In the 1830s and 1840s, traders and trappers passing by the west bank of the Willamette River often stopped by what they called “The Clearing.” This resting area was an easy place to stop and refresh oneself on the journey between Oregon City and Fort Vancouver. Massachusetts captain John Couch was one of the first to recognize the nearby river’s possibility for large-ship-travel, noting it in his logbook in 1840. It took three years for anyone to do anything about it, but in 1843, William Overton (a Teenesse pioneer) and Asa Lovejoy (a Boston lawyer) filed a claim for the land with the provisional government of Oregon. The claim included The Clearing, the nearby waterfront, and the forest in-between. They paid only 25 cents for the filing fee.Overton grew bored of the more mundane tasks associated with developing the land, and sold his claim to Francis Pettygrove of Portland, Maine. While Lovejoy wanted to name the town after Boston, Pettygrove also wanted to honor his hometownso they flipped a coin. Obviously, Pettygrove won, and Lovejoy, in a classic sore-loser move, sold his half to Benjamin Stark.Then, three years later, Pettygrove sold almost the whole thing! He reserved 64 lots and a block each for himself and Stark, but didn’t let Stark offer any more input on the matter. The price was 5,000 in leather, which tanner Daniel Lownsdale gladly paid. In 1849, Lownsdale sold half of the claim to Stephen Coffin for 6,000. It was shortly after that when Stark came back in the picture, pressuring Lownsdale and Coffin for his half of the claim.In December 1849, William W. Chapman, a lawyer previously living in Iowa, bought a third of the overall claim for 26,666. In March 1850, though, Lownsdale agreed to give Stark the land north of Stark Street along with 3,000. Chapman’s claim was thus reduced by about 10. Chapman then sold block 81 (which was in Stark’s settlement area). This concluded the transactions, and Portland began to grow. As the largest settlement in the Pacific Northwest, it had its own hotels and newspaper, despite the fact that mud and stumps created hazards around the town. These obstacles led to two of the city’s most enduring nicknames, “Stumptown” and “Mudtown.” Even in 1889, the city was called “the most filthy city in the Northern States” by the Oregonian, but hosting the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition in 1905 helped to improve the city’s fortunesand its size, doubling the population from 90,426 in 1900 to 207,214 in 1910.