A poster (and dear cousin) responded only to the mailing list and as she had some great research tips, I decided to make my response through the message board so others can possibly benefit:
". . . have you tried the 1890 census for Oregon? I know some of the vets on that. I am not sure of who all is on that. What about the agricultural schedules? You may be able to get these through your local Family History center.Alyce"

My response: Thanks for those tips, Alyce. I've not looked at agricultural schedules but have looked at the 1890 reconstructed census and while there are several John Smiths there, none is the right one. As far as I know he never served in the military, so I didn't really expect to find him there. I guess it's time to see what's available in the way of agricultural schedules.

Thanks again,
Beth