8'Tn Ne-Reviw, Roseburg, Or. Thiiw. Moy 10, 1956
(Male Mk Industrial Nub From Ashes Of 1928 Fire
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THIS STURDY, MODERN structure is the Glen
dale High School which reflects the solid, yet
progressive development of the county's southern
most town. The school has built in 1953. It
now has an enrollment of 162.
this page by Paul Jenkins).
(All pictures on
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SOUTHERN PACIFIC DEPOT Railroading was once the big industry of Glendale. It
still plays a highly important part in the community's economy. The Oregon and Cali
fornia Railroad came to Glendale In the 1880s, and from the first the railroad used the
total output of Sol Abraham's mill for ties trestles and shoring for tunnels.
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FREIGHT YARDS of the Southern Pacific at Glendale show the significant relationship of
shipping and lumber in the town's economy. Glendale's name is even tied up with the
railroad. . Sol Abraham, who laid out the townsite originally named the town Julia after
his wife. But the railroad after some kind of argument with Abraham, renamed it
Glendale.
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?.J.N!SS D'?JRICT, of GlendP ,a !-?uShon QboV9- The en,ir le"9th of this business
looo u u,hVQllwy y,ords- Jhe b,.u"nf's district has bn entirely rebuilt since
ivy when the disastrous fire made a shambles of it
Gold Rush, Lumbering, Railroad
Highlight Hardy City's History
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By MRS. GERALD B. FOX
Twenty-seven years ago, on May
1, 1929, the city o Glendale held
a gala celebration with all-day fes
tivities designed, according to a
special Glendale issue of the News
Review, to attract thousands of
out-of-town visitors.
A special excursion train was
run from Roseburg by the "then
more friendly" Southern Pacific
and even the Roseburg stores and
schools were closed for the occasion.
The new $250,000, A. A. Snyder
sawmill was being dedicated, and
the day's schedule included a pa
rade in the morning, a picnic on
the mill dock at noon with a band
accompanying, a big-name speak
er, a May pole dance and conduct
ed tours of the mill. Late after
noon saw a ball game between the
Glendale Town Team and Grants
Pass, and in the evening a street
carnival and a coronation ball,
honoring a high school senior, top
ped off the high excitement of the
day.
A Spring Board
The dedication of the new mill
was in some ways only the spring
board for the celebration. Hemna
it also lay 10 months of labor in
the clearing of derms ana remind
ing of a twon which followed the
historic Glendale fire of July 11,
1928, 10 months earlier. It was bas
ically a reaffirmation of the
pioneer spirit which brought the
first settlers to the valley nearly 80
years earlier.
ine nig lire Drone out in the re
frigeration plant of the City Meat
Market and, fanned by wind, seem
ed fairly to explode from ono wood
en building to another. It engulfed
most of the block between Third
and Fourth streets on Pacific Av
enue where it started, gained ter
rific Headway, and swept down Pa
cific Ave., as far as First, turn
ed south, and raced up First to
Willis where it leaped across to
the Glendale School, vacant since
the new school was completed two
years before.
so swilt was the advance of the
flames that old residents say just
45 minutes .elapsed between the
first outbreak of the fire and the
collapse of the schoolhouse roof.
1 lie new school caught fire but
men with hoses on the roof quell
ed the flames in time. On Second
and Third avenues, the fire was
largely held back at the Valley be
tween Pacific and Willis. It did
reach beyond at one point, taking
the two-story Odd Fellows' Hall
which stood on the site of the pres
ent Glendale Telephone Co. build
ing. The old telephone office
caught fire but was saved
only to burn two months later in
a separate fire. In all. 19 out of
23 business buildings burned with-
a few minutes time, and with
them, 12 residences and two school
buildings.
Surprise!
r.d Johnson, later one of Glen
dale's mayors, was working at the
Douom ot a welt on the old Bartlc
place across Cow Creek from Glen
dale (next to the slccl bridge which
Avenue) at the time of the fire.
When he came out. he started
down town to see about getting a
length of pipe he needed and, look
no town.
