"Portrait & Biographical Record of the Willamette Valley Oregon."  Chapman 
Publishing Company, 1903. p. 1553.
 
JAMES POLK MILLIORN

     The old Milliorn place in Junction City, built so many years ago by that
honored pioneer, T. A. Milliorn, has been occupied and owned by his son, James
Polk, since 1875, the latter interestingly and substantially identified with
Oregon since his twelfth year. Born near Knoxville, Tenn., August 30, 1840, he
vividly recalls every particular of the overland trip in 1852, and his
participation in what was indeed a momentous crisis for the family. The driving
of loose stock and the riding of horses fell to his lot, and the train came by
way of the Platte river, escaping attacks of a serious nature on the part of the
Indians, and being rather fortunate until arriving at Pacific Spring. Here the
dread cholera invaded their ranks, his mother being seriously ill with it, and
his sister and three other members of the party succumbing to the disorder.
Starting in April, the train arrived at the Cascades in November, and there they
lost all of the stock which had survived the long journey across the plains.
From the lower Cascade to the mouth of the Sandy the father and mother came on a
flat boat, and James got onto the old Clinton which was lying on some rocks in
the Columbia river, and though there were people on board who were more
fortunate than himself in the way of clothes and provisions, he did not succeed
in getting them to help him with even a blanket in which to sleep. He was very
hungry also, and when he reached Sandy he was reduced to such a state that he
was glad to give 25 cents for a turnip with which to stay the pangs of hunger,
for he had then been twenty-four hours with nothing to eat. The family spent the
first winter on a claim six miles east of Portland, and in February, 1853, came
to Lane county, settling on three hundred and twenty acres three-quarters of a
mile west of Junction City.
     In 1860 Mr. Milliorn went to Washington with James Patterson, driving
beef-cattle to a point above Seattle, and finally made his way to the Snoqualmie
river, with an Indian for a guide. The same year he went to the Rogue river in
Jackson county and was variously employed at farming, mining, repairing wagons,
sawing logs, and running a cooper shop, and the following year came back to his
father's place in Lane county, In 1862 he engaged in mining in the Florence
district, Idaho, on Baboon Gulch, and when he returned was the richer by several
hundreds of dollars. In 1863 he changed his field of mining operations to the
Caribou district, going there overland with a pack train and with a cargo of
bacon. The way was dangerous, as is well known, and in some places it was
necessary to tie the horses together by their tails and let them slide down deep
declines. In the fall he came to Canyon City with sheep, and in 1864 went to the
Boise Basin via the Columbia trail with sheep, encountering many interesting
experiences while in the wild and desolate places of the great northwest.
     In January, 1865, Mr. Milliorn married Kittie Mulholland, who was born in
Missouri, and crossed the plains with her parents in 1853, locating at Pleasant
Hill, this county. Immediately after his marriage he engaged in a general
merchandise business ten miles below Corvallis, in partnership with W. G.
Pickett, now deceased, and for whose estate Mr. Milliorn has been appointed
administrator. The mercantile business was disposed of in 1865, and in 1869 he
went on a farm, of three hundred and twenty acres four miles south of Junction
City, remaining there until purchasing the old homestead in Junction City in
1875. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Milliorn, of whom H. M. is
engaged in the merchandise business in this town ; W. G. is a farmer ; and J. E.
is in partnership with his merchant brother. Mr. Milliorn is a Democrat in
political affiliation, and he has been a member of the council many terms. Mr.
Milliorn contributed his share towards the suppression of the Indian in the
early days. He was sixteen years of age when he enlisted in the Rogue river war
in 1855-6; and at the time was the youngest man in the war. He went in the
capacity of wagon-master, but was finally detailed to build bridges on Eels
creek.

     
*******************

Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in June 2008 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.