In Northwest Portland just Northwest of where the Lewis and Clark Exposition was held is Danford Balch’s Homesite (or as the sign in the park says “Lower Macleay Park.”) This area has had been the source of some major news items over the years.
As this history sign notes, this piece of land was owned by Danford Balch was hanged for the murder of his (against his wishes,) son-in-law and neighbor, Mortimer Stump on October 17, 1859. Danford, his wife Mary Jane, and their nine children emigrated from Ohio, then Iowa in 1847. Legally the Balch’s took out a claim in 1850, but as Oregon was not technically a State yet and the land claim process was in somewhat of a mess, they most likely had already filed a claim in 1847 or 1848 for this same piece of land in the Territorial Government’s records.
This same uncertainty over who had the power to grant and enforce land claims led to Oregon’s first murder by Nimrod O’Kelly.
The Balch’s lived here with only some minor feuding between themselves and the nearby Stump family until 1857 or 1858. It’s recorded that Danford was a bit of a drunk and this most likely led to the feud. The Stump’s oldest son Mortimer fell in love with the Balch’s oldest daughter Anna. Another version of the story says that the Stumps had a homestead in Vancouver Washington and Mortimer was a hired hand. My guess is that Mortimer himself owned the land in Vancouver, while his parents owned the land adjacent to the Balchs. What is known for sure is that Anna eloped with Mortimer on November 4th, 1858 and moved with him to Vancouver.
On November 18th, 1858 at the Stark Street Ferry, Danford chanced upon members of the Stump family including Mortimer. His drinking had increased and in a fit of rage he “accidentally” shot and killed Mortimer by simultaneously discharging both barrels of his shot gun. He was disarmed and jailed to be held until the spring for trial.
In that day, Judges were actually nomadic. They would spend a few days in each city dealing with issues as needed. This allowed those who would be witnesses in cases to continue living at home and being able to work on their farms. On a more practical note for the Territorial Government and later the State and Federal Governments, it saved money as the Judges would call upon prominent locals to house them while they were in the neighborhood. They were frequently reimbursed for this service but for many years it was cheaper and better for everyone involved then to have a central justice system. During this time there were also some issues with Judges resigning and the position being unfilled for months at a time. This led to long periods between trials and in some cases even the start and finish of the trial.
As Mortimer’s trial date and the Judge drew nearer, he managed to escape the jail he was in. Being built of wood, coupled with Oregon’s especially rainy weather during the winter of 1858-1859, the wood had rotted enough for him to easily break out. Instead of fleeing the State he hid out on his own land until he was recaptured on July 23, 1859. He was no doubt housed in the new prison that the City of Portland had recently completed and remained there until he was hung on October 17, 1859 in front of a crowd of 500 people. This marked the first legal public execution in the Oregon Territory.
But that did not end the story of this piece of land. It passed through several hand,s finally being purchased by Donald Macleay, President of the Portland Board of Trade. The story goes that in 1897 he was slightly upset about the taxes owed to the City of Portland on this parcel of land. In a fit of rage, he said that he’d rather GIVE the land to the City as a park then to pay the taxes on it. The Deputy Assessor, L. S. Maxwell, called his bluff. Three days later to mark the 60th Anniversary of Queen Victoria’s Reign, he became the first to donate the land to the City of Portland for park use only.
After the Lewis and Clark Exposition ended in 1906, an enterprising scoundrel named Lafe Fence viewed the site with some small amount of speculation. The Exposition had been built around a shallow lake called Guild’s Lake. As the land was now mostly vacant to his eyes he decided to fill in the lake and create new land for the City of Portland to expand northwards. He apparently had good intentions but forgot to actually ask permission of anyone.
He built the above flume (which was used as a walkway up the Gulch for many years afterwards,) and using hydraulic pressure hoses, simply washed large amounts of dirt down Balch Gulch down the hill and into Guild’s Lake. There is no record that I’ve seen as to why he wasn’t stopped, but it’s doubtful that people didn’t notice this was happening.
Afterwards there was a lawsuit but it was dropped. Most likely the lawsuit was dropped because Lafe had no money to pay damages and even then the deed was already done. Other nearby property owners ended up also donating land that was ruined and the seed of Forest Park was created. If you look carefully while walking up the trail, you can still see the damage in bedrock and exposed banks in the walkway and in the stream beside.
The next major event in this location was the building of the trail and a public restroom by the WPA in 1937. The trail was built with interlocked stones to shore up the sides, covered with compacted gravel and then paved with asphalt. A small two-story stone building was built about 1/4 of a mile up the trail to act as restrooms, picnic area and Ranger Station. It served as such until the Columbus Day Storm on October 12th, 1962 damaged the roof of the building. The roof was completely removed 1966 and the building dismantled leaving only a stone shell.
Now days the building acts as host to high school keggers and intrepid Ghost Hunters who believe that the building is a 1600′s Indian trading post, Witches haunt it, or that Danford Balch was hung here and his spirit is still around. Despite the stories, the building, and trails are not only great photos, but an awesome place to hike around and commune with nature.
