Gaston, Joseph.  "The Centennial History of Oregon, 1811-1912."  Vol. 2. 
Chicago, Clarke Publishing Co., 1912. p. 172
 
HON. ISRAEL D. HAINES
 
     who passed away two decades ago, enjoyed a reputation more than state wide,
for he was a lawyer of pronounced ability, winning for himself a name respected
by every man in the profession throughout the state and bringing to his office
many distinguished clients. His sincerity of purpose and broad-minded interest
in the general welfare, combining with sterling integrity and worth a degree of
native ability, entitle him to  occupy a place of leadership and prominence
among his fellows. A pioneer of pioneers, he knew well the topography and
understood well the genius of the west, facts which caused him to become
distinguished in the councils of the state during his long service in the Oregon
legislature.
 
   The birth of Mr. Haines occurred in Xenia, Greene county, Ohio, on the 7th of
December, 1827, being the second son of Reuben and Nancy (Connely) Haines, who
were natives of Augusta county, Virginia. The mother having departed this life
three years after our subject was born, the father married a second time. Mr.
Haines moved with his parents to Missouri in 1844, settling on the Chariton
river near Bloomington, Macon county, where he resided until the spring of 1849,
when as a youth of twenty-one, he bade farewell to home and friends and began
the journey across plain and mountain to the wild and unknown Pacific Coast
country. He was then connected with the quartermaster's department of the Rifle
Regiment, United States Army, commanded by Colonel W. W. Loring (better known
later as a general in the Confederate army), which was ordered west to take
possession of all Hudson Bay territory under the United States treaty with Great
Britain. While en route he was stricken with cholera, but recovered from the
disease, being in this respect more fortunate than many of his fellow comrades.
After a journey beset with many dangers and hardships the regiment arrived at
Vancouver, taking possession of the same.
 
   The following taken from Mr. Haines' own personal memoirs presents more
vividly the difficulties encountered in his trip across the plains, and his
earlier connection with the history of Oregon:  "Gold was discovered in
California in 1848, at Sutters Mill on the American river near Sacramento. I was
at Hanibal on the Mississippi river in the summer of 1848, waiting at the hotel
for the steamboat to go down the Mississippi to St. Louis, and was talking to
some men about the news of the discovery and told them that I was bound for
California, although nothing but a boy. I went to St. Louis and back to
Bloomington, and with some others that had just returned from the Mexican war,
fitted up a team in the fall of 1848, and supplies of all kinds for six of us,
armed with bowie knives, Allen's revolvers, and rifles for the trip to
California. I told the boys that I would go on up the Missouri river to Fort
Leavenworth and Weston, Missouri. My brother Robert met me a few days later in
Weston and informed me that a wagon would be along and we would go to St.
Joseph, and meet it there about the first of May, 1849. But before this, or
about this time, I became acquainted with some parties that were fitting out
trains for the Rifle Regiment, ordered by the secretary of war to cross the
plains to Oregon to take possession of all the Hudson Bay territory and
property, under the treaty made with the United States by Great Britain, with
the result that on the 23d day of April, brother  Robert and myself enrolled our
names and were assigned to the quartermaster's department under acting
quartermaster, Lieutenant Frost, who later became a general in the Confederate
army.
 
    "In about two weeks, everything being in readiness, the regiment and trains
started. Our first camp presented a most imposing appearance, being near a small
stream, on a beautiful rolling prairie. The wagons, three hundred in number,
were formed into a circle and fencing quite a large field. The soldiers, one
thousand in number, had their tents pitched in regular order, making quite a
city. It was really a pleasing sight to see so many fine animals and men, all
seemingly in high spirits, enlivened by the martial music of the military band;
but the pleasing side was destined to soon wear off.  Colonel Loring, our
commanding officer, in order to facilitate our progress found it necessary to
divide the command into three divisions giving to each one hundred wagons. I was
assigned to the third division while brother Robert was transferred to the staff
in the hospital department and was ordered forward with the first division in
which he drove a six mule ambulance the remainder of the journey. Consequently I
saw no more of him until we arrived at Fort Hall. Doctors Moses and Smith and
one or two other surgeons and the hospital stewards were kept very busy with the
cholera patients. Every night more or less men were turned out of the ambulance
my brother drove victims of the dreaded disease; and the regimental band played
the dead march most every night, from the time we left Fort Leavenworth, until
we arrived at Fort Laramie. Robert never took the cholera, although he handled
the patients every day, taking them out of the wagon, and putting them in; but
I, who was with the quarter-master train, where there were only three persons
out of four hundred teamsters that had the cholera, was one of the victims.
Thanks to Dr. Smith, regimental surgeon, who blistered me all over and doped me
with opium and sugar of lead pills, I survived the cruel cholera crisis.
 
