took upon himself great burdens and cares, and moreover contracted mountain or typhoid fever. He took sick at The Dalles, and died soon after reaching Portland. By this severe blow J. A. Strowbridge, still but a youth, was greatly distressed, and thought that life henceforth would be insupportable, or even impossible in the absence of this greatly beloved parent. He was himself sick, and now felt the responsibility of his mother's family. In his great trouble, however, he found the people of Portland,-- then but a little hamlet in the deep woods,-- big-hearted and kind, and ready to make his life as cheerful as possible. Following close upon the bereavement of the family by the death of the father, came the loss of the entire band of stock, worth many thousand dollars, which had been brought across the plains with the greatest care and without loss. Their destruction was brought about by the fall, near the middle of December, 1852, of about two feet of snow, which lay on the ground many weeks, making grazing impossible, while feed was not to be had.

"Thus, upon the opening of the season 1853, Mr. Strowbridge found himself in a new Country, practically without means, and with no rescources except such as were in his own courageous heart, active brain, and willing hands. Setting to work bravely, and taking any employment that was offered, he soon had some means ahead, and forming a business connection, in a small way, with San Francisco, greatly improved his outlook. In 1853 he bought a few boxes of Oregon green apples, which were among the first, if not the very first, placed in the San Francisco market. Going into the business more extensively, he made a tour among the farmers, and encouraged them to set out apple orchards, offering as an inducement that he would take all that they could raise at from fifteen to thirty cents a pound, -- from five to twelve dollars a box. By this time he became one of the first to inaugurate the shipping of fresh fruit, a business which had increased to such an extent by 1860 that the total shipments of apples from. Oregon amounted to over one hundred thousand boxes. The first results of his labors were, however, swept away by the failure of Adams & Co., bankers and expressmen, at San Francisco; for upon going to that city at the request of his commission merchants, he put into Adams & Co.'s bank, for safe keeping, his entire avails, and but a few days after learned, in common with many others, that the establishment had totally failed. He improved his remaining time at the city, however, by examining the produce market, both as to stock on hand, and that incoming, as indicated by the