Republic of Texas Currency

This is one of a number of notes issued by the Republic of Texas that are part of the Benton County Historical Society’s collection. In the lower right corner is the signature of Sam Houston, the first President of what had become a separate country.

By 1835, about 30,000 people had migrated from the United States to the Mexican province of Texas, where they outnumbered native Mexicans by about ten to one.  Increasing differences between this group and the Mexican government over slavery, limits on immigration, and representation led them to declare their independence.  In 1836, the settlers defeated the Mexican army sent to quell the rebellion. Mexican President, General Santa Ana, was captured but was released when he agreed to recognize Texas independence.

 A new constitution established Republic of Texas.  Sam Houston was elected President and the Texas Congress petitioned, unsuccessfully, for annexation to the United States. In 1837, the Texas government issue notes for one year which paid ten percent interest.  This allowed the government to pay its bills.  Residents gained something they could use to pay taxes or import duties as Texas would not accept notes from U. S. state banks.  The Texas notes could be endorsed and used in commercial exchanges but many were held for investment.

In 1839, the Republic began to issue paper currency.  These notes, payable in one year to the bearer, earned no interest and needed no endorsement. To make counterfeiting more difficult, these notes were also printed on the reverse with a red design and so were popularly known as “redbacks.”

Because someone in the past had pasted the notes onto paper, the red design is now only barely noticeable on the notes in the Benton County Museum's collection.  The triangular cut near the bottom was one way the government canceled the note once it had been redeemed.

The Republic of Texas also printed “change notes” in small denominations ($1, $2, and $3) which were easily used as money for items other than paying taxes

In 1845, the Republic ceased to be when Texas was finally admitted to the United States and so no more Texas notes were printed. 

By Martha Fraundorf, Volunteer for Benton County Historical Society, Philomath, Oregon 

Recollections of Peak, Oregon

The Benton County Historical Society's collection contains a 1980 letter from  Viola Davidson Farmer in which she recollected life in Peak, Oregon. Viola  is the third from the left in the photograph.  She is standing next to her mother, Virginia (Virgie) Davidson (fourth from the left).

Mrs. Farmer writes: “My mother had been working with Mrs. Kessel, Postmistress in Philomath, to get a P. O. half way between Harlan and Philomath. This was installed shortly before my birth and was given the name of Peak, Oregon.”

Peak was located two miles north of Marys Peak and  6 miles south of Blodget, on the western edge of Benton County.  The Peak Post Office was established October 11, 1899.

Her letter continues:

“The office was a wooden dry goods box with cubby holes placed on a table in my mother's bedroom.  A man on horseback carried the mail to our house, spent the night there, went on to Harlan the next day, then repeated the route the next two days in reverse.  There was no road then, only a trail.  There was a makeshift road to Blodget where we had been getting our mail before that.”

Davidson house/Peak Post Office, circa 1900

Davidson house/Peak Post Office, 1910

The house stayed in the same place but the address changed so siblings “Noah and Mary were born at Blodget and I was born at Peak-- All three of us in the same house.”

“Well, my people did all right.  Made roads and new houses and a nice schoolhouse [in the top photo] that doubled for a church.  Conditions got so the mail came with a team and a hack and transported cream and groceries, etc. Also made Philomath to Harlan in one day and back to Philomath the next day. I grew up to be the Post Mistress' assistant and also to see as many as thirty kids in school....We had nice times.  But when it was time to put the new highway through to Yacquana [sic] we were voted out and it went with the railroad.  The people who had come to homestead moved away and Marys Peak died.  It had been logged off and there is nothing there to show there ever were houses, roads, or fences.”

The Peak Post Office  closed on October 15, 1917.

By Martha Fraundorf, Volunteer for Benton County Historical Society, Philomath, Oregon

Featured artifact: Pounce Box

 This item from the Benton County Historical Society's collection is not something you'd find in a home or office today.

Pounce Box, circa 1830

Even though the object has a number of holes in the top, it is not a salt or pepper shaker.  It is a shaker of a sort called a pounce box.  Pounce is the ground up resin of the sandarac tree (Tetraclinis articulata) of Morocco.  In the past, writers would sprinkle either pounce or sand over a newly inked document to keep the ink from running or smearing. This pounce box dates from the 1830s and was used by J. H. Lines in Iowa.  He brought it with him to Oregon in 1853.

close-up detail

Pounce boxes were also filled with charcoal dust or other colored powders to copy a design by shaking the box over a pattern created by perforations in paper. This can of pounce powder from circa 1914 has holes in the top so it can be used directly without the need to transfer the powder to a box. 

 

Once people rarely used dip pens or fountain pens, pounce boxes were no longer an essential object for writers.

By Martha Fraundorf, Volunteer for Benton County Historical Society, Philomath, Oregon