EUGENE GLENDER Growing up on a T R ?Ico Family Farii
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I EUGENE GLENDER Growing up on a T r ?ico Family FarII on County, C egon: 1910-' 941 Oral History Interviews by Bob Zybach and Jan Meranda Soap Creek Valley History Project = = = = OSU Research Forests SU RESEARCH FORESTS Monograph #9 COLLEGE OF FOE1'Y 1994 EUGENE GLENDER Growing up on a Tampico Family Farm Benton County, Oregon: 1910-1941 Oral History Interviews by Bob Zybach and Jan Meranda Soap Creek Valley History Project OSU Research Forests Monograph #9 1994 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Soap Creek Valley History Project was authorized by, and is under the direction of, Dr. William Atkinson, former Director of the OSU Research Forests. Funding for the project is provided by the OSU College of Forestry. Lisa Buschman, former OSU Research Forests secretary, transcribed interview recordings to computer ifies and assisted with draft editing, formatting, and indexing. Holly Behm Losli, Tanii Torres, and Md. Shahidul Islam, OSU Research Forests text editors, completed final formatting and indexing under the direction of Pam Beebee, OSU Research Forests Office Manager. This project could not have been completed without the help of these people. Cover Photo: Courtesy of Myra Moore Lauridson and the Soap Creek Schoolhouse Foundation. Pictured is the Moore family farm on Soap Creek, taken about 1899 or 1900 by Mrs. Lauridson's father, Samuel H. Moore. Title Page Photo: Sisters Leone (left) and Elvera (right) Glender pose in front of the Glender family farmhouse in the early 1920s. Coffin Butte appears to the north in the background, while the Beatty fir trees (reputed to have been planted in 1858 along the old wagon road to the California gold mines) are seen to the immediate east of the home. These trees are the earliest known planted Douglas-fir trees in Benton County and are still growing in 1994. fliE SOAP CREEK VALLEY HISTORY PROJECT The Soap Creek Valley History Project was undertaken by the Oregon State University's Research Forests in 1989 for the purpose of better understanding the history, ecology, and culture of an area that has been impacted by OSU land management practices for nearly seventy years. An important part of the project has been the location and publications of existing recorded oral history interviews with individuals who have hadan influence upon the valley's history. New recordings have also been made with significant individuals who have not been previously consulted, as well as "follow-up" interviews with a few people who have continued to contribute to our understanding of the Soap Creekarea. The publication of these interviews as a series of cross-referenced and indexed monographs has been undertaken in an effort to make them available toresource managers, researchers, and educators. An additional use is accurate and available references fora planned written history of the area. One of the primary accomplishments of the project has been the creation ofa computerized concordance file. This was made possible through the assistance and expertise of Bonnie Humphrey, of the former Homer Museum staff, Lisa Buschman, former secretary for the OSU Research Forests, and Holly Behm Losli, Tami Torres, and Md. Shabidul Islam,text editors for OSU Research Forests. The file allows for both the efficient and systematic indexing of the monographs in this series,as well as providing a method for cross- referencing other research materials being used in the construction ofa scholarly history of the Soap Creek Valley. The Soap Creek history is being assembled from the written and spoken words of the people who made it and lived it. The use of the concordance file allows information from the journal entries of botanist David Douglas, the transcribed words of Kalapuyan William Hartless, the memories of pioneer "Grandma" Carter, and the recordings of Eugene Glender and his sister, Elvera- a history to be systematically searched and organized. The index to this monograph is an example of the applied use of the file. Gene's cooperation and encouragement during the recording and writing of his story will prove to be of value to students and teachers of local history, horticulture, economy, agriculture, and fish and wildlife in the years to come. Gene's storycovers the period of 1910by which time his parents had helped to establish the Glender Brothers farmuntil 1941, when many local families (including the Glenders)were moved to make room for the WW II training facilities at Camp Adair. Most of the other oral histories in this series also cover this specific period of time. As an aid to better understanding the names, nationalities, and migration patterns of the people