Joseph S. Ruckle

Colonel Joseph S. Ruckle (or Ruckel) was a businessman who moved to Oregon in 1855.[1]

In Oregon, he captained Van Bergen's Oregon Steam Navigation Company steamship named the Fashion on the Columbia River.[1][2] He then built his own boat, the Mountain Buck, and then a railroad portage.[1] The rail portage, which was the Oregon Portage Railroad, was around the Cascades on the Columbia, and was the first railroad in Oregon.[3]

Ruckle was elected state senator in 1858 over Clackamas and Wasco counties.[4] A Democrat, he represented District 2, but as Oregon had not yet entered the Union, there was no official session in 1858.[5] He only served during the 1859 special session, the first meeting of the state legislature.[6]

In 1864 and 1865, he and George Thomas built the Thomas and Ruckle Road over the Blue Mountains.[1] He also developed a quartz mine near Powder River that became known as the Virtue Mine.[1]

References
  1. Bancroft, Hubert Howe (1888). History of Oregon. II. San Francisco, California: History Company. p. 481. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  2. Deumling, Dietrich (May 1972). The roles of the railroad in the development of the Grande Ronde Valley (masters thesis). Flagstaff, Arizona: Northern Arizona University. pp. 13–15, 27–28. OCLC 4383986.
  3. Worker's of the Writers Program of the Works Progress Administration (1940). Oregon, End of the Trail. American Guide Series. US History Publishers. p. 71. ISBN 1-60354-036-9.
  4. Bancroft, Hubert Howe (1888). History of Oregon. II. San Francisco, California: History Company. p. 432. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  5. "1858 Regular Session (1st Pre-Admission)". Oregon Legislators and Staff Guide. Oregon State Archives. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
  6. "1859 Special Session". Oregon Legislators and Staff Guide. Oregon State Archives. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
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