Hotel Keeper

'It was two stories, 68 x 105, and was the first hotel west of the Rocky mountains." — Harvey K. Hines, An Illustrated History... (1893)
In 1842 Dr. Elijah White recruited over one hundred people to emigrate across the Oregon Trail. Sidney W. Moss, a widower and stonecutter, joined the group. Upon his arrival Moss went to work for John McLoughlin to survey the townsite of Oregon City. Moss lacked a surveyor's chain but used a knotted rope to lay out a somewhat irregular set of lots. Earning 75¢ a cord as a woodcutter, Moss purchased land at Third and Main where in 1843 he erected his hotel.
Moss frequently contributed articles to local newspapers and claimed, in later years, that he wrote the Prairie Flower (1848). A founder of the "Willamette Falls Debating Society." Moss and his friends addressed issues of the day. Charles E. Pickett published their "scratching and stinging of the follies of the times" in the Flumgudeon Gazette and Bumble Bee Budget, Oregon's first newspaper.

Based on adventures in the West, the Prairie Flower was a "namby-pamby tale of love and adventure." — Herbert G. Nelson, The Literary Impulse in Pioneer Oregon (1948)

Sorry, but we don't have a picture of this historical marker yet. If you have a picture, please share it with us. It's simple to do. 1) Become a member. 2) Adopt this historical marker listing. 3) Upload the picture.

Show me all markers in:  Oregon City, OR  |  Clackamas County  |  97045  |  Oregon  |  United States of America

Earthquakes and Mountain Fog
Medorem Crawford
Lot Whitcomb
Clackamas Chinook
Fishing At Tumwater
Wagons
Abigail Scott Duniway
The Trail of Tears
To The Banks Of The Willamette
Dr. John McLoughlin

• GPX
• KML
• LOC

Have you seen this marker? If so, check in and tell us about it.