Lane County Historian
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Lane County historian Disston Saw Mill - ' , L7j The Lane County Historical Society Vol. XXV, No. 2 Summer, 1980 LANE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY Hallie Hills Huntington, President, 89239 Old Coburg Road, Eugene, OR 97401 Mrs. Daye Hulin, Membership Chairman, 1600 Adkins St., Apt. 4, Eugene, OR 97401 Lane County Historian Vol. XXV, No. 2 Summer, 1980 Lois Barton, Editor, 84889 Harry Taylor Road, Eugene, OR 97405 CONTENTS DISSTON - MILL TOWN 24 BIRTH OF DISSTON & DORENA - Nettie Gawley 24 BILL PATI'EN INTERVIEW 27 FRANK JONES INTERVIEW 28 LENA CARR INTER VIEW 31 ROW RIVER AREA MAP 33-34 JOB1 CARR, JR. INTERVIEW 37 SIGNE PITCHER INTERVIEW 41 EXCERPT FROM LOYAL & FRONA HACK JOURNAL 42 JEFFERSON IRISH - A MEMOIR - by Roger Houglum 43 Correction The party moving to Eugene, pictured on the front cover of Vol. XXV, No. 1, Spring 1980, was incorrectly identified as Dr. Madison Canaday. It was Ambrose Cana- day's maternal grandfather, Silas McMurphy. Cover Photo: Dis.ton eawmlll, 1906. Courtesy Lane County Museum. George and Sarah Kerr family. Back row l-r: Nellie K. Pitcher, Ella K. Pitcher, Ray Kerr, Edna K. Blackburn, Clyde Kerr. Front row l-r: Mary K. McNiel, George Kerr, Sarah Kerr, Clara K. Kirk who ran a store at Dorena. Courteoy Signe Pitcher. From the Bohemia Nugget Star, Oregon 2/23/1899The day is 1/30/1903Eighteenmilesofthe not far distant when the Bohemia Oregon and South Eastern railroad up mines with countless tons of base ore, Row River has been completed. and the timber of the hills and moun- 3/31/1899Mr. and Mrs George Kerr, tains adjacent to Row River will attract ofWildwoodHotelfame,passed the attention of men with enterprise through town Wednesday enroute to and capital that will build a railroad up Creswell, where they will spend a few the valley from Cottage Grove to the days visiting Mrs. Kerr's sister. mines. 6/9/1899Dr. Oglesby who is at the Star, Oregon 3/10/1899Uncle Billy head of the proposed Bohemia railroad Sabin of Star has taken a contract to cut was in the city . He was now 20,000 ties and 80,000 cords of wood for making arrangements for survey of the Dr. Oglesby and his Cottage Grove and route, and as soon as done capital could Bohemia railroad next summer. be at hand providing the routeis 7/23/1 902 ADVERTISEMENT FOR feasible. BOHEMIA The Pacific Times of the 15th contains a half page write up of Cottage Grove and Bohemia and a pic- ture of the Mosby Creek bridge on the new Bohemia Railroad . Summer, 1980 DISSTON, OREGON - MILL TOWN Your editor has chosen to present the story of Diss ton largely through first-hand reports by those who were there. All the inter- views used were conducted by me except the one Hallie Huntington recorded with Bill and Elsie Patten i', 1969. For years, both before and after the logging and mill town heyday, Diss ton was primarily a staging area for the mining camps. A few scattered farms dotted the valleys, but as our reporters tell us, those farm folk often found employment at the mines, or as packers or hostlers for the mine traffic. There is some overlap in the following accounts, and memories about a given person or event don't always jibe exactly, but you are as competent as I to sort out the essentials. THE BIRTH OF DISSTON AND DORENA by Nettie Gawley came from Aberdeen, Washington (Har- ry Crites, William and Robert Gawley and Tom Hornsby). They somehow made contact with J.I.Jones who owned the timber and the mill site. In the summer of 1906 I worked at the camp where the men who were building the "Y" and the railroad on up to the mill site were fed. An aunt of mine was the cook and my job was to wash dishes and wait on the table. Nettie Gawley on her 91st birthday. 