Polk County Place Names
Compiled By M. Constance Guardino III
July 2008
(1) Ford Family Slave Quarters (2) Former Slave Louis Southworth
(3) Lucinda & Nathaniel Ford (4) Polk County Courthouse (5) Glen O. Burnett
Airlie was the
southern
terminus of the narrow gauge line of the Oregonian Railway Company,
Ltd.
The tracks were subsequently widened to standard gauge, and the
property
acquired by the Southern Pacific Company. The station was named for the
Earl of Airlie, president of the syndicate of Scottish businessmen who
bought the narrow gauge railway built by the people of Yamhill County
and
in 1881 extended it to this point. The Earl of Airlie visited Oregon
during
the course of construction of the railway. Most of the track on the
Airlie
branch was taken out in 1929. The post office, established Sep. 5,
1882,
was located on the Luckiamute River about eight miles southwest of
Monmouth.
Jos. A. Dalton was the first postmaster. The office was discontinued
Feb.
11, 1884, and re-established Sep. 14, 1885. It was discontinued again
Jun.
15, 1943 and moved to Monmouth.
Ballston, originally
known as Ballsville, was named for Isaac Ball, owner of the original
donation
land claim on which the community was founded. The post office,
established
Jul. 19, 1880, was located about three miles east of Sheridan. Nathan
Dickson
was the first postmaster. It was discontinued Jun. 30, 1953. Ballston
post
office became a rural station of Sheridan, and was discontinued Sep.
30,
1969.
Ballsville post office
was established Sep. 19, 1878 and discontinued Jul. 19, 1880 when it
became
Ballston. Andrew N. Martin was the first postmaster.
Bethel was named for
the Bethel Church in Missouri by Rev. Glen O. Burnett. It was located
in
Plum Valley about two miles east of McCoy. Bethel Institute merged with
the Monmouth Christian College, now the Oregon College of Education at
Monmouth. It was established by members of the Christian Church,
locally
called Campbellites, with gifts of money and land. The post office was
established Feb. 24, 1865, land discontinued Mar. 26, 1880, when it was
moved to Zena. John H. Hawley was the first postmaster.
Black Rock was the
western
terminus of a branch of the Southern Pacific Railroad from Dallas. It
was
located about five miles west of Falls City, and was named for an
outcropping
of shale in the area. The post office was established Nov. 17, 1906 and
discontinued Oct. 15, 1943, when the office was moved to Falls City.
Louis
Gerlinger was the first postmaster.
Bloomington was
located
on the lower reaches of the Luckiamute River near the community now
known
as Parker. The post office was established May 25, 1852, and
discontinued
Jun. 24, 1863. Eli W. Foster was the first postmaster.
Bridgeport is an unorganized
locality on Little Luckiamute River about three miles east or
downstream
from Falls City. It is said to have been named for a pioneer bridge
over
the stream, but the exact location of the structure is not known.
Bridge
Port post officer was established Jun. 1, 1854, with Saml. T. Scott
first
postmaster. The name of the office was very soon changed to Bridgeport.
It continued operation until Jan. 13, 1874.
Broadmead is
descriptive
of the broad meadows surrounding the post office, located about four
miles
southwest of Amity on Salt Creek. The office was established Jan. 8,
1915,
and discontinued Sep. 4, 1942, when the office was moved to Amity. The
first postmaster was Wm. H. Morris.
Buell post office,
located
on Mill Creek, about six miles southeast of Willamina, was established
Mar. 31, 1900, with Frank Oviatt first postmaster. The community, near
Elk Horn, was named for Elias Buell, who was born in New York in 1798.
Buell was a pioneer settler who operated a sawmill and small store
here,
and was most likely the father of Cyrus Buell, the Elk Horn postmaster
in 1869. Buell’s wife, Sarah, was also born in New York in 1800. In
1950,
a chapel erected in 1860 at Buell was still standing. Buell post office
was discontinued May 31, 1924, and re-established Jun. 8, 1927. The
office
closed to Sheridan Sep. 30, 1943. Elk Horn post office, located on Mill
Creek near Buell, was established Nov. 16, 1869, with Cyrus Buell first
postmaster. Buell, who was born in Iowa in 1836, was a prominent
settler
on Mill Creek and was interested in the grist mill that gave the stream
its name. For about five years the post office was on the Buell place
about
two miles south or upstream from the highway bridge and present
location
of the community called Buell. When Thms. R. Blair was appointed
postmaster
in 1874, the office was moved three miles north on Mill Creek from what
is now Buell. The Elk Horn office closed to Sheridan on Oct. 4, 1882,
but
the locality, which is a little over four miles southwest of Sheridan
by
road, is still called Elk Horn.
Buena Vista, Oregon’s
first industrial city, is located on the west bank of the Willamette
about
six miles southeast of Independence. The one shack near the river was
the
only habitation in miles and no doubt Georgia-born Reason B. Hall
(1791-1869)
thought whoever lived there would be glad to see a stranger. Probably
he
was—but for a special reason. He answered Hall’s knock, said his name
was
Heck but very little more. Later he told Hall he had an urgent business
matter to attend to and could Hall stay at the little two-room cabin to
watch out for vandals or Indians until he got back? Hall said he could
and moved in, carrying everything he owned. The stay stretched out for
days, weeks and months. After a year and no Heck, Hall figured no man
ever
got a cabin easier. Reason Hall was a veteran of the War of 1812, and
the
Black Hawk affray of 1834. He arrived in Oregon in 1846, at Heck’s
shanty
a year later and was laying out a city on the site about 1853. He hired
a surveyor named Meadows Vanderpool to line the streets and lots. New
towns
of the day were often named for patriotic reasons, such as Independence
and Lincoln, and following the trend Hall named his Liberty. In fact,
postal
records show there are towns named Liberty in Benton, Marion and
Wheeler
counties. One grandson in Salem, E. M. Croisant, said Hall decided
Buena
Vista seemed more appropriate since several of his kinsmen had fought
in
the Mexican War battle of Buena Vista. Hall may not have understood the
Spanish significance of the name but the site did offer a “beautiful
view,”
any of several gentle rises affording splendid panoramas of the fertile
Willamette Valley and its curving river. Even before Hall’s town was
platted
it had a general store, started in 1851 by partners Weil and Sharf who
soon added a warehouse. As travelers arrived some complained because,
while
their destination was Rocky Point, Judkin’s Landing or Sidney’s
Landing,
all on the west side of the river, they had no way to get across except
by rowboat, swimming their horses and who wanted to remount a wet
horse?
So Hall started a ferry in 1852, beginning what is one of the longest,
continuously operating ferry services—allowing for occasional
breakdowns
and layups by floods—in Oregon. Later one of Reason Hall’s sons started
another Halls Ferry north of Independence. Even in 1964, the traveler
still
crossed the Willamette at this point by ferry. Other businesses were
established
rapidly. Around 1850, Jas. A. O’Neal built a warehouse in Buena Vista.
