Elijah Bristow State Park

Elijah Bristow State Park
Type	Public, state
Operated by	Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department

Elijah Bristow State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of Oregon, administered by the Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department. It is the State is located on the Willamette River, and is easily to reach via State Highway 58 southeast of the Eugene, Oregon. The park was named for one of the first pioneer settlers in Lane County and is comprised of 847 acres of scattered meadows, woodlands and wetlands. Elijah Bristow has more than 10 miles of trail for hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians. Part of the trail system includes a portion of the Eugene to Pacific Crest trail. Salmon and steel head trout abound during annual runs in one of the few stretches of the lower Willamette with fast-moving white water. Unique wildlife nesting and habitat areas fill the park's islands and sloughs.

Channel Lake, a land-locked river channel that meanders through the park, eventually empties back into the Willamette. The lake and a short stretch of Lost Creek are home to a diverse community of plants and wildlife. A dense canopy of broadleaf and evergreen trees with a lush understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants provides an excellent area for nature study and outdoor education.

Osprey, great blue heron, bald eagles and beaver live in and near the park. Elijah Bristow is also home to several threatened species, including the Western pond turtle and the Oregon chub. You'll find old-growth cottonwood, bigleaf maple, western red cedar, Douglas fir and western hemlock along with stands of Oregon ash and white oak.

Elijah Bristow has three reservable picnic areas complete with picnic tables, water, electricity, restrooms and fire rings. Area B has a large barbecue stand. There is also ample opportunity for informal picnicking in other, first-come/first-served areas of the park. A separate equestrian staging area with tables, water electricity and a restroom make Bristow a favorite destination with local riding clubs.

Elijah Bristow himself

The first white settler within the present boundary lines of Lane county was Elijah Bristow, who here cast his lot in June, 1846. From that date until about the year 1850, all of the facts of much of the incident of its early settlement clusters around this individual; so much so, that, for the present, our account of it during the above period will necessarily take on much of the traits of a personal narrative.

This pioneer settler was born in Virginia in April, 1788, emigrating early in manhood to Kentucky and thence to Illinois. Imbued with a spirit of adventure inherited from his ancestors and fostered by his early associations, he was ever restless under the influences of thickly settled districts and soon determined to push farther westward, crossing the plains in 1845. Going first to California, he was dissatisfied with that country and came overland to Oregon the following spring, 1846. In June of that year, accompanied by Eugene F. Skinner, Captain Felix Scott, and William Dodson, Mr. Bristow started up the Willamette valley in search of a location suitable for the settlement of a large and increasing family. Their route was up the west side of the valley and after passing the Luckiamute river, not a white man's habitation was found; thence going south to the end of their journey. The country through which they traveled was one of the most beautiful on the northwest coast of the Pacific, and habitated as it was in all the luxurious freshness of nature, was peculiarly fascinating to these intrepid explorer. On arriving at a point between the Coast and Middle Forks of the Willamette river, on a low rolling ridge, sparsely covered with oak, fir and pine timber, ever since know as Pleasant Hill, Mr. Bristow's eye was attracted towards the panorama of mountain and vale stretching out before him that reminded him of a like scene in far-off Virginia, where he was born. He halted and raised his hat, allowing the cooling breeze, fresh from the near rolling Pacific to play at will through his thin gray locks, he exclaimed: "This is my claim! Here I will live, and when I die, here shall I be buried!"

The party then camped at a spring near by and repairing to a grove of firs, cut the logs, erected what was in those early times termed a "claim cabin," and which stood as a sign to all comers that here had a white man filed his intentions, so to speak, of becoming a settler upon the public domain. This was the first "cabin" erected within the present limits of Lane county.

Mr. Bristow next measured off and marked his claim of six hundred and forty acres of land, the amount usually claimed by early settlers in a new country, which was done by "stepping" around the track, the marking being accomplished by "blazing" the trees adjacent to the lines and driving stakes at the corners. Mr. Dodson then marked off a claim for himself, south and east from and adjoining that of Mr. Bristow, while Capt. Scott appropriated one on the west, but this afterwards abandoned and took one up on the south bank of the McKenzie river, opposite the mouth of the Mohawk, upon which he finally settled.As the party returned, on their way down the valley, Eugene F. Skinner, the remaining comrade, took up a claim where Eugene City, the county seat, now stands.

Activities to do

• Picnicking
• Wildlife watching
• Fishing
• Horse trail
• Hiking trail
• Bicycle trail
• Forest
• Prairie
• Waterways
• Lake

Elijah Bristow State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of Oregon, administered by the Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department.

See also

• List of Oregon state parks

External links

• Official website at the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department