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Wednesday, March 7, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Descendent of pioneers to speak in Sisters
By Sue Stafford
Correspondent
Three Sisters Historical
Society will present its second
free Fireside Stories event
on Tuesday, March 13, at
FivePine Conference Center.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with
the program starting at 7 p.m.
Janet McKinnon Hodgers,
of Bend, is the descendent of
several of the earliest families
in the Sisters area. She will be
sharing family photographs
and stories of those early days
in her talk, “Camp Polk and
Sisters: Life and Times of the
Early Settlers.”
Her ancestors traveled the
Oregon Trail seeking land and
a place to call home.
According to Hodgers,
“Most eventually settled in
Oregon — Eugene in the
west, and east of the Cascades
in Redmond where I grew up
with my parents and three
brothers. They also settled in
Burns, Prineville, Sisters, and
Camp Polk.”
Her ancestors’ names
familiar to those acquainted
with Sisters history are the
Cobbs and Hindmans.
“My father’s great-grand-
parents arrived in what is now
Sisters in 1889 and estab-
lished the Cobb Roadhouse,
a way station for weary trav-
elers. I am the great-great-
granddaughter of Martha
Cobb-Hindman who eventu-
ally married Charlie Hindman
and spent her last 40 years at
Camp Polk until her death in
1940,” explained Hodgers.
Camp Polk Meadow, part
of the Deschutes Land Trust
conservancy, has a long
history. Native Americans
camped in the meadow for
centuries, where they found
abundant food and water. The
Wascos and Piautes made sea-
sonal migrations through this
area that served as the hub
of all the surrounding water-
ways – the Deschutes River,
Whychus Creek, Indian Ford
Creek, the Metolius River,
and numerous other creeks
and rivers.
In the early 1800s,
European trappers and explor-
ers entered the area. In 1843,
Captain John C. Fremont
crossed the meadow on his
way to California. Migration
west on the Oregon Trail
followed, as adventurers,
cattlemen, and gold seekers
established trails across the
Cascades from the Willamette
Valley to Central Oregon.
In 1865, the meadow
became known as Camp Polk
when returning Civil War sol-
diers from Polk County in the
valley were sent to establish a
fort to protect travelers along
the Santiam Wagon Road
from “hostile Indians,” of
which there were none at the
time. They were commanded
by Captain Charles La Follette
and were only encamped in
the meadow from September
— May 1865-66.
Hodgers will describe the
Hindman’s role in Camp Polk
Meadow, where today the
only remains of their home-
stead are the framing timbers
of their 75-by-50-foot barn
and stable constructed from
hand-hewn ponderosa beams,
one of which came from a sin-
gle tree. The logs were report-
edly taken from the Camp
Polk buildings.
The Hindman Station,
which provided for travel-
ers with a store, lodging,
and food and shelter for their
animals, lost its position of
prominence when the post
office was moved to Sisters in
1887 and a new bridge across
Whychus Creek was built in
Sisters in 1891.
Hodgers’ great-great-
grandfather, Alfred Cobb, and
his family came to the Sisters
area in 1889 and established
a homestead east of present-
day Sisters on what is now
the Lazy Z Ranch. The home
became a way station for
travelers, managed by Mrs.
St. Patrick’s
Day Dinner
Sat., March 17
at 6 p.m.
Served Family Style
Cheesy Potato Soup with
Irish Soda Bread Rolls
Beer Braised Corned Beef & Cabbage
Rosemary Roasted Red Potatoes
Garlic Butt er Broccoli
Irish Cream Pie
(Chocolate Cake with Pistachio
Pudding & Bailey’s Irish
Cream Ganache)
$34 per person, kids under 4
eat fr ee; $15 for kids 5 -12
Reservations: Call 541.516.3030
www.lakecreeklodge.com
PHOTO BY SUE STAFFORD
The remains of the Hindman Barn at Camp Polk Meadow Preserve.
Cobb, while “Cobb operated
a blacksmith shop where he
repaired the wagons and shod
the horses of the travelers.”
(Wilson and Scott, “That Was
Yesterday”).
Hodgers said that thanks
to Martha Cobb-Hindman
and her granddaughter, “I
inherited all the wonderful
family albums and boxes of
photos documenting the jour-
ney from California to settle
in Sisters and then in Camp
Polk.”
Her presentation will also
include information high-
lighting the many hardships
endured by the families who
chose to come west in search
of a better life.
Prior to Hodger’s talk,
local artist, songwriter, and
musician Dennis McGregor
will entertain with songs, sto-
ries, and readings from his
first book, “Dream Again,”
in which he wrote, “The
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pioneers came west with the
American dream. When I was
a kid in the fifties, that dream
was still alive. Today, more
than ever, people want to
dream again.”
Dream Again is the story
of Annie, a young girl on
the Oregon Trail, who has
only one thing to remember
her family by – a patchwork
quilt made from their worn-
out clothes. When the quilt
gets lost near the end of the
Oregon Trail, an epic adven-
ture begins. Copies of the
book will be available for sale
that evening.
A special feature of the
evening will be a silent auc-
tion of unique antiques.
Three Sisters Historical
Society is in partnership
with the Des Chutes County
Historical Museum in pre-
senting approximately 10
items representing a range
of prices, including one very
special Heywood wicker baby
pram considered to be quite
valuable.
Other items include
wooden snowshoes, native
baskets, a 39-star flag from
1889, oval convex glass
frames, and a few smaller
items. Come prepared to take
home a little piece of his-
tory. Proceeds will benefit
both Three Sisters Historical
Society and the Des Chutes
County Historical Museum.
Also available for sale
will be copies of “That Was
Yesterday” by Tillie Wilson
and Alice Scott and “Oregon’s
Sisters Country” by Ray
Hatton. The historical society
has also been gifted new cop-
ies of Martin Winch’s seminal
book on Camp Polk Meadow,
“Biography of a Place:
Passages Through a Central
Oregon Meadow.”
Dessert and beverages will
be served.
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