He decided his town of Wheatland Landing, grain shipping point 30 miles
downriver in the extreme south southeast corner of Yamhill County east
of Amity, would soon take second place to the new metropolis and moved
to Buena Vista, starting the second general store. The inevitable grist
mill in this land of rolling wheat fields was built about the same
time.
H. D. Godley put up a hotel, and one of Hall’s sons, E. C. (b 1841 IL),
opened a wagon shop where the forge glowed red almost constantly.
Hall’s
daughter, Mary, married Henry Croisant who came to Buena Vista after a
short and disillusioning stay in the gold fields of California. A
number
of descendants of this union still live in Salem, 21 miles distant.
One,
Geo. Wm. Croisant, has an insurance business there. In 1856, Oregon was
anticipating entry into the Union as a state. Centers of population
were
in the shipping ports and infant industrial towns along the Willamette.
Competition among these for the juicy prize of state capitol was
intense.
No shy violet, Hall saw his embryo town of Buena Vista as out in front
but felt he could urge it on even more by judicious publicity. He made
a trip to Oregon City and inserted an ad in the Oregon Spector Apr. 21,
1856. One paragraph stated: “The ground is dry, and ascending the
riverbank,
a more healthful situation cannot be found in the country—no swamp or
low
or wetland about the place, and is backed by as beautiful and as rich
country
as there is in Oregon.” As an added incentive, Hall wrote: “There are
plenty
of
the best building timbers handy to the place and thousands of cords of
cordwood.” He made the generous offer “to the people of Oregon as much
ground as will be wanted to set the state house on, also available as
fine
a stone quarry as any I have seen in Oregon.” He ended with: “There is
a good steamboat landing on the Wallamet River. Come forward and poll
your
votes for Buena Vista.” But the little river community hardly made a
showing
in the voting, Salem taking first place. Yet the town went ahead. By
now
many riverboats which before ended their runs at downstream landings,
were
including Buena Vista. A school was started in a one-room log house in
1859 which served as a church on Sundays. And three years later the
post
office was established on Jun. 19, 1866, with Harrison Linville first
postmaster.
The office closed to Independence May 31, 1935. Buena Vista is Spanish
for beautiful view or good view. But while hotels, saloons, schools,
stores
and blacksmith shops were all part of the economy, the town’s real
growth
and fame came from an industry unique in Oregon, a stoneware and
pottery
plant. Much of the pottery used by the pioneers was molded and burned
at
the Buena Vista kilns, on the mid-Willamette River. When Freeman
Smith’s
six sons were mustered out of the Union Army at the end of the Civil
War,
they joined him with the mother and four daughters in migrating to the
Far West via the Isthmus of Panama. Arriving in Oregon, in late 1865,
Smith
heard about a deposit of clay on the banks of the Willamette at Buena
Vista
which had excellent firing qualities. Smith, who had worked in an
eastern
pottery plant, tested the clay in a makeshift kiln and bought clay land
on the riverbank near the ferryslip. Then he and his sons went to work
building the kilns. A deposit of finer clay needed for glazing, was
found
at Corvallis, 17 miles away. Smith and Company products were eagerly
snapped
up by local consumers but this small market was soon saturated. Freeman
loaded a wagon with this jugs and pots and drove to Albany, confident
he
would meet with the same ready sale as at home. After a day of
discouraging
rebuffs and doubts, he was about ready to drive home when he stopped at
John Conner’s hardware store. Conner was no more enthusiastic than
others
but did offer to take the lot on commission, at the rate of 50 cents
per
gallon capacity. When the potter returned to Albany, Smith found the
entire
stock of 300 gallon capacity sold, Conner paying him in gold. By 1870,
Freeman Smith was ready to retire and sold his interest to son Amendee,
who with his brothers, greatly expanded the business, adding such lines
as flower pots and sewer pipe. The 15-inch sewer pipeline running down
Portland’s SE Stark Street was manufactured at Buena Vista. At this
time
the plant was employing four “turners” at the potters’ wheels and a
crew
of ten Chinese for mixing clay. The town boomed with the pottery
business,
enough to support two physicians, doctors J. C. Woods and Wm. C. Lee,
and
Woods with a man named March open a drug store. Buena Vista’s most
imposing
saloon, owned by John Wade whose specialty was a potent spirit called
“Blue
Ruin,” was sold to Chas. Henry. The new owner added several other lines
of liquor and an “annex” for the entertainment of lonely traveling men.
The town had its share of fires, the most disastrous one destroying the
two-story Wells Store with IOOF and Knights Templars quarters upstairs.
At midnight of Saturday, Feb. 10, 1870 member of the night crew at the
pottery plant noticed flames shooting from the frame building.
Responding
volunteer firemen were barely able to save half the goods from the
adjoining
Pitkin establishment and were forced to stand by as flames leveled both
structures. The fire seemed to have started in the fraternal hall where
there had been a dance that evening. Total loss was about $5000, a
serious
setback in those times. Spared by the fire was the notorious Bust Head
Saloon not far away. This little false-fronted drink emporium from
which
the more troublesome drunks were ejected out the back door into a
gulch,
was the incubator of most of Buena Vista’s crime. One sensational act
of
violence in the little river town was perpetuated by one Tubbs,
accustomed
to nurse his grievances at the saloon. Oregon historian Ben Maxwell
tells
the story. Tubbs, with an extensive criminal record, was so abusive to
his wife that although pregnant, she left him, taking refuge with
relatives,
the Geo. Geer family. On a hot Fourth of July in 1878, Tubbs passed
Beech’s
Drug Store. Beech was sitting in fron although most merchants had
closed
up and joined a citizen’s march to Independence to celebrate the
holiday.
In a friendly tone he remarked to Tubbs: “Sure is a hot day, isn’t it?”
Tubbs was reported to have answered in a “surly fashion”: “Yes it is,
and
it will be a day long remembered in Buena Vista.” It was. About 2pm, B.
F. Hall, son of Reason, was sitting on his front porch when he heard
several
shots coming from the Geer home. He hurried over and was just in time
to
see Ms. Tubbs reel from the front door and collapse under a big oak
tree.
While other neighbors tried to help the wounded woman, he rushed in the
house and found Tubbs on the floor bleeding profusely from gun shot
wounds.
He picked up the gun near Tubbs’ hand and saw all chambers of the old
style
five-shooter had been discharged. Several other men came in and the
report
states: “The men wore sneers on their faces as they watched Tubbs die.”
Ms. Tubbs soon expired also and all agreed it was a plain cause of
murder
and suicide. In this kind of weather prompt attention had to be given
to
burial arrangements so several villagers made coffins, the next day B.
