Editing Lake Oswego, Oregon (section)

===19th century===
[[File:Oregon Iron Company Furnace restored.JPG|thumb|upright|left|Restored remains of the 1866 Oregon Iron Company furnace, in [[George Rogers Park]]]]
As settlers arrived, encouraged by the [[Donation Land Claim Act of 1850]] and the subsequent [[Homestead Act]], they found the land underoccupied.

[[Albert Alonzo Durham]] founded the town of Oswego in 1847, [[Oregon Geographic Names|naming it]] after [[Oswego, New York]].<ref name=ohc>{{cite web|url=http://www.oswegoheritage.org/history/mythsmuddles.html|title=Eight Myths Concerning Lake Oswego|publisher=Oswego Heritage Council|access-date=January 15, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706090123/http://www.oswegoheritage.org/history/mythsmuddles.html|archive-date=July 6, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> He built a sawmill on Sucker Creek (now Oswego Creek), the town's first industry.<ref name=lopl/>

In 1855, the federal government forcibly relocated the remaining Clackamas people to the [[Grand Ronde Indian Reservation]] in nearby [[Yamhill County, Oregon|Yamhill County]].<ref name=lopl/>

During this early period in Oregon history, most trade proceeded from Portland to [[Oregon City, Oregon|Oregon City]] via the Willamette River, and up the Tualatin River valley through [[Tualatin, Oregon|Tualatin]], [[Scholls, Oregon|Scholls]], and [[Hillsboro, Oregon|Hillsboro]]. The thick woods and rain-muddied roads were major obstacles to traveling by land. The vestiges of river landings, [[ferry]] stops, and [[covered bridge]]s of this period can still be seen along this area. A landing in the city's present-day [[George Rogers Park]] is thought to have been developed by Durham around 1850 for lumber transport; another landing was near the [[Tryon Creek]] outlet into the Willamette.

In 1865, prompted by the earlier discovery of [[iron ore]] in the [[Tualatin Valley]], the [[Oregon Iron Company]] was incorporated. Within two years, the first [[blast furnace]] on the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]] was built, patterned after the arched furnaces common in northwestern [[Connecticut]], and the company set out to make Oswego into the "[[Pittsburgh]] of the West".<ref name=goodall>{{cite book|last=Goodall|first=Mary|title=Oregon's Iron Dream|publisher=Binsford & Mort|location=Portland, Oregon|year=1958|page=43}}</ref> In 1878, the company was sold off to out-of-state owners and renamed the [[Oswego Iron Company]], and in 1882, Portland financiers [[Simeon Gannett Reed]] and [[Henry Villard]] purchased the business and renamed it the [[Oregon Iron and Steel Company]].<ref name=kuo>{{cite web|url=http://www.oswegoheritage.org/history/pdf/history.pdf|title=A Brief History of the Oregon Iron Industry|last=Kuo|first=Susanna Campbell|publisher=Oswego Heritage Council|access-date=July 23, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081119161430/http://www.oswegoheritage.org/history/pdf/history.pdf|archive-date=November 19, 2008}}</ref>
[[File:Portland Mormon Temple (Clackamas County, Oregon scenic images) (clacDA0239).jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Portland Oregon Temple]] of [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] is located in Lake Oswego.]]
The railroad arrived in Oswego in 1886, in the form of the [[Portland and Willamette Valley Railway]]. A {{convert|7|mi|km|adj=mid|-long|0}} line provided Oswego with a direct link to Portland. Prior to this, access to the town was limited to primitive roads and riverboats. The railroad's arrival was a mixed blessing; locally, it promoted residential development along its path, which enabled Oswego to grow beyond its industrial roots, but nationally, the continued expansion of the freight railroad system gave easy local access to cheaper and higher quality iron from the [[Great Lakes]] region. This ultimately led to the local industry's demise.<ref name=lopl/><ref name=kuo/>

By 1890, the industry produced 12,305 tons of [[pig iron]],<ref name=lopl/> and at its peak provided employment to around 300 men. The success of this industry greatly stimulated the development of Oswego, which by this time had four general stores, a bank, two barber shops, two hotels, three churches, nine saloons, a drugstore, and even an opera house.<ref name=goodall/>

The iron industry was a vital part of a strategy designed by a few Portland financiers who strove to control all related [[entrepreneur]]ial ventures in the late 19th century. Control of shipping and railroads was held under the [[Oregon Steam Navigation Company]], later to become the [[Oregon Railway and Navigation Company]]. This local monopoly responded to the area's increasing demand for iron and steel, and grew to play a key role in economic history throughout the area.