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JOHN L. CAVINESS. - Surely truth is stranger than fiction, and to read the adventures of the subject of this sketch in his many journeys in the life of the real frontiersman for years is as if one read again of the fairy tales or were with a veritable Boone. And as his life will speak for itself, we hasten to record the items that have been considered the salient points of this most interesting career.

John L. was born in Morgan county, Indiana, on December 7, 1839, being the son of Frederick P. and Zorelda (William) Caviness. Four years after his birth, he accompanied his parents to Jefferson county, Iowa, remaining there until he was eleven years of age, then came west across the plains to the Willamette valley, in the year 1852. In these different places, our subject was denied the privileges of schools, and learned to write by careful attention during old times, and it was his practice like the memorable Franklin, to carry his arithmetic to work with him. At the age of sixteen he left home and engaged as herder to drive stock from Oregon to California, continuing at the same for one year. This being a time of hostility of the savages, he saw much depredation and also many battles were witnessed by him. When the Rogue river Indians were captured in the fall of 1856, he was with the capturing company, as messenger for the scouts, which dangerous occupation led him through all kinds of weather in the wilds of the mountains and at all times to be on the alert. Late the same year he went up the Columbia with a company to assist some whites who were being hemmed in by the Indians, and they were successful in beating back the savages and rescuing their fellows. Moving on up to The Dalles, they assisted the soldiers in forcing out the savages. Contrary to his father's wishes at this time, he went into Washington and joined the force under the memorable Steptoe, and for one and one-half years his fortunes wee cast with this military and daring life. Subsequent to this period he went to California again and then returned and visited his father, after which he joined the force of Tom Boggs and assisted to drive a herd of cattle from the Willamette valley to Tygh ridge. The cattle being part Spanish, three hundred of them were lost and not found until their return back across the Cascades. Later he hired to W. Wiggles and operated with him for a time, and returned home for one winter and then went to Walla Walla in 1858 and thence to the Okanogan lake prospecting, but failing, went thence to Oro Fino, Idaho. After one summer there he returned to Walla Walla and bought horses for Mr. Wiggles and then hired to one Forsythe, to drive ox teams to Ft. Colville. One season was spent thus, and Way & Bush bought the freighting outfit and installed our subject as driver of one outfit that handled thirty-six yoke of oxen. In the fall of 1859, he bought two teams from these men and hauled the first saw mill that went into Walla Walla county, following which he hauled lumber from this mill to Walla Walla. Then he was hired by a man named Ford, to assist in packing a company of soldiers from Fort Benton to Fort Colville for the government. Next we find him prospecting in the vicinity of Elk City, whence he went to Florence, the year being 1860, and there he found dirt that netted him five hundred dollars per week. Later he packed provisions from Walla Walla to Florence with his own trains. In 1861, on account of the hard winter much stock was lost and men were likely to starve, as there was not provision for the minters. By dint of good management in securing extra food for his animals, and purchasing more, Mr. Caviness started in, in the spring with a good load, having bought forty-five thousand pounds of oats for twelve and one-half centers per pound, which gave him provender for his animals. Just preceding him a government train had started, but he soon overtook them and found their animals worn out. On Craig mountain, snow was deep and paths had to be shoveled and his oats were sold at one dollar per pound for the starving animals. Before he was at the summit house, one thousand men were on the way for the mines. His train could go no further, and he hired men to pack at twenty-five cents per pound for the balance of the way. He sold bacon at three dollars per pound and flour at one dollar and fifty cents per pound. He made one more trip and sold his train and went prospecting, washing out the first pan in Warren and there made a success. Then he bought a skiff and ferrid men across for five dollars per head, clearing three thousand dollars in two weeks. He heard of a herd of cattle coming in and met them and bought them and twelve and one-half cents per pound and drove them in and sold at fifty cents per pound, dressed. By this time he was tired out with seven years of this life, and he came to the Grande Ronde valley. He bought three hundred and sixty acres, where Island City now stands, built a flouring mill, laid out a town, and settled down. He has been identified with the county in the same earnest way that has characterized him in all of his career, and now he owns over twelve hundred acres of land in Wallowa county and half as much in Union county, and he is one of the leading property owners of the entire country. He has also seven hundred and fifty head of stock and several fine residences, besides much other property.

In 1863, Mr. Caviness married Miss Cassie, daughter of John and Sarah (Kennedy) Stotts, and they have become the parents of five children: Nellie J., married toJ.A. Branson, lving with parents: William H., deceased; Laura, married to Charles H.Conkey, in Lagrande; Lawrence, married to Annie Mitchell, living in Wallowa county; Gracie, married to Dr. N. Moliter, of Lagrande. Politically, Mr. Caviness is a Republican, and although he has frequently been urged to accept office, he has constantly refused. He is allied with the Masons, and there is perhaps not another man in the county today, better known, more highly respected, and the recipient of greater confidence than is John L. Caviness.

JOHN L. CAVINESS. - The name presented above is borne by one of the most exemplary citizens of Eastern Oregon, and a man who has sounded all the depths and shoals of pioneer life.

The family came from Indiana, settled for a time in Iowa, and came on to Oregon in 1852, spending a short time at Forest Grove, but soon locating in Linn county on a section Donation claim. In 1856-57 John L., now a young man of eighteen, began his career by driving cattle to California, and in the spring of the latter year to Eastern Oregon. While in the Walla Walla valley, he found employment as purchaser of horses from the Indians, receiving a hundred dollars per month, - better than splitting rails for his board on the Touchet, as he had done a few weeks after his arrival. In 1859 he made a successful trip with a drove of cattle to British Columbia, and followed this by freighting to Colville. Closing out his outfit to advantage, he tried his fortune in the Salmon river mines. In 1862 he hazarded six thousand dollars in a team (a prairie schooner) and goods, and made a very profitable expedition to the mines again, selling oats for as much as a dollar a pound. He cleared ten thousand dollars on the trip, and repeated it twice. Selling out once more he took up the business of ferrying across Salmon river at Warner Diggings, paying fifteen dollars for a skiff and taking in three thousand dollars in ferriage in a short time. These figures seem fabulous, but, to a miner just on the eve of making his fortune, five or ten dollars seemed nothing for him to give for getting across the dangerous river that lay between him and his strike.

Returning to the cattle herds, Mr. Caviness bought up a drove of beef animals, and sold beef in the mines at thirty and fifty cents a pound. After prospecting at Bannack, and trading at Walla Walla, the autumn of 1863 found him in the Blue Mountains at Auburn, where there was a large mining camp. Shortly after, finding his old partner, John Bryant, at Walla Walla, he laid in a stock of provisions and took up the claim at Grande Ronde, on which he had been having an eye for some time. It was the location of Island City; and the squatter then there had to be bought off. Getting some lumber for sixty dollars a thousand, Mr. Caviness put up the house which still stands and serves as his homestead. To the original purchase of two hundred and forty acres he soon added one hundred and twenty, and has more recently increased it by seven hundred and twenty, all in the valley. In 1872, in partnership with Mr. Darling, he built the Island City Flouring Mills, which he sold out in 1884. He is still living, however, at the old place prosperous and contented.

He is married and has five children, and is a straight Republican in politics.