F. Hall loading them on his wagon and driving to the cemetery on the
hill.
Ms. Tubbs was interred there but her husband-murderer was buried
unceremoniously
in adjacent, scrubby land. Sometime later Hall observed the soil had
been
disturbed and a little digging revealed an empty space. Discreet
inquiry
disclosed the fact that two Polk County doctors paid a “resurrection
man”
$50 to remove Tubbs’ remains, clean and sack them, row the gruesome
cargo
down river to Independence on a moonless night. At its height Buena
Vista
was one of the most important places along the Willamette and
population
warranted a large, two-story school. The pottery plant was easily the
most
important industry, employing several hundred men and second in size
was
a busy sawmill. Hops were introduced by Adam Weiser in 1867 and became
a main crop almost immediately, holding top place for 70 years. But as
the years went by many factors gradually killed this prosperity, the
worst
blow being the bypassing by several miles, of the railroad. Hops
declined
in demand and value and the pottery plant moved to the larger Portland
market. Salem, as capitol, drew away most of the population. In 1964,
the
town was quiet and almost all the buildings are gone, including the
houses,
their locations indicated in spring by shoals of yellow daffodils. The
Smith Market still operates, the only one that does. The cemetery on
the
hill is well cared for, commanding an impressive view for miles of the
Willamette and lush farmlands. Many markers are of marble, some
beautifully
sculptured. An open area would seem to indicate graves once marked with
wooden headboards which decayed early in the moist climate. Ms. Tubbs'
grave would likely be one of them and orchards have long since
concealed
any trace of her abusive slayer’s violated resting place.
Butler was named for
judge N. L. Butler of Dallas, who owned a farm near here. The post
office,
which was established May 27, 1872, was located on Casper Creek, about
four miles southeast of present-day Grand Ronde. John C. Ellis was the
first postmaster. The office closed to Grand Ronde Feb. 15, 1911.
Chandler was named
for
Thms. C. Chandler, the first postmaster. The post office, established
Apr.
15, 1895, was located on North Fork Rock Creek about five miles
southeast
of Valsetz. The office closed to Rocca Jul. 14, 1900.
Cincinnati was named
for the Ohio city by A. C. R. Shaw, a founder of this village on the
Willamette,
who saw a similarity in the sites. A year after Oregon was organized as
a territory, the first novel, The Prairie Flower, or Adventures in the
Far West, was written in the new country. This novel was published in
Cincinnati
in 1849. Emerson Bennett was credited with its authorship, but there
can
be little doubt that it was motivated and mainly written by Sidney
Walter
Moss (1810-1901), a hotel keeper of Oregon City. It was notable for its
portrayal of early mountain characters and its salty trapper’s dialect.
Abigail Jane Scott Duniway (1835-1915) taught school in Cincinnati in
1853,
and during pioneer days an effort made to establish the state capital
there.
In 1859, Duniway, who later became the state’s most brilliant champion
of Woman Suffrage, published Captain Gray’s Company, a fictional
version
of the overland journey of the first immigrants, marked by a somewhat
barren
realism. Many female leaders of the abolitionist movement also wanted
to
end the domestic slavery of women in the US. In July 1848, a group of
these
pioneering feminists met in Seneca Falls, NY, where they founded the
Woman’s
Rights Movement. The delegates in the Seneca Falls convention prepared
a list of ways in which women suffered discrimination and agreed to a
number
of resolutions for change. One of these resolutions declared that women
deserved to vote, a right that nearly all 19th Century Women were
denied.
Only four Western states gave Women the right to vote before 1900, the
first of these being Wyoming in 1869. In 1911, Oregon historian Jos.
Gaston
wrote: “The question of equal rights to women in the exercise of the
right
of suffrage has been twice submitted to the electors of the state, and
failed to receive votes sufficient to incorporate the proposition in
the
state constitution. It is now again to be voted upon at the ensuing
election,
the result of which will not be known in time to be included in this
history.
The great leader of the movement in Oregon, a leader with a national
reputation,
and a record of 50 years of unfaltering and courageous advocacy of
equal
rights to all persons—Abigail Scott Duniway—is at this time
unfortunately
confined to her home from the infirmities of age. But with an intellect
that leads that battle of justice, and a dauntless spirit that halts
not
at opposition or defeat, from her home in the City of Portland still
goes
out to every hamlet in the state the inspiriting command: ‘Oh watch and
fight and pray; the battle never give over; renew it boldly every day;
and help divine implore.” Cincinnati post office, established Jun. 5,
1851,
was located near the mouth of Rickreall Creek, about four miles west of
the heart of Salem. Joshua Shaw was first postmaster of the Cincinnati
office, which closed to Eola May 23, 1856.
Crowley was named for
Solomon K. Crowley, an Oregon pioneer of 1852. The post office, which
was
established Apr. 11, 1881, was located on the Southern Pacific
Railroad,
about five miles north of Rickreall. It was discontinued Dec. 13, 1882,
and re-established at Rickreall Dec. 13, 1882. The first postmaster was
John C. Allen.
Dallas, named for Geo.
Mifflin Dallas, vice-president under Polk from 1845 to 1849, is said to
have been named Cynthia Anne originally. It was settled in the 1840s on
the north side of Rickreall Creek, but was moved more than a mile south
in 1856 because of inadequate water supply. It was named for Geo.
Mifflin
Dallas (1792-1864), vice-president of the US from 1845 to 1849. Dallas
was vice-president during Polk’s administration, and when a name was
chosen.
A narrow gauge railroad was built into Dallas in 1878-1880 as a result
of a county seat over Independence. Independence was after the county
seat
honor, but citizens of Dallas raised $17,000 and secured the branch
line,
and this settled the contest for the seat of government. Dallas post
office
was established Oct. 22, 1852, with John E. Lyle postmaster. It was
originally
on north Rickreall Creek, but a water supply problem forced the
relocation
to its present site. Attention is called to discrepancies in the
available
information about the early name of Dallas. It appears both as Cynthian
and Cynthia Anne. It is reported that this name was chosen by a Ms.
Lovelady
in memory of a place in Kentucky, but the name in Kentucky is Cythiana.
Harriet McArthur and Judge C. H. Carey of Portland and Cpt. O. C.
Applegate
of Klamath Falls said in 1927 that the place was named for Ms. Jesse
Applegate,
whose given name was Cynthia Anne. The Applegates lived in Polk County
at the tine the place was named. Baskett Slough originates in the
intermittent
lakes west and south of Mt. Baldy and four miles northeast of Dallas.
It
flows eastward several miles and joins Mud Slough. The slough contains
2,492 acres and was named for Geo. J. Baskett, an early valley
thoroughbred
horse breeder. Baskett was born in Kentucky in 1817 and settled on a
donation
land claim near this slough in Oct. 1850. The farmed fields, rolling
oak-covered
hills, and shallow wetlands are home to many wildlife species.
