible.
- Shopping & Food
- Shop at our Museum Store, open during regular hours. Members always receive a discount! There are many restaurants in nearby downtown Eugene. No food or drink is allowed in the Museum.