Editing Jasper

=History=

Jasper is an unincorporated community in Lane County, Oregon. It is located southeast of Springfield on Oregon Route 222, at the confluence of Hills Creek and the Middle Fork Willamette River.

Jasper is the site of a siding of the Southern Pacific Railroad's Cascade Line, which was named for local resident [[Hills, Jasper B|Jasper B. Hills]], the son of [[Hills, Cornelius J|Cornelius Joel Hills]], who settled at the locale in 1847. Jasper post office was established in [[1884]].

South of Jasper is Jasper State Recreation Site.

Jasper is served by Pleasant Hill School District.

It was '''[[Callison, Rufus Gilmore|Rufus G. Callison]]''', son of '''[[Callison, Gilmore|Gilmore Callison]]''', who organized the Jasper Church with about 82 members. At first they met in the school house, and later built a building. The first services were held in '''[[1889]]''' or before and the first building was constructed in '''[[1907]]''' at a cost of $1,348.45.

Callison was a circuit-riding preacher in '''[[Lane County]]''' for many years. He is pictured with the '''[[Fall Creek]]''' entry above.

Other preachers of early times were '''[[Handsaker, D.W.|D. W. Handsaker]]''' and '''[[Kellums, D.C.|D. C. Kellums]]'''.

Mr. Callison while addressing the Oregon Christian Convention at Turner in '''[[1915]]'''. His theme had been that a good, devoted, useful Christian life is necessary as a preparation for the future life. His final words as he died were, "Prepare to live and you will be prepared to die." He died in his 74th year. At that time, his home had been in Vancouver, Washington. 

Another early pioneer in the area was James Wallace who homesteaded on Wallace Creek.

B.J. (Bynon) Pengra obtained a Donation Land Claim just north of Jasper near a place named Natron. Pengra was a local publisher and active Republican helping to elect President Lincoln. Pengra was appointed United States Surveyor-General for Oregon by President Lincoln in 1861.  A few years later Pengra and several others formed the Oregon Central Military Wagon Road Company and won approval from the State of Oregon to build the Oregon Central Military Wagon Road from Eugene to Idaho. This company obtained hundreds of thousands of acres of Federal land in return for building the road.  Pengra later unsuccessfully fought for the construction of a railroad over much of the same route including Willamette Pass.  Pengra was also one of the owners of the Springfield Manufacturing Company which purchased an early sawmill and flour mill from Springfield pioneer Elias Briggs.

[[Category:Jasper]] [[Category:Cities]]