Evelyn
Sibley Lampman (1907-1980) was born in Dallas, and died in Portland.
She
wrote several books for children, including The City Under the Back
Steps,
Halfbreed, and Cayuse Coyote. She used the name Lynn Bronson on some of
her books. David R. Heil (b 1955) spent his early years exploring the
meadows,
woods, and stream in his hometown of Dallas. His fascination with
nature
led him to a career in science education. Since 1988, television
viewers
across the country have watched him as the host of “Newton’s Apple,” a
Public Broadcasting (PBS) science program. Heil is also the associate
director
of the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland.
Dixie was the local
name
for Rickreall during the Civil War and for some time thereafter because
of Southern sentiment in the community, but it was never the name of a
post office. Located on Rickreall Creek, four miles east of Dallas,
Rickreall
is an old town by Oregon standards. In 1845, John E. Lyle arrived from
Illinois and almost immediately opened a school in the home of col.
Nathaniel
Ford near the site of Rickreall. Ford, who owned Slaves, settled here
in
1844. Rickreall post office was established Jun. 30, 1851, as Rickreal,
with Ford first postmaster. The office was discontinued Apr. 11, 1857,
and re-established Jun. 19, 1866, as Rickreall, with Ford again serving
as postmaster. Many insist that La Creole River should have been called
Rickreall, that it was so called by the Indians in the days when they
dug
camas bulbs along its banks. Others insist that La Creole was the name
used by French-Canadians in memory of a young Indian Woman who was
drowned
in it at the present site of Dallas. As a compromise, the stream is
called
La Creole River below Dallas and La Creole Creek at Dallas and
Rickreall
above it. La Creole Academy at Dallas was founded by Horace Lyman. The
school was chartered with the name Rickreall, by the territorial
legislature
in Dec. 1852. The name is given as Ricrall in an advertisement in the
Oregonian,
Feb. 7, 1852. Oregonians of the settler period, live the Amerindians
before
the, were tinged with melancholy, but, unlike the their aboriginal
counterparts,
they trafficked very little with spooks. However, at Rickreall and a
few
other places in the Willamette Valley were haunted mills. In Benton
County
was a hollow locally known as Banshee Canyon tenanted by the ghost of
Whitehorse,
a suicide. From the old-long-vacated Yaquina Bay Lighthouse came cries
from a throat that was not human and light from a place where no light
was.
Doak’s Ferry, later
known
as Lincoln, was probably named for Andrew J. Doak, who was first
postmaster
of Valfontis post office in 1854. Doak had a donation land claim claim
close to the present site of Lincoln, a community at the east edge of
Spring
Valley. Milton Doak, possibly his son, was born in Oregon in 1857, and
was living in Buena vista at the time of the 1870 Census. Lincoln is
located
at the eastern edge of Spring Valley, on the west bank of the
Willamette,
seven miles northwest of Salem. It is said to have been named for
Abraham
Lincoln, who had been assassinated two years earlier. The town grew up
with riverboat transportation as a wheat shipping center. Grain was
hauled
from points as far distant as Willamina. The post office was
established
May 31, 1867, with Danl. Jackson Cooper (b c1837 TN) first postmaster.
There had previously been an office at or near this location, called
Valfontis.
Lincoln post office was discontinued Mar. 31,1901 and patrons have been
served by a rural route from Salem.
Elk Horn post office,
located on Mill Creek near Buell, was established Nov. 16, 1869, with
Cyrus
Buell first postmaster. Buell, who was born in Iowa in 1836, was a
prominent
settler on Mill Creek and was interested in the grist mill that gave
the
stream its name. For about five years the post office was on the Buell
place about two miles south or upstream from the highway bridge and
present
location of the community called Buell. When Thms. R. Blair was
appointed
postmaster in 1874, the office was moved three miles north on Mill
Creek
from what is now Buell. The Elk Horn office closed to Sheridan on Oct.
4, 1882, but the locality, which is a little over four miles southwest
of Sheridan by road, is still called Elk Horn. Buell post office,
located
on Mill Creek, about six miles southeast of Willamina, was established
Mar. 31, 1900, with Frank Oviatt first postmaster. The community, near
Elk Horn, was named for Elias Buell, who was born in New York in 1798.
Buell was a pioneer settler who operated a sawmill and small store
here,
and was most likely the father of Cyrus Buell. Buell’s wife, Sarah, was
also born in New York in 1800. The post office was discontinued May 31,
1924, and re-established Jun. 8, 1927. The office closed to Sheridan
Sep.
30, 1943.
Ellendale, a deserted
town, developed around a grist mill built here in 1844 by Jas. A.
O’Neal.
Near his mill O’Neal erected a store and living quarters, and before
long
O’Neals Mills, the first post office in Polk County, was opened.
Located
about two miles west of Dalles, on Rickreall Creek, The post office was
established Jan. 8, 1850, with Jas. A. O’Neal first and only
postmaster.
The name of the office was changed to Nesmiths Mills when Jas. W.
Nesmith
became postmaster on Aug. 21, 1850. That office was discontinued Oct.
22,
1852. But in 1849 the mill was sold to Jas. W. Nesmith and Henry Owen,
who in turn, four years later sold it to Hudsons & Company. In
announcing
the purchase of “the flouring mills and contents...” in the Oregon
Statesman
for Jul. 19, 1853, the new firm assured its prospective customers that
it was prepared to “furnish flour of the first quality to miners and
the
country trade”; that it had completed “arrangements whereby fresh
stocks
of merchandise would be received by boat from San Francisco twice
monthly”;
and that it was the intention of the firm to have its “upright and
circular
sawmill” in operation by October. To keep the latter pledge, Ezra
Hallock
and Luther Tuthill in 1854 built a dam a mile above the grist mill and
there built the sawmill. It was the only mill of the kind for miles
around
and people flocked to see it. Part of the equipment was the only planer
in that section of Oregon, all lumber having previously been dressed by
hand; its installation proved a master stroke of enterprise on the part
of the mill, which furnished much of the lumber for many of the
buildings
still in the neighborhood. In the early 1860s, judge Reuben P. Boise,
one
of the outstanding members of the Oregon bar, and several others bought
the mill and incorporated themselves as the Ellendale Woolen Mill
Company,
rebuilt the building, installed new machinery, and constructed a
boardinghouse
and other dwellings for mill employees. Ellendale, rechristened in
honor
of Ellen Lyon Boise, rapidly grew into a busy village. The small white
building was used as slave quarters for Negroes belonging to one of the
mill owners before the Civil War. The long, low house was the old store
and boardinghouse.