who lived in the Soap Creekarea during this period, two appendices of general use to the entire series have been added: the 1910census of the Soap Creek Precinct and the entire listing of individuals from the 1941 Corvallis telephone book. Citations should mention both the OSU College of Forestry and OSU Research Forests. SOAP CREEK VALLEY MAP TAMPICO -S ::: SOAP CREEK VALLEY NOT TO SCALE U Glender Tampico Tour Map: Map of tour on January 6, 1990 by Gene Glender, Jan Meranda, and Bob Zybach. Circled letters correspond to tape recordedstops along the tour route and to specific chapter headings in the table of contents. N SMITH FOLKS a BLASCH DJCKEY McCLAI! OAK SMITH A H ILL PEAK BERRY CREEK SCHOOL GARDI4ER KESTER © SHEPPARD DOBRJNir' TAICL CHAFFINJ FOREST A PEAK A DO WR! IS MANS STDACH HI Li.. TAMPICO SC'bL GLENDE L.BARZEE MALLOwENJDERS COOPER HILL HOFFMAN JOHNSoti cj H Os PITA I O\1ER HILL A BLAKE C:; SOAP CEE1< SCHOOL Jt ABAKER MT.. 111 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION vi January 6, 1990 Tour 1 The Mennonite Camp 1 The Old Sawmill 3 Fir Timber 5 Sheppard's Farm 7 Sheppard's Farmhouse 9 Lawrence Blasch and Cordwood as a Cash Crop 10 Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife 13 Subsistance and Specialty Farming 21 The Old Swimming Hole 26 I. A Fatal Accident at Govier's Mill 31 Beal's Swamp 35 Tampico: From Elephants to Camp Adair 38 Beef Barn Road 73 Stage Stop Lane 75 0. The Old Schoolhouse 77 Elmer Govier's House 80 The Hildebrand Fire 82 Neighbors 92 The Gold in "Them Thar Hills" 96 Appendix A The Legend of the Gold-Filled Boot on Calloway Creek 99 Appendix B Hunting Elephants in the Oregon Country 105 Appendix C Family Photos 111 Appendix D 1910 Soap Creek Precinct Census 119 Appendix E 1941 Corvallis Telephone Directory 129 INDEX 147 iv I Photograph # 1167 in a series of 1936 aerials on file with the OSU Kerr Librarymap room. An enlargement from this series is referenced in the text to this history.Notations show the 1936 locations of the Glender House, Tampico road, and the Tampico Schoolhouse. V INTRODUCTION In the early 1900s two young Illinois men of German parentage, William and Charles Glender, began talking about moving West to Oregon. Sometime before 1910, they had arrived in the Soap Creek Valley, purchased 400 acres and an old farmhouse at thecorner of Tampico and Soap Creek roads, and started farming as a partnership. Will marrieda young neighbor woman, Laura Metge, and in 1916 Charlie married her younger sister, Selma. Charlie and Selma had two girls, Elvera and Leone, before their Tampico farmhouse burned down in 1920. Elvera remembers her mother carrying baby Leone from the house anda neighbor woman offering the frightened girls a stick of chewing gum to help them calm down during the emergency. Eugene was born and raised in the new house thatarose from the ashes of the old. This monograph represents Gene's recollections of farm life in the Tampicoarea during the years prior to World War II. The establishment of Camp Adair during the early stages of the war caused the U.S. Army to force local farmers to sell up and move out. The united Glender families moved to Albany in 1942 and were never allowed to return to their Tampico home. After Camp Adair was dismantled, Oregon State University acquired the Glender property. The house was moved in 1992, not long after Bob and I first beganour search for the "lost" town of Tampico. It was a great pleasure to participate in the interviews upon which this monograph is based. It is our hope that other researchers and lovers of history will use and enjoy this work into the future. Perhaps they will be encouraged to extend human knowledge through theirown efforts at capturing not just the facts but also the spirit of our ties to the past. It isa never- ending journey on the ever-flowing river of time. Janet F. Meranda Corvallis, Oregon July 1994 vi January 6, 1990 Tour A. The Mennonite Camp Why don't we start recording now then? We're at Stop 1'on the tour and Gene can you tell me where the Mennonite Camp was located, what you were told? Well, as far as I know it was right up this road off to the right when I...first time I ever saw it there wasn't even no buildings left.All you could see was just indents and stuff where they were and their orchards. Were the orchards planted by the Mennonites? As far as I know they were. Can you tell me about what year you saw that? Oh, that was in '40's. Did you ever hear any stories about the Mennonites? No.2 How do you know Mennonites were there? My folks told me. Can you recall any stories or any other things about the Mennonites? No, that's all I know is that they lived there and they couldn't...there wasn't enough to make a living so they starved out and left.