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William Rockfellow – Pony Express, Miner, & Hotel Keeper

William Rockfellow was a man greatly affected by wanderlust, starting a number of businesses, but always returning to prospecting and mining. He came west twice. In 1851 he came on the Oregon Trail over the Blue Mountains and on to The Dalles, before going down the Columbia River, down through the Willamette Valley and on to the Siskiyou County gold fields in northern California.

Rockfellow retuned to Iowa in 1853 to be with his wife, Angeline, and their daughter before leading a wagon train along the southern route to Oregon, known as the Applegate Trail. The family sttled on Wagner's Creek, a tributary of the Rogue River at present day Talent, Oregon where his brothers had taken Donation Land Claims in 1852.

In a few years, Rockfellow took his growing family back to Siskiyou County where he prospected on Humbug Creek before selling out. He then rented a herd of dairy cows and sold milk to the miners. That winter, the entire family took employment at Cole Brothers' Travelers Hotel on the old territorial road. The following spring, Rockfelow purchased land further into the foothills and built a hotel there.

From there, Rockfellow went to the Idaho gold fields and spent the winter in Walla Walla. He sent for his family and met them at the Deschutes River, just east of The Dalles, Oregon. His wife set up a boarding house in Walla Walla, while William and his partners established a pony express line between Walla Walla and the Boise Basin (Placerville, Idaho and vicinity), known as Rockfellow and Company. The office was in the Wells Fargo Company office and he carried their deliveries.

Rockfellow discoverd a rich quartz lode in eastern Oregon and sold his pony express business to Wells Fargo. He and his partners built a ten-stamp mill on the Powder River and transported their ore seven miles from the mine to the mill. Baker City, Oregon soon sprang up around their mill. At one point, Rockfellow sold some of his interest in the mine and built a hotel at the mine site. Advertising in the Washington Statesman, he billed it as "Rockfellow's Halfway House, suitable for man and beast. Located on the Boise Road [Oregon Trail] at the well known Rockfellow Lode."

Rockfellow spent the rest of his life in the gold business, purchasing, selling, and discovering mines, as well as inventing a method of 'saving' the fine gold that previously escaped miners' existing methods. The mine eventually became known as the Virtue Mine and is now owned by the Leathlen family. The mine was never depleted and is now 800 feet deep. One of his daughters married Harvey Meacham, operator of the Meacham Toll road across the Blue Mountains. Another daughter married Charles Phillips, creator of Dreamland Park on South Ninth street in Walla Walla. In 1906, Rockfellow was interviewed by the Oregonian and some of his pony express exploits were mentioned in detail. Rockfellow is portrayed by his great-grandson, nurseryman and farrier Dick Phillips.

Museum hours are 10 am to 5 pm daily. Admission is free to members, children under 6, and through a reciprocal agreement Tamástslikt Cultural Institute's Inwai Circle cardholders and enrolled members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation; $3 for children ages 6-12; $6 for seniors (62+) and students; and $7 for adults. Your admission cost can be applied to a membership, which includes free admission to all Living History performances, priced beginning at $25. For more information, contact Fort Walla Walla Museum at 509-525-7703 or email: info@fortwallawallamuseum.org.