Eola, located on the
west bank of the Willamette, five miles southwest of Salem, was
formerly
known as Cincinnati, and so appears when the post office was
established
on Jun. 5, 1851, with Joshua Shaw first postmaster. It is said to have
been named by A. C. R. Shaw because of the fancied resemblance of the
site
to that of Cincinnati, OH. The place was incorporated with the name of
Eola by the territorial legislature on Jan. 17, 1856, and the post
office
was established as Eola on May 23, 1856. The office closed to Salem on
Mar. 19, 1901, started operating as a rural station of McMinnville on
Jun.
1, 1955, and finally closed its doors on Jun. 30, 1965. Abigail J.
Scott
Duniway (1835-1915) taught school in Cincinnati in 1853, and during
pioneer
days an effort made to establish the state capital there. In 1859,
Duniway,
who later became the state’s most brilliant champion of Woman Suffrage,
published Captain Gray’s Company, a fictional version of the overland
journey
of the first immigrants, marked by a somewhat barren realism. The name
Eola comes from Aeolus, god of the winds in Greek mythology. There
seems
to be good authority for the belief that the name Eola was suggested by
a local musical enthusiast named Lindsay Robbins who disliked the name
Cincinnati, and offered the new name because he was fond of the Aeolian
harp. However, Geo. H. Himes thought that Shaw suggested Eola as well
as
the original name. On May 22, 1863, cpl. Royal A. Bensell, who was
stationed
at Ft. Yamhill, wrote in his journal: “Still onward, we find Eola,
small
and quiet. Five miles of river bottom road, and we discern the capitol
of this great state Oregon.”
Etna was a post office
at the Riggs place a few miles north of Rickreall, and, according to
Cecil
L. Riggs, was possibly named for Mt. Etna in Sicily, which erupted
violently
in 1852. The post office, established Sep. 4, 1856, was located near
Baskett
Slough a few miles north of Rickreall. Thms. J. Riggs first and only
postmaster
of this office, which was discontinued May 8, 1868. Rickreall post
office
was out of service from 1857 to 1866, so there was need of another
office
in the locality. Baskett Slough originates in the intermittent lakes
west
and south of Mt. Baldy and four miles northeast of Dallas. It flows
eastward
several miles and joins Mud Slough. The slough contains 2,492 acres and
was named for Geo. J. Baskett, an early valley thoroughbred horse
breeder.
Baskett was born in Kentucky in 1817 and settled on a donation land
claim
near this slough in Oct. 1850. The farmed fields, rolling oak-covered
hills,
and shallow wetlands are home to many wildlife species.
Falls City is located
on the Southern Pacific Railroad, about eight miles southwest of
Dallas.The
post office, named for the falls of Little Luckiamute River, just west
of the community, was established Oct. 28, 1889. Franklin K. Hubbard
was
first postmaster of this office, formerly known as Syracuse. Hubbard
was
born in Missouri around 1845, and was living in Bridgeport at the time
of the 1870 Census.
Firholm post office,
established Apr. 8, 1883, was located on Mill Creek, about six miles
southwest
of Sheridan. Nathan Blair was first postmaster of this descriptively
named
office which was intended as a replacement for the Elk Horn office,
close
the previously year. The Firholm office was discontinued Jul. 9, 1883.
Nathan Blair, who was born in Oregon in 1851, was living in Grand Ronde
at the time of the 1870 Census.
Fort Hill, just northeast of Valley Junction, was
named because Willamette settlers built a blockhouse on its summit in
1855-1856.
The federal government sent troops to this place and established Ft.
Yamhill
on Aug. 30, 1856. The blockhouse was later moved to Grand Ronde Agency
and still later to Dayton and set up in a public park.
Gerlinger was named
for
Louis Gerlinger, a well-known Oregon lumberman and railroad builder,
who
promoted The Salem, Falls City & Western Railway, later purchased
by
the Southern Pacific Company. The crossing of this line and the
original
west side line a mile south of Derry was named in honor of Gerlinger.
Grand Ronde, as
applied
to a valley and two communities in Western Oregon, is universally
misspelled,
but the style is so firmly fixed in the public mind that there seems
little
chance to change it. The USBGN tried to secure the use of Grande Ronde
but without avail. The French word ronde, meaning circle or roundness,
requires the adjective agreement grande, and the two words together may
be taken as describing a fine large valley of excellent appearance,
more
or less hemmed in by hills. This valley and the one in Union County
were
named by French-Canadian trappers because of their aspect, but the
valley
in Eastern Oregon is always called Grande Ronde. For many years there
was
a Grand Ronde Indian Reservation in Polk and Yamhill counties. There
were
1046 Indians on this reservation in the census of 1867. The Grand Ronde
Agency, which was in Yamhill County, was closed in the fall of 1925,
but
a community remains. In the 1920s the railroad was extended from
Willamina
and the present Salmon River Highway was started along South Yamhill
River.
These both bypassed Grand Ronde Agency about a mile and a half south in
Polk County and the present community of Grand Ronde grew up just west
of the mouth of Rock Creek. Grand Ronde post office was established at
the site of Ft. Yamhill, about a half mile north of what is now Valley
Junction. About 1894 the office was moved to Grand Ronde Agency in
Yamhill
County, and in the early 1920s it was moved to the present site of Polk
County. Grand Ronde post office, established Feb. 16, 1861, with Benj.
Simpson first postmaster, was initially located near the site of Ft.
Yamhill,
on Yamhill River near the mouth of Casper Creek. Grand Ronde Agency
lies
about a mile and a half north of Yamhill County, and it was here that
the
post office operated from 1894-1924. Post Office Department records
indicate
a change in spelling to “Grande Ronde” from 1894 to 1924, but the
Official
Register simply indicates that the post office name was a one-word form
“Grandronde” during this period. In 1895 Butler post office was
established
at the locality of Ft. Yamhill. The railroad was abandoned in the
1980s.
Beautiful Willamette, written by the first postmaster’s poet son, Saml.
L. Simpson (1846-1899), was published in the Albany States Rights
Democrat
Apr. 18, 1868. Spirit Mountain, about a mile north of Grand Ronde, was
so named because Native Americans thought Spirits or Skoomums lived on
it. It was at one time called Cosper Butte for a family of early
settlers.
Dr. Rodney Glisan and other officers stationed at Ft. Yamhill climbed
this
mountain on Oct. 30, 1856, but Glisan does not mention a name in
Journal
of Army Life, 374-375.
Independence is
located
about two miles east of Monmouth on the west bank of the Willamette.
The
post office was established Apr. 3, 1852, with Leonard Williams first
postmaster.
The community was named by Elvin A. Thorpe, who founded the community.