    "Ноw well I remember coming to Green river, and then over to Bear river, and
across the divide over to Snake river at Fort Hall, where we turned in
seventy-five wagons and left some troops and mules; and well remember coming on,
down around the bend of Snake river through Idaho, and into Oregon, then known
as Oregon territory. And well do I remember coming into Powder River valley
about the first of September, 1849. The rye grass in this valley was so high
that when we turned our mules out we had trouble in finding them, for at that
time we had, after leaving those at Fort Laramie and Fort Hall, about three
thousand animals, consisting of horses, mules and cattle. We camped here and all
went fishing for trout in Powder river and Chris Hinkler's slough. We had with
us some Freiberg mineral experts, who prospected for gold on the Chris Hinkler
slough and also on the North Powder river, and they found the glittering metal
and so reported to Colonel Loring and the secretary of war. We went over the
Ladd road to Grande Ronde valley, where our sappers and miners worked upon the
road along Ladd creek and hill, so that we could get across the valley, crossing
about where Old LaGrande now stands. They were sent ahead to work on the road
over the Blue Mountains, so that we could get over with the regiment and teams,
and were instructed to treat with the Indians, that the emigrants might travel
with more safety. We arrived at Umatilla near the middle of September, and found
plenty of grass. There we made acquaintance with the Indians and presented them
with scarlet cloth and beads, and a couple of horses; and they returned to
Colonel Loring three or four very fine Cayuse horses, and about a dozen fine
beef cattle, which was a rare treat to the regiment and quartermaster men, for
we once more had good juicy beefsteaks.
 
    "After traveling some hundred miles down the Columbia river, we arrived at
The Dalles, where we remained about a week to recuperate. Owing to deaths and
desertion the command was now reduced to about one- third, and a hard looking
lot to behold. Here we took the palisades of the old Methodist Mission, which
were formerly used as a protection against the Indiana. From these we made a
raft by bolting the hewed logs together with the 3,000 iron picket pins, used by
the regiment to picket horses and mules. After the raft was completed, I
intended going down on the same to the Cascade Falls, but by mere accident I did
not get off. But two of my messmates, John and Henry Macklin, and a man by the
name of Biglow, sadler of the regiment, and Miller, a carpenter, Kinlock, and an
Irishman named Vaughn, captain of the raft, and one other named Ford did go down
the river with disastrous results. The raft was loaded with quartermaster
stores, saddles, bridles, spurs, camp equipage, and boxes of dragoon revolvers
and some rifles. Toward evening when they had arrived opposite the landing of
the Upper Cascades, the men wanted Vaughn to land the raft, but he demurred, and
John and Henry Macklin paid an Indian sixteen dollars to take them ashore in his
canoe. Then Kinlock wanted Captain Vaughn to land the raft, and he said, 'No, I
am going to run her on down, if I run her to hell. ' He did run her down and
when he got her in the current of the cascades, Kinlock, a big Scotchman, caught
Vaughn around the waist and said to him: 'You were going to run the cascades or
run the raft to hell, now we are going to hell together.' He held him like a
vise, and the raft went over the Cascade Falls; and not a particle of the logs
or anything else was ever seen afterward, except that Ford and Biglow, who were
washed ashore by the current, were saved, but nothing was ever seen of Kinlock
or Vaughn.
 