An amusing sidelight on the fire
occurred when shoes were being
thrown out of the burning shoe
store. One thrifty Glendale resi
dent, not wishing to see good foot
wear go to waste, sat down in the
middle of the street and began try
ing on snoes.
Back of the fire lay a remark
able history of pioneering which
began well ahead of the Civil War,
of Indian fighting, and of the grad
ual change of the town from a
rough and roistering frontier settle'
ment to a city with its own base
ball team, band, opera hall, and
well-equipped school.
The first resident :n Cow Creek
Valley, Hardy tlliff. arrived, tak
ing up what later became the Johns
ranch. It originally included all of
the site for the present town of
Azalea. Other settlers followed
fast. In 1854 gold was discovered! Plywood Corn (which produces un-
up Starveout, and Glendale's first j cemented plywood sheets) the Sup-
Ioop holes in the walls for Indian
fighting, in 1857 and 1878. When the
Garretts purchased the place they
retained the old cabin walls and
puncheon floors, covering thern
with modern materials.
Stagecoaches
Stagecoaches were coming
through Cow Creek Valley twice
daily by 1862, and the first school
was built in 1863.
In the 1880's the Oregon and Cal
ifornia Railroad came through
Glendale, thus introducing the
town's second main industry, rail
roading, and with it, the begin
nings of a third and more im
portant one, the lumber industry,
Solomon Abraham dammed Milt
Creek and put up a sawmill in 1882
on the site of the present Ed John
son home across from the grade
school ball diamond. Sol produced
railroad tics and timbers for tres
tles and tunnel shoring, prepara
tory to the coming of the railroad.
He even donated land to the rail
road to encourage its coming. He
laid out the townsite of Julia, nam
ed for his wife, (Molly Street in
front of the sawmill was named
for his daughter) but a tiff between
Sol and the railroad no one seems
to remember the details of the
argument was responsible for the
railroad's overriding Sol's wishes
and renaming the town, Glendale.
Bur' Mill
In 1901, David N Snyder and
M. D. Oweight bought the Abra
ham mill and moved it to Fern
vale up Windy Creek canyon. Their
firm, the Glendale Lumber Co. alse
operated a planing mill in Glen
dale and transported lumber from
the Fernvale plant to Glendale by
means of a huge open - top flume,
at some places high above the
ground, with an apron alongside
where workmen might stand to
push along balky timbers.
It was when Snyder's son, A.
A. Snyder, constructed the new
mill in Glendale in 1929 that the
big May 1 celebration was held.
Unfortunately the financial Dust
of '29 was just around the cor
ner, and the new, highly - touted
filant was soon forced to close. It
ay idle till 1933 when S. K. Ing
ham and son acquired and re
opened it. In 1937 it burned with a
loss of about half the plant and
some four million board feet of
stored lumber. Ingham rebuilt it
into a much more modern mill,
which was purchased by the Rob
ert Dollar Lumber Co. in 1945.
Other Mills
No history of Glendale would be
complete without mention of other
mills which loomed large in its
economy. One of the blows of '29
included the burning of the Lystul
Lawson mill on the site of the pres
ent Superior Lumber Co. It was
one of 11 Glendale mills at the
time of the celebration. It employ
ed 50 or 60 men and was the first
in the area with a monthly pay
day and eight-hour shifts. The mill
was rebuilt, but the depression
still held, and when it did not op
erate profitably, it was later- dis
mantled. Lyslul had previously been as--sociated
in several other mill en
terprises in the area, including
one at McCulloch Creek, from
which lumber was hauled to the
Lystul siding for shipment.
Today, Glendale. true to the vi
sion of 1929, is a sawmill and lum
bering center whuh has grown rap
idly in population and payroll.
Big Mill
The Robert Dollar Mill spreads
over an area of about 180 acres.
It has constantly expanded its
plant and facilities. At the present
time its average daily cut is 320,
000 board feet of lumber. It cm
ploys 250 men in the mill and 114
in tho woods, not counting those
employed by some 15 "gypo" con
tractors from which it purchases
a part of its logs.
The Dollar - Patterson Lumber
Co. mill, leased in 1951 from the
Havward Milling Co.. which built
it in 1946, cuts 200,000 board feet
per day.