The name was in compliment to Independence, MO. Thorpe was born in
Howard
County, MO, in 1820. He came to Oregon in 1844, took up a donation land
claim at the present site of the town, in Jun. 1845. On May 22, 1863,
Royal
A. Bensell wrote in his journal: “Get the teams started for home and
take
the Salem road myself. Pass through the flourishing town of Monmouth,
noted
for its institute and arid situation. Six miles further and we pass
Independence,
situated on the Willamette. Next place bearing a name is Leona, one
house
and ferry. Still onward, we find Eola, small and quiet. Five miles of
river
bottom road, and we discern the capitol of this great state Oregon.”
Lackemute post office,
established Mar. 14, 1851, was named for the Luckiamute River, which
joins
the Willamette in southern Polk County. Harrison Linville (b c1814 TN),
was the first postmaster of this office, one of the earliest in the
county.
The office was close to the Luckiamute River, probably a little west of
the present Pacific Highway West, and in the extreme south part of the
county. It also appears that the office was moved several times in the
Lower Luckiamute Valley to suit the postmasters. Linville was later
postmaster
at Buena Vista near the mouth of the stream. Isaac Staats (b c1815 NY)
lived near the junction of Little Luckiamute, some eight miles to the
west.
Known examples of postal markings, all manuscript, bear a variety of
spellings
of the name of this office, which was discontinued on Nov. 23, 1874. In
later years there was a railroad station Luckiamute on the Oregonian
Railway
narrow gauge line a little north of the Luckiamute River and about four
miles northeast of Pedee. This place never had a post office. Time has
done much to obliterate the community. In the interest of simplicity
government
mapping agencies have dropped the word “Big” from the the main branch
of
Luckiamute River. Little Luckiamute River rises in the Coast Range
southwest
of Dallas. It joins Luckiamute River south of Independence. Luckiamute
is an Indian word the meaning of which is unknown. Stories to the
effect
that it is based on an incident having to do with a deaf mute may be
dismissed
as fiction.
Lawn Arbor post
office,
established Apr. 12, 1855, was located on South Yamhill River, about
three
miles southwest of Amity near the Polk-Yamhill county line. Marshall B.
Burke was first postmaster of this office, which was formerly known as
South Yamhill. The South Yamhill office was established Jul. 6, 1852,
and
was located in the vicinity of present-day Broadmead. The Lawn Arbor
office
was discontinued Feb. 22, 1865.
Lewisville was named
for Mary (b c1823), and David R. Lewis I (b c1814 KY), pioneers of
1845.
Their donation land claim formed the basis of the community, which was
located just north of Luckiamute River, about five miles southwest of
Monmouth.
By the 1980s, nothing remained to mark its location. Lewisville post
office
was established in Apr. 21, 1868, with Abraham Wing first postmaster.
Wing
was born in Poland in 1838, and was living in Lackemute at the time of
the 1870 Census. The Lewises, who lived in Lackemute at the time of the
1870 US Census, were the parents of David R. II (b c1845 MO), Jas. H.
(b
c1849 OR), Eliza (b c1853 OR), and Mariah (b c1855 OR). In the Hart
Cemetery
near Lewisville is the grave of Jas. A. O’Neal, who came to Oregon with
the Wyeth party in 1834, and who served as chairman of the second “Wolf
meeting,” held on Mar. 6, 1843, and as a member of the legislative
committee
appointed by the meeting. On Feb. 28, 1905, Lewisville closed to
Monmouth.
Lincoln, formerly
called
Doak’s Ferry, is located at the eastern edge of Spring Valley, on the
west
bank of the Willamette, seven miles northwest of Salem. It is said to
have
been named for Abraham Lincoln, who had been assassinated two years
earlier.
The town grew up with riverboat transportation as a wheat shipping
center.
Grain was hauled from points as far distant as Willamina. The post
office
was established May 31, 1867, with Danl. Jackson Cooper (b c1837 TN)
first
postmaster. There had previously been an office at or near this
location,
called Valfontis. Lincoln post office was discontinued Mar. 31,1901 and
patrons have been served by a rural route from Salem. Doak’s Ferry,
later
known as Lincoln, was probably named for Andrew J. Doak, who was first
postmaster of Valfontis post office in 1854. Doak had a donation land
claim
claim close to the present site of Lincoln, a community at the east
edge
of Spring Valley. Milton Doak, possibly his son, was born in Oregon in
1857, and was living in Buena vista at the time of the 1870 Census.
McCoy post office,
established
Dec. 19, 1879, was located on the Southern Pacific Railroad, about nine
miles north of Rickreall. The post office was named for Isaac McCoy,
who
owned the land upon which the community was built. McCoy was born in
Indiana
in 1833, and was living in Eola at the time of the 1870 Census. Jas. A.
Sears was first postmaster of this office, which became a rural station
of Dallas on Apr. 30, 1959, and was discontinued Mar. 15, 1968.
Monmouth was named for
Monmouth, IL. In 1852 a group of citizens of the Illinois community
crossed
the plains to Oregon, and after spending the first winter at Crowley,
five
miles north of Rickreall, settled in 1853 near the present site of
Monmouth.
Members of the party gave 640 acres of land on which to establish a
town
and a college under the auspices of the christian church. The place was
surveyed in 1855 by T. H. Hutchinson. The money secured from the sale
of
lots was devoted to the building of the christian college, which was
known
as Monmouth University. At a mass meeting the people selected Monmouth
as the name of the new community, in home. In 1856 mercantile buildings
were erected. The first house was built in 1857. The post office was
established
Feb. 25, 1859, with Jos. B. V. Butler first postmaster. In 1871, due to
the influence of the church, the name of Monmouth University was
changed
to Christian College. The college underwent vicissitudes due to lack of
funds, and was once offered to the state for a university. In 1882 the
Oregon legislature passed a bill creating the Oregon State Normal
School
at Monmouth, which absorbed the Christian College. The name of the
school
was later changed to the Oregon College of Education and more recently
renamed Western Oregon State College.
Nesmiths Mills,
formerly
known as O’Neals Mills was located on Rickreall Creek, about two miles
west of Dallas. The post office was established Aug. 21, 1850 with Jas.
W. Nesmith first postmaster. The office was discontinued Oct. 22, 1852.
O’Neals Mills post office, the first in Polk County, was established
Jan.
8, 1850, with Jas. A. O’Neal first and only postmaster.
O’Neals Mills, the
first
post office in Polk County, was located about two miles west of Dalles,
on Rickreall Creek. The post office was established Jan. 8, 1850, with
Jas. A. O’Neal first and only postmaster. The name of the office was
changed
to Nesmiths Mills when Jas. W. Nesmith became postmaster on Aug. 21,
1850.
That office was discontinued Oct. 22, 1852. In 1845, O’Neal built the
first
grist mill in Polk County, a few hundred feet from what was later
Ellendale.
About 1849 O’Neal sold the mill to Jas. W. Nesmith and Henry Owen, who
operated dit until 1854, and then sold it to Hudson & Company. Due
to the length of time necessary to communicate with Washington DC,
O’Neal’s
appointment may have been made after he had sold the mill. Reuben P.
