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Wednesday, December 12, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Whispers from the
past… to market
By Sue Stafford
Correspondent
In the early days of
Sisters, and Central Oregon
in general, roads had a vari-
ety of origins, from Native
American or immigration
trails, to territorial roads, toll
roads, or forest roads.
An important road in the
settlement of Sisters was
the Willamette Valley and
Cascade Mountain Military
Wagon Road built by a com-
pany of the same name in
1866. Covering 448 miles,
it started in Albany, head-
ing easterly to the Deschutes
River, to Camp Harney, then
to Crane Creek, and on to
the eastern Oregon/Idaho
boundary.
An inquiry was recently
received in The Nugget office
regarding the “market roads”
in our area and how they
came to be named.
The ones we are probably
most familiar with are those
which lie between Sisters and
Bend – Couch (pronounced
cooch, not cowch), Innes,
and Gerking market roads.
Thereʼs also Reed Market and
Butler Market in Bend and
Deschutes Market between
Bend and Redmond.
In the early days farm-
ers had difficulty on rudi-
mentary roads getting their
agricultural products to town
to sell them. According to
the Oregon Department of
Transportation, beginning in
1919, “the State Market Road
Act was to provide State aid
for the construction of a sys-
tem of main county roads
from the producing centers to
the market centers.”
The 30th session of the
Oregon Legislature passed the
act, which went into effect in
1920. To finance the construc-
tion of the roads, a one-time
state property tax levy was
enacted. From 1920-1931,
Deschutes County spent
$368,238 for 51 market roads
in the county.
The first market road in
the county connected Bend
to the Tumalo Fish Hatchery
near what is now Shevlin Park
and was called Shevlin Park
Market Road. Then came the
Central Oregon Highway and
Northwest Redmond Market
Road, now called Northwest
Way in Redmond.
Market roads were named
after the family who lived
on the road, as in Butler and
Couch, or for a farm or ranch
such as Pilot Butte Ranch, or
after geographical landmarks
such as Deschutes or Camp
Polk. The roads made it possi-
ble for ranchers, farmers, fish-
ermen and lumber companies
to get their goods to markets.
The Couch family raised
beef cattle and milk cows,
requiring a satisfactory road
to get their animals and
goods to Redmond markets.
Therefore, Couch Market
Road was built and still exists
today.
Like Couch, Reed and
Gerking are old family
names from the early days
of Central Oregon, just like
Sistersʼ Harrington Loop,
Fryrear Road, George Cyrus
Road, and Goodrich Road
are named after Sistersʼ early
residents.
By the end of 1930, there
was a total of 6,030 miles of
market roads in the state made
with a variety of surfaces: 266
miles of bituminous pave-
ment; 125 miles of concrete
pavement; 259 miles oiled;
3,033 graveled; and 1,826
miles unimproved.
By 1932 the County
Market Roads funds were
exhausted. Many of the mar-
ket roads became secondary
ODOT highways while others
remained county roads.
Your Story
MATTERS
Audry Van Houweling, PMHNP
Columnist
The power of
connection
The holiday season can
be a mixed bag of emotions.
In the best case, it is filled
with joy and merriment;
however, feelings of grief,
stress, and loneliness are
also common. In either case,
what makes the season most
meaningful for most of us is
celebrating the connections
we share with those we love.
In these digitalized times,
establishing and maintaining
social connections that allow
for face-to-face contact has
become more challenging.
It has become the norm —
especially in our younger
generations — that social
“connection” is most com-
monly mediated through a
device or screen and “every-
one is doing it” so it creates
its own unique social pres-
sure to follow suit.
While our digitalized
social connections and
tribes may have merit, they
cannot substitute for genu-
ine face-to-face human
contact. Furthermore, the
profiles of individuals we
are “connected” to are
most generally filtered and
edited facades that often
do not allow for authentic
relationships. We too cre-
ate facades for ourselves of
which we may feel a pres-
sure to live up to, which can
limit our opportunities to let
our guard down and display
emotional vulnerability.
Altogether, the loss of
face-to-face contact can cre-
ate a void of social isolation,
which I believe is one of the
great public health concerns
of our time.
At our core we are social
beings. Having a tribe or
community has evolution-
ary roots in being central to
our survival, defense, and
welfare. Amid individual-
ism and modernism, close
connections have withered
for many of us.
Social integration or the
frequency of which we have
face-to-face social contact
with others — from the gro-
cery clerk to our spouse —
has in fact been found to be
a major social determinant
of health and longevity. In
reviewing over 148 stud-
ies and 308,849 middle-
age participants, research-
ers from Brigham Young
University and University
of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill (2010) found that close
interpersonal relationships
in addition to social inte-
gration were the primary
factors predicting longevity
even superseding substance
use, exercise, and diet.
Face-to-face contact has
genuine neurochemical and
physiological benefits that
cannot be mimicked via
social media, text messag-
ing, or other forms of digi-
talized forms of communi-
cation. Eye contact, a good
handshake, and high fives all
release oxytocin otherwise
known as the “bonding hor-
mone.” Oxytocin can reduce
cortisol — our primary
stress hormone. Dopamine
is also released, which pro-
motes feelings of reward
and pleasure. Additionally,
face-to-face contact pro-
vides opportunities for
empathy far more than via
social media or texting,
where you are removed from
the emotional consequences
of your communication. In
other words, you have more
reign to be a schmuck with-
out having to bear witness
to the sadness, tears, fear,
or anger you may inspire.
Our digital devices have
also become great distrac-
tions, and might I say,
time-suckers that allow us
to procrastinate and post-
pone confronting emotional
struggle. They have also
in many ways become the
modern-day pacifier for
children (and adults), and
the preferred solution for
awkwardness and conver-
sational pauses. Basically,
they have thwarted emo-
tional resilience and the art
of conversing.
Given that social media
and device addiction is, in
my opinion, very legiti-
mate, we all must be a bit
more intentional about giv-
ing ourselves opportuni-
ties for face-to-face inter-
actions. Schedule routine
coffee visits with a friend,
join a club, take a class, go
on date nights with your
spouse, or simply surround
yourself with human energy
at the gym, mall, or local
park. And remember, your
smartphone is not your best
friend.
Wishing everyone a safe
and healthy holiday season.
Give yourself the gift of
connection, allow yourself a
digital detox, and soak in the
beauty of the human spirit.
Happy holidays!
Wishing everyone a
blessed Christmas
season.
D ESIGNERS & B UILDERS
of D ISTINCTION
541-549-1575
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