[2] In the early 19th century, the river landing at the mouth of Oswego Creek was a convenient camping place for explorers, fur traders, and pioneers.

In the words of a Lake Oswego resident, it was "a stopping place, a sort of relay station for boats both large and small, plying up and down the river between Astoria and Champoeg.

Durham build a sawmill on the upper part of the creek and shipped lumber to San Francisco and the Sandwich Islands, now known as Hawaii.

[citation needed] The Oregon Iron Company was established in 1865 by an elite group of Portland merchants who hailed from New England and New York.

Their investments in shipping, railroads, gas and water systems, real estate, and banking shaped the future of Portland as the cultural and commercial center of Oregon.

The result was a furnace with all the hallmarks of a Connecticut furnace- gothic arches, ashlar masonry of rectangular stone blocks, and a barrel-vaulted flue in back.

"The success of this enterprise...opens to Oregon a new source of commerce and material wealth which can scarcely be over-estimated- vastly more beneficial and endurable in its results to the State than a mine of precious metals" (Portlands's Weekly Herald, July 28, 1866).

The company saw record production in 1888 when Simeon Reed was under control of the plant, but due to the combination of the panic of 1893, competitors in the industry, and rising labor costs the furnace was forced to close in 1894.

in 1885 a hefty Howe truss Bridge stood parallel to the older beam structure and served the town's booming population and iron industry.

"Charcoal haulers would cross the covered bridge and follow the trail along the river..."(Mary Goodall, Oregon's Iron Dream).