Boise
came to Oregon in 1850, and took up a donation land claim at Nesmiths
Mills
in 1852. He named the place Ellendale for his wife, Ellen Lyon, native
of Massachusetts, who sailed from new York to San Francisco in the
record
time of 89 days on the Flying Cloud. The mill flume too water from the
creek on the south side and crossed to the north side near the present
county bridge. One of Oregon’s pioneer woolen mills was started in
Ellendale
in 1860.
Parker post office,
established
Sep. 27, 1880, was located on the Lower Luckiamute River and the
Southern
Pacific Railroad, about two miles north of Suver. Jas. L. Coutee was
first
postmaster of this office, which was discontinued Mar. 13, 1882. The
office
was re-established as Parkers on Dec. 12, 1884, land was discontinued
Dec.
31, 1907. It was re-established as Parker on Aug. 24, 1914, and closed
to Independence on Mar. 31, 1927. The Bloomington office served this
locality
from May 25, 1852 to Jun. 24, 1863. Eli W. Foster was first postmaster
of this pioneer office.
Pedee owns its name to
col. Cornelius Gilliam who was born in North Carolina in 1798 and came
to Oregon in 1844. He was killed in 1848. Either he, or members of his
family, named Pedee Creek, a tributary of Luckiamute River. Pedee
community
is near the mouth of this creek. The name is, or course, from the
famous
river of North and South Carolina which was doubtless frequently in the
minfds of the Gilliams. The stream in the South is officially Peedee,
but
the place in Oregon is spelled Pedee.
Perrydale is located
four miles west of the Eola Hills, and a little over a mile west of
McCoy.
The community was named by Wm. Perry, a pioneer landowner. The post
office
was established Aug. 12, 1870, with Jacob C. Cooper first postmaster.
Cooper,
who was a merchant living in Salt Creek at the time of the 1870 Census,
was born in Missouri in 1846. On Jun. 30, 1953, Perrydale became a
rural
station of Amity, and was discontinued Apr. 3, 1973.
Plum Valley is a
little
vale on the west slope of Eola Hills, about three miles northwest of
Zena,
south of Bethel and east of McCoy, and it drains westward into Ash
Swale.
Its name came from the wild plums that grew in the vicinity according
to
John E. Smith in his booklet, Bethel, the name was probably selected by
Amos Harvey. Plum Valley post office was established Nov. 30, 1854, on
the Absalom H. Frier claim, a little to the south of the valley and
about
on the south line of section 20. Frier, who was born in New York in
1814,
served as first postmaster. He was a farmer living in Etna at the time
of the 1870 Census. In 1856 the office was moved to Plum Valley proper.
It was moved several times but never far from Bethel. The office was
discontinued
Aug. 13, 1863.
Polk post office,
established
Mar. 9, 1885, was located on Luckiamute River, about a mile east of the
earlier Bridgeport office. Lycurgus Hill was first postmaster of this
office,
which closed to Lewisville Dec. 7, 1885. This was the first of two
different
post offices with this name in Polk County. The second one was located
on the narrow gauge Oregon Railway Company line about three miles
northeast
of Dallas. This Polk post office was established Apr. 12, 1899, with
Peter
R. Garber first postmaster. On Feb. 15, 1902, the second Polk office
closed
to Dallas.43
Rickreall, located on Rickreall Creek, four miles
east of Dallas, is an old town by Oregon standards. In 1845, John E.
Lyle
arrived from Illinois and almost immediately opened a school in the
home
of col. Nathaniel Ford near the site of Rickreall. Ford, who owned
Slaves,
settled here in 1844. Rickreall post office was established Jun. 30,
1851,
as Rickreal, with Ford first postmaster. The office was discontinued
Apr.
11, 1857, and re-established Jun. 19, 1866, as Rickreall, with Ford
again
serving as postmaster. Many insist that La Creole River should have
been
called Rickreall, that it was so called by the Indians in the days when
they dug camas bulbs along its banks. Others insist that La Creole was
the name used by French-Canadians in memory of a young Indian Woman who
was drowned in it at the present site of Dallas. As a compromise, the
stream
is called La Creole River below Dallas and La Creole Creek at Dallas
and
Rickreall above it. La Creole Academy at Dallas was founded by Horace
Lyman.
The school was chartered with the name Rickreall, by the territorial
legislature
in Dec. 1852. The name is given as Ricrall in an advertisement in the
Oregonian,
Feb. 7, 1852. During the Civil War and for some time thereafter
Rickreall
village was frequently referred to as Dixie because of Southern
sentiment
in the community. The name Dixie was used colloquially for several
decades,
but it was never the name of a post office. Oregonians of the settler
period,
live the Amerindians before the, were tinged with melancholy, but,
unlike
the their aboriginal counterparts, they trafficked very little with
spooks.
However, at Rickreall and a few other places in the Willamette Valley
were
haunted mills. In Benton County was a hollow locally known as Banshee
Canyon
tenanted by the ghost of Whitehorse, a suicide. From the
old-long-vacated
Yaquina Bay Lighthouse came cries from a throat that was not human and
light from a place where no light was.
Rocca post office was
on Rock Creek located in the southwest corner of the county, about six
miles southwest of Valsetz. The office was established Apr. 30, 1895,
with
Maggie L. Hampton first of four postmasters. During its entire
existence,
it was in the Hampton home. When the office was first proposed it was
planned
to have Saml. Center act as postmaster, but as he was moving from the
neighborhood,
other arrangements were necessary. Center asked to have the office
named
for his daughter, Mary Rocca Center, who had been named for a friend of
her mother who had married an Italian. In the 1970s, Morris X. Smith of
Chitwood lectured some schoolchildren: “Rocca is not even written up in
the book, Western Ghost Town Shadows, because it didn’t last very long
and there isn’t very much information about it. If you’re coming from
Siletz
it’s east towards Logsden just before Valsetz. Maggie Hampton lived
there
with her sister in their parents’ old home. I remember an orchard there
with all varieties of apples, filberts and hickory nuts. There was a
chicken
yard up on the hill. I went deer hunting up there one time with a
friend
of mine. On Jul. 17, 1899, she wrote in yearbook, ‘If you meet with one
pursuing ways the wrong have entered in working out its own undoing
with
sin, think to this sinful disposition would a kind word be in vein?
Will
you look with cold suspicion, will you back the truth again?’ Rocca
post
office closed to Nortons Aug. 31, 1918. Nortons post office was located
on the Southern Pacific Railroad, about six miles west of Nashville. It
was established Apr. 6, 1895, with Jas. S. Huntington first postmaster.
