When the Multnomah County Commission straightened and smoothed out parts of Capitol Highway in the summer of 1915, it appointed (as was customary then) a Board of County Road Viewers to lay out the new road and assess the damages (compensation) that the county should pay to the landowners whose property was being taken. John B. Yeon, the county roadmaster, chaired the board. The board identified a route that reduced the maximum grade from 11% to 6% and straightened some tortuous curves. The board also estimated the damages to the owners from whom land would be required. Though the amounts seem laughably small in today's inflated currency, some of them were substantial in the dollars of 95 years ago. The 6966 square feet from the heirs of Andrew Mercer were valued at $625, the 5200 square feet from the estate of John M. Cress were valued at $300, and the 2925 square feet from George W. Owens were valued at $175. On the other hand, some of the figures seem oddly low: the 880 feet from "Andrew Sills" (who was really named John C. Bills) were valued at $1. The 17,424 square feet from Rosa H. Webber were valued at $100. The more than half an acre from Hosea and Edith Wood that included portions of thirty separate lots was valued at $900.
Not surprisingly, some of the owners asked for more. Rosa Webber wanted $600 instead of $100. John Bills wanted $40 instead of $1. The heirs of Andrew Mercer wanted $4500 instead of $625. Ninety-six years ago today, on September 13, 1915, the county commission denied their demand for more and approved the report of the road viewers. Mr. Bills apparently had to be content with his $1. Rosa Webber took her case to court, with what result I do not know.
But the county commission wasn't satisfied with rejecting the landowners' claims for compensation; it included in its final order the following sentence: "ORDERED, further, that the values claimed by each of the claimants herein as the proper value of their property, be transmitted to the County Assessor for his information." In other words, we're happy to tax your property at the value that you've just claimed for it, even if we're not willing to pay you that much for it ourselves. Gotcha!