    "We crossed the Cascade Mountains on what is now known as the Barlow road,
arriving at Oregon City on the 15th day of October, where we remained for three
days. We were short of supplies coming over the mountains and consequently had
to subsist on about a one-half ration, except for beef straight, and that was
poor and tough. Leaving Oregon City and going down the Willamette river, on the
last lap of our journey in Uncle Sam's service, to the great Oregon country, we
crossed the Columbia at Switzlers ferry and entered Fort Vancouver. Washington,
and took charge of the same pursuant to the treaty with Great Britain. Vancouver
was the main headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company, extending to the 49th
parallel north latitude. Brother Robert and myself were discharged and paid off
with Mexican dollars and doubloons, there being no United States coin in this
country at that time. We had more Mexican dollars than we could very well carry,
and the troops started various Monte banks on the sward between the fort and the
river, and we soon had more or less Mexican coins. While the others were playing
their games of Monte on the green grass, I went to see about our canoe, and saw
a man floating down the river. I went back and reported to the boys and with one
of them. I took the canoe and pushed out into the river and picked up the body
and it proved to be Miller, the carpenter of the regiment, that went over the
Cascades on the raft fifteen days before. We took him ashore and buried him at
the Fort.
 
  "Our regiment left Fort Leavenworth on the 10th day of May, 1849, and arrived
at Oregon City on the 10th day of October, 1849, completing a distance of two
thousand three hundred and sixty miles. Cholera and desertions had reduced the
regiment from one thousand to a little over three hundred men. Some of the men
deserted during the winter following their arrival and headed for California,
and were killed by the Indians in Rogue River and Shasta valleys, for in the
spring of 1850, I was with a party in the Rogue River valley, who captured a lot
of Indians and found on them, soldiers buttons and revolvers, and gun caps
strung on strings like beads.
 
   "After leaving Vancouver and the service, I went to Milwaukie and helped to
get out timbers for a Mr. Laullen, who built the first sawmill in Oregon. I
worked at this until the rain came in November, when I concluded to spend the
winter in Portland. Portland at that time was but a small village containing
about one hundred souls of a roving, restless disposition, but all with the same
object and purpose in mind: that of searching for that hidden treasure, nature's
most precious gift to humanity, and the regulating medium of society—Gold."
 
   The spring of 1850, we find Mr. Haines buying horses and fitting out an
expedition to go overland to California, the goal of his long trip to the
Pacific's golden shores. Leaving Portland the 15th of April, he traveled up the
Willamette, over the Calapooia mountains and across the Umpqua and Rogue River
valleys; over the Siskiyou mountains and across the Shasta valley; over the
Shasta mountains and crossing the Sacramento river at Soda Springs. After an
encounter with the Indians he arrived at Major Redding's ranch, the present site
of Shasta. The latter place was the first mark of habitation since leaving the
Umpqua, a distance of nearly three hundred miles of the most rugged mountainous
country. From here he went over on Hopkins creek, and the South Feather river,
where he spent the summer mining; his diggings yielding never less than fifty
dollars per day and frequently one thousand dollars a day. The fond dreams of
his excited imaginations having been realized, he returned to Portland, Oregon,
sailing from San Francisco, and being out at sea for thirty-three days before
reaching Astoria. In Portland he and his brother engaged in the mercantile
business, and remained there until 1853. when they moved to Jackson county and
opened a general merchandise store at Jacksonville. They were in business here
but a short time when the Randolph gold excitement broke out. They subsequently
went to Coos Bay and erected the first house there, using it as a hotel and
general merchandise store. Their goods arrived on the sailing vessel Synosure;
Mr. Haines acting as her pilot and guiding her safely across the bar, she being
the first sailing vessel that, laden with merchandise, ever entered that harbor.
They returned to Jacksonville in the fall of 1854, and carried on a general
merchandising business until 1862, when the subject of our sketch began to read
law under the Honorable P. P. Prim, his brother Robert taking up the study of
medicine.
 