Named for the Norton family, early settlers in this part of the Yaquina
Valley, the post office closed to nearby Eddyville Jan. 15, 1934. In
1985,
Evelyn Parry of Toledo wrote: “It was one of the many offices to serve
an isolated group of homes with mail three times a week. Gertrude
Chamberlain
Phillips said her grandfather, Rich. Jas. Robinson, carried the mail
from
Nortons to Rocca on horseback during the winter and by buggy during the
summer. Maggie Hampton was the postmaster for several years.”
Salt Creek rises in
the
foothills of Dallas and flows northeast into the South Yamhill. John
Ford
of Dallas said it was named in pioneer days because of the salt licks
on
its banks. The advance of civilization has apparently obliterated the
licks.
Salt Creek post office was located about six miles northwest of Dallas
on Salt Creek. This office was established Jul. 6, 1852, with Jas. B.
Riggs
first postmaster. Riggs, who was born in New York in 1802, was farming
in Dallas at the time of the 1870 Census. Etna was a post office at the
Riggs place a few miles north of Rickreall, and, according to Cecil L.
Riggs, was possibly named for Mt. Etna in Sicily, which erupted
violently
in 1852. The post office, established Sep. 4, 1856, was located near
Baskett
Slough a few miles north of Rickreall. Thms. J. Riggs first and only
postmaster
of this office, which was discontinued May 8, 1868. Rickreall post
office
was out of service from 1857 to 1866, so there was need of another
office
in the locality.
Smithfield, formerly
a railroad station about five miles northeast of Dallas, bears the name
of Absalom M. Smith (b c1840 PA), a potter pioneer settler. Smithfield
post office was established Jul. 28, 1893, with Ira Kimball (b c1800
NH)
postmaster, but the railroad station was in service before that date.
The
post offices was closed before Mar. 1900. The railroad through this
place
was originally the narrow gauge line of the Oregonian Railway Company,
later standardized by Southern Pacific Company. The tract has been
removed
and the site is now mostly farmland.
South Yamhill post
office,
established Jul. 6, 1852, was located on South Yamhill River in the
vicinity
of present-day Broadmead. Marshall B. Burke served as first postmaster.
On Apr. 12, 1855, the name of this office was changed to Lawn Arbor.
Burke
also served as postmaster of this office, which was discontinued Feb.
22,
1865.
Spring Valley post
office,
established Mar. 5, 1852, was located along Spring Valley Creek, about
one mile northwest of Zena. Sanford Watson was first postmaster of this
office, which was discontinued Sep. 1, 1855. Watson, who was born in
Kentucky
in 1801, was farming in Etna at the time of the 1870 Census.
Sugarloaf post office,
established Apr. 16, 1895, was located in the Siletz Basin in the same
locality as present-day Valsetz. It was named for Sugarloaf Mountain, a
conical peak just north of South Fork Siletz River. John S. Wright was
first postmaster of this office, which closed to Rocca on Apr. 30,
1904.
Valsetz was a company town located on Siletz River, 16 miles west of
Falls
City. After the bad forest fire of 1910, the Wm. W. Mitchell Company
built
a railroad up the Luckiamute to the summit of the Coast Range and began
logging in western Polk County. In 1910 construction was started on a
sawmill
and a company town at the terminus of the railroad just over the divide
into the Siletz River drainage. The town was named Valsetz, made-up
from
parts of the name of the Valley & Siletz Railroad. Valsetz post
office
was established Nov. 6, 1920, with Marion Zimmerman first postmaster.
It
was discontinued Jun. 30, 1984, and the community ceased to exist.
Suver is was located
on the Southern Pacific Railroad, three miles south of Parker. The town
was named for Jos. W. Suver, who was born in Virginia in 1819. Suver
and
his wife Deliley, settled on a donation land claim at the present site
of the community in 1845. Suver was farming in Buena Vista at the time
of the 1870 Census. Saml. Cohen was first postmaster of this office,
which
closed to Monmouth on Feb. 15, 1935.
Syracuse, located on
the south bank of Santiam River, about two miles west of Jefferson, was
founded in 1848 by Milton Hale. In the autumn of 1845, Hale staked his
claim on the south side of the Santiam. Returning with his family, in
the
spring of 1846, he found the river impassible, and with an ax, an adze,
and an augur, he constructed a ferryboat to convey his possessions
across.
Other travelers arriving before barge was completed waited to use it in
crossing. Thus encouraged, Hale continued to operate the ferry for many
years. Syracuse post office was established Oct. 1850, with Jacob
Conser
first postmaster. Nearly all of the emigrant travel to the upper valley
on the east side of the Willamette passed this point. The town of
Syracuse,
on the south side of the river, soon had a rival on the north in
Santiam
City, which became an important trading point, and Syracuse post office
closed to Santiam City Jul. 27, 1852. Both towns prospered for many
years,
then disappeared, until no trace of them except the cemetery remains.
Valfontis post office,
established Sep. 29, 1854, was located at the eastern edge of Spring
Valley,
on the west bank of the Willamette. Andrew J. Doak was first postmaster
of this pioneer office, which was discontinued Aug. 8, 1865. The origin
of its name has not transpired, thought its meaning may be surmised: it
was just another term for Spring Valley. Claybourne C. Walker became
postmaster
Jun. 12, 1855. Walker, who was born in West Virginia in 1819, was
farming
in Eola at the time of the 1870 Census. Doak and Walker had claims
close
to the present site of Lincoln, a community at the east edge of Spring
Valley, and Valfontis was in that neighborhood.
Valsetz was a company
town located on Siletz River, 16 miles west of Falls City. After the
bad
forest fire of 1910, the Wm. W. Mitchell Company built a railroad up
the
Luckiamute to the summit of the Coast Range and began logging in
western
Polk County. In 1910 construction was started on a sawmill and a
company
town at the terminus of the railroad just over the divide into the
Siletz
River drainage. The town was named Valsetz, made-up from parts of the
name
of the Valley & Siletz Railroad. Valsetz post office was
established
Nov. 6, 1920, with Marion Zimmerman first postmaster. It was
discontinued
Jun. 30, 1984, and the community ceased to exist. The forerunner to
Valsetz
was Sugarloaf post office, established Apr. 16, 1895. It was named for
Sugarloaf Mountain, a conical peak just north of South Fork Siletz
River.
John S. Wright was first postmaster of this office, which closed to
Rocca
on Apr. 30, 1904.
Zena, a ghost town,
was
first called Spring Valley, because of the numerous springs in the
vicinity.
It became Zena in 1866, when D. J. Cooper and his brother, on building
the store and obtaining the post office, named it after the last
syllables
of their Wives’ names, Arvazena and Melzena Cooper. The pioneer Zena
Church
was built in 1859, was still standing without alteration in the 1950s.
The church bell, widely known for its tone, was cast in England and
came
around the Horn.
Oregon
History
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1870
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1870
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