Samuel Asahel Clarke

[1] Born in Cuba and educated in New York City, Clarke went to California to prospect for gold in 1849, and then to Oregon in 1850, where he lived initially in Portland prior to its incorporation.

[1] He filed a land claim south of Salem, which became his permanent home; he later built up an orchard there.

[1] He then served as editor of The Oregonian; he resigned that post in May 1865, and was succeeded by Harvey Whitefield Scott.

[5] Clarke later served as librarian in Washington, D.C., at the United States General Land Office, returning to Salem in 1907.

Bourne, a Yale University professor known as an authority on the matter, subsequently rebutted some of his points,[8] and Clarke replied on March 22, 1902.