Collection is open for research.
Gift of Ralph Alberger, December 1973 (Lib. Acc. 12762).
James Suydam Polhemus was an engineer who specialized in river and harbor improvements. Born in Astoria, New York, on March 26, 1852, he graduated from Lehigh University and served in the water works of Albany, New York. In 1872 he went to work for the U.S. Corps of Engineers and was involved in hydrographic projects in Texas, New Orleans, the Great Lakes, and California. He moved to Oregon in 1880, where he married Mary Clark Daly and lived for a time in Newport. Beginning in 1888 he was part owner of the Alsea Packing Company, located at Waldport. He moved to Portland in the late 1890s, and around 1906 he built a house at the northwest corner of 20th and Couch Streets, designed by the firm of Rasmussen and Lewthwaite. He worked on river and harbor projects at Coos Bay, Yaquina Bay, and other locales until his retirement from the Corps of Engineers in 1924. He died at his home in Portland on September 29, 1930.
Sources: Collection materials; obituary in the Oregonian, September 30, 1930.
James S. Polhemus papers, Mss 2007, Oregon Historical Society Research Library
The collection contains financial records, business correspondence, and a small quantity of personal papers. Included are daybooks and a letterpress copybook of the Alsea Packing Company, 1888-1894; list of mortgages, 1891-1896; correspondence and financial records, 1888-1901; and a blueprint for the Polhemus house in Portland, circa 1906.
The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.