Revised, Second Edition Revised, Second Edition ABOVE THE FALLS Second Edition Joe Schapers’ homestead on Upper Glenn Creek, 1913 ABOVE THE FALLS Second Edition An Oral and Folk History of Upper Glenn Creek, Coos County, Oregon by Lionel Youst Including tape-recorded interviews, narratives, and other material by Alice Wilkinson Allen, Warren Browning, Belle Leaton Clarke, Hattie Leaton Cotter, Helen Cummings, Lillian Austin Edgehill, Wilma Leaton Hoellig, Allen Lively, Charles Middleton, Robert Milton, Erma Ott, Harold Ott, Jerry Phillips, Elwin Saling, Franklyn E. Smith, Marvin Stemmerman, Patricia Wilkinson, and George Youst. Written at Allegany, Oregon, September 1991 to September 1992, with revisions based on material received between 1992 and 2003. Golden Falls Publishing Allegany, Oregon Golden Falls Publishing, Allegany, Oregon © 2003 by Lionel Youst All rights reserved. First edition 1992 Second edition 2003 First impression 2003 Printed in the United States of America ISBN 0-9726226-0-8 ISBN 0-9726226-1-6 (pbk.) Library of Congress cataloging data: F882.C7 Dewey Decimal cataloging data: 979.523 Youst, Lionel D., 1934 - Above The Falls, Second Edition Includes index, maps, bibliography, & photographs Frontier and Pioneer Life – Oregon – Coos County Logging – Oregon – Coos County – History Lumber Trade – Oregon – Coos County – History Coos County, Oregon – History Quotations at the beginning of each of the major parts of this book are from Rethinking Home: A Case for Writing Local History, by Joseph A. Amato, University of California Press (2002). They are used here with permission from the Regents of the University of California. Passages from A Century of Coos and Curry, by Peterson and Powers (1952), and Glancing Back (1972) are used with permission from the Coos County Historical Society. Passages from Coos River Echoes, by Charlotte Mahaffy (1965), are used with permission from the author. Photographs were obtained from many sources and every effort was made to obtain permissions and to give credit as appropriate in each case. A listing of all photographic credits appear on pages 266–7. To contact the publisher: Lionel Youst 12445 Hwy 241 Coos Bay, OR 97420 (541) 267-3762 Acid free paper. Contents Part One An Introduction and a Reunion 1 Chapter 1 Introduction to an oral and folk history 3 Chapter 2 Interviews with Chuck Middleton, Wilma Leaton Hoellig, Hattie Leaton Cotter, Al Lively, Bob Milton, Alice Wilkinson Allen, Patricia Wilkinson, Warren Browning, Helen Cummings, Erma Ott, and Harold Ott 9 Part Two A History of Glenn Creek 29 Chapter 3 Glenn Creek History 31 Part Three The Homesteads 51 Chapter 4 Joseph Schapers Homestead 53 Chapter 5 Elizabeth Ott Homestead 57 Chapter 6 Joe Larson Homestead 65 Chapter 7 George Schapers Homestead 69 Chapter 8 Neighbors and Late Comers 72 Part Four The Government 81 Chapter 9 Glenn Creek to Douglas County Line Road 83 Chapter 10 The CCC Camps 87 Chapter 11 The Golden and Silver Falls State Park 90 Chapter 12 The Elliott State Forest, by Jerry Phillips 92 Part Five The Schools 99 Chapter 13 Backwoods Education 101 Chapter 14 Early Memories of Belle Leaton Clarke 110 Chapter 15 A Letter from Lillian Austin Edgehill 113 Chapter 16 The Golden Falls School, by Alice Wilkinson Allen 116 Chapter 17 Christmas, 1940 119 Chapter 18 A Stranger in the Night at Golden Falls School, by Franklyn Smith 121 Chapter 19 The History of Allegany, by Elwin Saling 125 Part Six Living Above the Falls 129 Chapter 20 The Old Ranch, by Patricia Wilkinson 130 Chapter 21 Memories of the Old Ranch, by Alice Wilkinson Allen 145 Chapter 22 Memories of Marvin Stemmerman 178 Part Seven The Timber 183 Chapter 23 The Timber and the Land 185 Chapter 24 Gyppo Sawmilling, by George Youst 198 Chapter 25 WWII, Before and After, by Warren Browning 217 Part Eight Epilog 231 Chapter 26 The Big Search and Rescue 232 Chapter 27 The Fin de Siecle 252 v Photo Credits 261 Bibliography 263 Index 268 Maps Coos River Drainage 2 Glenn Creek Homesteads 30 Glenn Creek Valley 52 Joe Schapers Homestead 62 Elizabeth Ott Homestead 63 Joe Larson Homestead 64 Glenn Creek to Douglas County Road 82 Weyerhaeuser Road System 228–9 Charts and Tables Chronology of Upper Glenn Creek vii Schapers/Wilkinson Kinship Chart 79 Leaton Family Kinship Chart 80 Drain to Marshfield Itinerary 98 Teachers and Students, Golden Falls School 100 Chronology of the Upper Glenn Creek timber 184 Sawmill Crew 214 vi CHRONOLOGY OF UPPER GLENN CREEK Pre 1440’s: Indian settlement at 1899: Oregon & California RR Marlow Creek, probably over 1000 receives patent on 14,082 acres in years old. Coos County. 1440: Forest fire on Upper Glenn 1900: Road survey, Glenn Creek to Creek. Douglas County line. 1770: Another forest fire. 1901: Trail blasted across top of falls. 