1980. Courtesy Nettle Two of the men who were building the Gawley. mill were single men and they were Forest Grove, Oregon camped close to where the mill was March, 1980 being built. They would come down to the Railroad camp to buy tobacco and The O.S.E. Railroad was started out to grind an axe. They were Tom Horns- of Cottage Grove in 1902. The firstyear by and Robert Gawley, and I got to it reached the Christman place which know them quite well. later became "Dorena". The schoolwas Later in the winter of 1906 the mill named the Christman school because it was operating. Jones was doing the log- was built on land that belonged to the ging and he provided the cookhouse for Christmans. The name Dorenawas the entire crew. His sister, Mrs. Orpard, made up of the names of two girls who was the cook and I went to work for her lived there and went to school, Dora in late December, 1908. I was paid $3.00 Burnet and Rena Christman. per week and I liked it because I was At the time Disston came into the pic- out in the "wilds". ture the railroad extended only to Mrs. Orpard baked biscuits for break- "Forks" about a half mile or more from fast and 12 loaves of bread every day. the location where the mill was built. The bread had to be done early enough The mill was built by four men who so it would be cold by suppertime, so 24 Lane County Historian there was six loaves for supper and six and took off one corner of the kitchen for dinner next day. and damaged the range, so Jones had to After about a week or ten days my build a new boarding house. mother called me and said I was to come I am a bit ahead of my story. It was home. My father had broken a leg and late in January, 1907, when I went back she needed me. There was a "washout" up there to take overuntil a new cook at Teeters Creek near Dorena, and the could be found. I had a young bride train came only to Dorena, so I left my whose husband worked in the mill as suitcase, took my nightgown in a bag my only help. She didn't keepthe fire and walked down that railroad all alone hot enough and the bread was slow to through the timber to Wildwood, where get done, so it was still warm at supper I stayed with friends, Hunts. Then next time and the crew ate eleven loaves, so I morning I went on down to the Star had to bake biscuits again for dinner. community and stayed with friends, It was the custom to feed the train Wicks. On Monday morning I walked crew if they arrived at the noonhour. on down to Dorena where I got the train So that day was the first day the train and went home to Cottage Grove. had been there for nearly a week due to Later, some time in January, 1907, a slide about a mile downbelow Diss- Jones called me and said Mrs. Orpard ton.SoIsaw the conductor and was ill and would I go up and take over brakeman coming and I told them they until he could get a full time cook. So I could just go back to Wildwood, as I went back. wasn't feeding any more that day. Now it was in that winter of 1906-07 There was trouble between the mill that the Post Office was finally set up. owners and J.I. Jones over the logs Crampton Jones was the first post- They were shot down that hill with such master. force that one log would jam into At that time the mines in Bohemia another and splitit. There were so were in full operation and there was a many damaged that waythat the great deal of mail that had to be sent manager, Harry Crites, refused to pay through Disston. for them. Jones had cut all the timber When they started to build the mill there and they were forced to either buy they bought their saws from the Disston from the Forest Reserve or a tract near- Saw Works in Pennsylvania and the bythat belongedtoWeyerhauser. company asked the mill men to name Crites would not accept the Weyer- their company and the location Disston, hauser's cruise of the timber and had a and they sent a large picture of the cruiser come from Aberdeen to cruise plant to be hung in their office.I was there when that picture came. Also Iwas there when Crampton Jones receivedhisofficialnoticeofhis appointment and the stamp that was used to cancel the postage on all mail. The timber was all up on a high flat and was logged by donkey engineIt was hauled to a point where the logs were skidded down a long chute which landed them on the flat between the cook house and the mill. One day a log coming down that chute with great Robert L. and Nettle Gawley, July 1910. Courtesy Nettle force came on and hit the cook house Gawley. Summer, 1980 it. He told Crites that the Weyerhauser filed on a large donation land claim. cruise was much over estimated and if There were three daughters and one son he bought that timber he would lose in the Morss family. The son, John money. Meade Morss was 23 at that time. He Now Jones was suing the mill corn- married Caroline Knox and they lived pany for not paying for the logs and out their life at Creswell.