"IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE" IN OREGON - Southern Oregon Digital ...

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The long-term rivalry of Jacksonville and Ashland,
expressed regularly by mild insults and sarcasm in the
towns' newspapers, was both commercial and political . 7
Under the dominance of Jacksonville, Jackson County had a
strong Democratic tradition dating from earliest settlement
by Border State emigrants.
In the 1860 presidential
election, the county voted overwhelmingly for the proslavery
Democratic ticket of John Breckenridge and southern
Oregon "native son" Joseph Lane; pro-Union Democrat Stephen
A. Douglas garnered another quarter of the vote and Abraham
Lincoln came in third.
After the Civil War, Jackson County
consistently gave solid majorities to Democratic
presidential, congressional, and gubernatorial candidates
through the 1880s.
In contrast, many other Oregon counties
steadily transformed from Democratic to Republican
majorities during these years. 8
Charles Nickell, owner and editor of Jacksonville's
Siskiyous west of the Rogue River Valley, contained about
500-600 people in 1890, most of them farmers and miners
("Population," DT, 8 Jan. 1892, 2).
7 For an example, see: "Jacksonville items," AT, 15 Feb.
1894, 2, wherein the Ashland editor portrays Jacksonville as
a "staid old town," putting on intellectual airs while
hosting a county school-teachers' meeting.
8 Unless otherwise indicated, national and state
election results are from: Burton W. Onstine, Oregon Votes:
1858-1972 (Portland: Oregon Historical Society, 1973).
Precinct tallies are from the "Official Vote of Jackson
County" tables that appear in post-election issues of the
Jacksonville, Ashland, or Medford newspapers.