1840: A smaller forest fire. 1902: Northern Pacific RR obtains 1840’s: Fur trade established between 61,860 acres; sells to Weyerhaeuser. Coos Indians and Hudson’s Bay 1903: Elizabeth Ott marries Alfred Company at Elkton. Indian trail, Tyberg. Allegany to Scottsburg in use. 1904: Final proof for Joe Larson, John 1868: Coos Bay fire burns 92,000 Hendrikson, and George Schapers acres. Did not come into Glenn homesteads. Creek. 1906: Pack trail widened at falls. 1870's: First whites settle East Fork of Forest Homestead Act opens Lake Millicoma; Frank Ross “discovers” Creek to speculators. Golden Falls. 1908: Joe Schapers marries Laura 1877: First log drives on the East Wilkinson, with her four children. Fork. William Glenn settles at 1909: Glenn Creek to Douglas County mouth of Glenn Creek. road opened to vehicular traffic. 1880: First tourists visit Golden Falls; 1910: Joe Larson and George named in honor of one of them. Schapers sell their homesteads to a 188?: Someone named Harris settles Minnesota timber company. above the falls; dies and leaves a 1911–1916: One-auto stage line, widow. Allegany to Scottsburg. 1889: Government survey of west 1915: O&C lands revested to the U.S. boundary of T24S R10 WWM. Government. 1891: Joseph Schapers buys Harris’ 1916: Stage line discontinued. School improvements; moves above the opened at Tyberg house above the falls; falls. his sister Elizabeth Ott moves in ca. 1918: Golden Falls school built. May; Joseph in July. 1920’s: Weyerhaeuser obtains title to 1894: Joe Larson moves above the former O&C lands in T24S R10 falls. WWM 1894: George Schapers claims the 1925: Glenn Junction school closed. falls; John Hendrikson below the 1933–1941: Civilian Conservation falls. Corp (CCC) above the falls. 1896: Government subdivision survey 1935: Golden Falls and Silver Falls of T24S R10 WWM. State Parks established, merged. 1898: Final proof on Joseph Schapers 1939: Joseph Schapers and sister and Elizabeth Ott homesteads. Elizabeth both die. Entries made for Joseph Larson and 1940–5: George Youst sawmill on old George Schapers. Joe Schapers place. vii 1941: Golden Falls School closed. 1960’s: Earl (Curly) Barker purchases 1943–8: Vic Dimmick sawmill on old Tyberg place; land trade with Elizabeth Ott Tyberg place. Weyerhaeuser. 1945: Army C-46D aircraft crashed 1970’s and ‘80’s: Glenn Creek near Lake Creek; large search party. drainage logging completed; 1948–9: Morrison-Knutson builds replanted. Weyerhaeuser logging road, 1989, January 4: The last log raft Allegany to top of Matson Creek. goes down the Millicoma River. 1949: December, last scheduled mail 1992: Weyerhaeuser logging ends at boat trip on Coos River. the Allegany side. Big mill in North 1950: Weyerhaeuser logging begins Bend closed. on Matson Creek. 1953: Last splash dam log drive on East Fork. 1958: Golden Falls road closed to traffic. Cleland Wilkinson, last resident above the falls sells place to Weyerhaeuser. Site of the former Hanis Coos Indian settlement at Marlow Creek. The mound is about twelve feet high, the largest of its kind on the Coos watershed. viii Introduction to the Second Edition The first edition of Above the Falls was meant for the people who lived or worked up there, but I was surprised to find that other folks were also interested in it. The 1500 copies that I had printed in 1992 were all sold within a couple years. Almost every month since, I’ve received a plea from someone who absolutely has to have a copy. I made revisions because I know more now than I did in 1992. Publication of the first edition brought me a large number of letters and visits from people who had lots to say, and hoping that it makes the story even better, I’m including their information in this second edition, and I’m changing a few other things around, and correcting a few mistakes that were brought to my attention. In doing this, I had to change every page, and scan in the photographs, and experiment to see whether they would come out well enough. Some of the pictures that were in the first edition wouldn’t come out well enough in this new, digital process and as a result I’ve eliminated some of them, rearranged others, and included a few new ones. Two fine histories of the surrounding forest have been published since 1992: Jerry Phillips’ Calked Boots and Cheese Sandwiches: A Foresters History of Oregon’s First State Forest ‘The Elliott’ (1997) and former Weyerhaeuser forester Arthur V. Smyth’s Millicoma: Biography of a Pacific Northwestern Forest (2000). These books provide significant new information, especially for the post-WWII era, and I have drawn on them quite freely in updating this second edition. There have been a few other helpful new books, which I have included in the bibliography. The end of the twentieth century brought an end to a cycle when Weyerhaeuser finished the first logging of its lands in Coos County and closed its sawmill in North Bend.