Oswego's first industry, a saw mill, was established on this site in 1850 by Albert Alonzo Durham on part of his 637 acre Donation Land Grant, which included Old Town and much of East Oswego. He advertised the new mill in the Oregonian's first edition of December 6, 1850, stating that Oswego was 7 miles upstream from Portland. Durham built a wooden dam whose water turned a 36 foot diameter water wheel to power the mill. A native of Oswego, New York, Durham left Springfield, Illinois, in 1847 and traveled the Oregon Trail with his wife, Miranda White, and young son, George. After first settling in Oregon City, he founded Oswego in 1849. In 1865 he sold the mill and the remainder of his land grant to John Corse Trullinger, who resumed business as the Oswego Milling Company and replatted Old Town in 1867.