Pleasant Hill is an unincorporated community of 5600 located 7 miles South of Springfield between the Coast [South] and middle forks of the Willamette River. Hill was the first white settlement in Lane County when Elijah Bristow first settled there. Originally from Virginia and a veteran of Andrew Jackson's Army, Bristow was part of a party of four immigrants from California that included Eugene Skinner who made his claim in what is now Eugene. Bristow arrived at a low rolling ridge sparsely covered with Oak, Fir and Pine trees with a panoramic view of the mountain and valley views and proclaimed "this is my claim". It has been known as Pleasant Hill ever since . Elijah Bristow worked as a gunsmith, blacksmith and a hatter. His wife traveled overland and arrived in 1848 and the couple had 15 children together.
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