   In 1864, Mr. Haines was admitted to the bar and began the practice of his
chosen profession, opening an office in Silver City, Idaho. He soon won
distinction as a legal practitioner of unusual ability, and was retained as
counsel in the Poor Man mining case, and many other celebrated and important
litigations. He spent the winter  of 1865-6 in San Francisco, having for
companions Binger Herman, Thomas H. Brents,
and others who have since become equally successful in public life. Here the
brothers separated, Dr. Robert H. Haines remaining. in San Francisco, engaging
in the mining brokerage business. Up to this time they had been bosom companions
in all business enterprises and adventures, except during the period that Robert
H. fought with Captain W. H. Harris' Coos County Volunteers, in the Indian war
of 1855-6. In the spring of 1866 Mr. Haines began the return trip to Idaho, and
while passing through eastern Oregon he met a number of old friends and comrades
of the "days of '49," at Auburn in Baker county. By these he was persuaded to
remain, but not long, however, for the next year he moved to Baker City where he
resided ever since, again turning his attention to the practice of law,
beginning his career of success and usefulness as an attorney and political
leader. He was a stanch democrat and a strict partisan.
 
   As a man of affairs he has worn the honors of an admiring constituency and
enjoyed a distinguished reputation in the state as a shrewd, just, and loyal
representative of the people of Baker county in both houses of the legislature
for a continuous period of ten years, in which body he previously represented
Jackson county in the lower house in 1862. Mr. Haines was a ready speaker and
took an active part in all debates. His long service in the legislative assembly
has caused his name to become almost a household word in the history of our
state. It was largely due to his efforts that the county seat of Baker county
was removed from Auburn to Baker City in 1869. Mr. Haines became the owner of
extensive landed interests and great herds of sheep in Powder River valley, and
also accumulated much valuable realty in Baker City. He likewise founded the
town of Haines, which has now become an important shipping point for the produce
raised in the valley. The town site is still owned by his heirs.
 
   In Baker City, Oregon, on the 23d of November, 1871, Mr. Haines was joined in
wedlock to Miss Sarah Minerva Dorsett, a native of Quincy. Illinois, and
daughter of James A. and Sarah Ann (Ross) Dorsett of southern lineage, who
crossed the plains to Auburn, this state, in 1864. Unto them were born five
children, namely: Stella M., who is now the wife of Judge J. B. Messick of Baker
City; Robert W., an accountant and bookkeeper, and captain of Company A, Third
Infantry, Oregon National Guard, of Baker City; Amy С, a stenographer and
teacher, of Baker City; J. David, a musical director and teacher, and lieutenant
in the National Guard, of Baker City; and Elsie A., who is deceased.
 
   In 1873, after twenty-four years of successful adventure in the west and
having enjoyed some of the good things pertaining to this life, Mr. Haines and
his brother Robert made an extended tour of the eastern states and visited their
old home for the last time. The year next following. Mr. Haines received the
painful intelligence of the death of this brother in San Francisco, who then was
married but six months. Fraternally Mr. Haines was identified with the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, his name being on the charter of Baker Lodge,
No. 25, and he attained the high office of past chief patriarch of Eleazar
Encampment No. 7, a degree of the same, at Baker City. His demise, which
occurred on the 19th of June, 1892, was the occasion of deep and wide-spread
regret. No man was ever more respected, and no man ever more fully enjoyed the
confidence of the people; and none ever better deserved such respect and
confidence. In his lifetime the people of his state, recognizing his merit,
rejoiced in his advancement and in the honors to which he attained, and since
his death they have cherished his memory. It is an important public duty to
honor and perpetuate as far as possible the memory of an eminent citizen—one who
by his blameless and honorable life and distinguished career reflected credit
not only upon his city and state but upon the whole country. Through such
memorials as this at hand the individual and character of his services are kept
in remembrance and the importance of those services acknowledged. His example in
whatever field his work may have been done, thus stands as an object lesson to
those who come after him, and though dead he still speaks. Long after all
recollection of his personality shall have faded from the minds of men, the less
perishable record may tell the story of his life and commend his example for
imitation. The period of his residence in this part of the country covered
forty-three years and during that time he witnessed and aided the work of
upbuilding and developing, until the frontier region had been transformed into a
district replete with all the evidences of an advanced civilization. His widow
still survives and makes her home in Baker City, where she has a host of warm
personal friends.

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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in July 2016 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.