Five major mills in (he area,
the Robert Dollar mill, the Dollar-
Patterson Mill, the Multnoman
STRIKING VIEW of the Robert Dollar Co. mill, the biggest in the Glendale area is
shovn across a log filled pond. The company cuts an average of 320,000 board feet
of lumber per day. It has opened an excellent road into previously inaccessible timber
resources in the West Forks area.
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ma tor industry, mining, saw its
birth.
The sixth family to arrive In the
valley in 1850 was John 1! Red
field, a one-armed blacksmith, and
his wife. Their son, Daniel Boone
Hedfield, was the f'rst white child
born here. Thev took up the Red
field donation lend claim which
was bought by C. O. tiarretl in
1914. Their first house was washed
away by flood in MM, and the
second was destroyed by Indians
in 1S.S5.
It was rebuilt, a log cabin with
perior Lumber Co., and the S
Vaughn and Mini mm, logemer.
produce an average cut of 650,000
board feet of lumber per day or
enough to build 100 average five
room houses. Together with the
Glendale Lumber Co. (a planing
mill), they employ a total of about
4j0 men in the plants themselves,
and 300 men in the woods.
Glendale has a population of
about 1.000 within the city limits.
The city and its near by suburbs
and some of them are as close
ly built as city-claimed streets
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ANOTHER LOG sploshed into the Robert Dollar Co. millpond above. Among the most
progressive companies in the, West, it operates its timber holdings on a sustained
yield basis to insure a supply for many years. The company's mill is a direct descen
dant of the first mill built in Glendale by Solomon Abraham in 1882.
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service, it has undertaken to in
terest the Greyhound Co., in bring
ing a local into town.
Glendale has a wealth of Indus
trial potential and production, an
enormous payroll and a high rat
ing for average individual income
in Dun & Bradstreet reports.
New homes have liberally sprout
ed along every canyon road and
every highway. She has scenery
which would make a California pro
moter drool with envy.
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Door Pounder Causes
Fatal Heart Attack
LONG BEACH. Calif. I -"There's
a man pounding on mv
door and he refuses to go away.1
a frightened, elderly woman tele
phoned police.
Officers, who sped to the house
said they found a drunken young
marine at the door demanding
to see "Lucy."
"I'm dying. I can't breathe. Why
didn't ha go away?" police quoted
.Mrs. Elmarta Thomas, 71. Then
she died, apparently from a heart
attack.
Haywood W. Langdon, 23, was
booked on suspicion of being intox
icated and released on $25 bail.
There wai do one at the apart-1
meat lamed Lacy.
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ALMOST MANSION-SIZE is this house now being completed by Mr. and Mrs. Robert
Dollar of Glendale. It is unquestionably one of the county's finest homes and an in
dication of the bright future the Dollars see tor the (oiendale area.
embraces a population roughly es
timated at 2,500.
To the grade school which was
built in 1928 and barely saved from
fire, has been added two joined
wooden units, built in 1948 and
1949. and a new high school built
in 1953. There is a school census
figure of 1.0G9, a grade school
enrollment of 569. and a high school
enrollment of 162. It might be ex
plained that the school district is
not confined to Glendale and its
immediate suburbs but includes
Starveout Canyon and part of Cow
Creek Canyon above Azalea, as
well as the area between.
There are 13 churches in the
city, six of which have been or
ganized rather recently, active Ma
sonic and Odd Fellows organiza
tions, and their respective Eastern
Star, Rcbekah. and affiliated
groups. The Farm Bureau and
Grange have the scat of their ac
tivities near Azalea but include
Glendale members. As a matter of
fact the two communities are held
together, not only by a joint school
district, but by the integration of!
manv other activities as well. I
The Lion's Club is an active
Glendale booster organization. For
some time one of its goals has
been the procurement of a bank
for the town. Recently, because
Glendale is four miles off the high
way and has only a flag-stop bus
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RESTING PLACE of the Cow
Creek Valley's first resident
is shown above. He w o s
Hardy C. Ellif. He came
West in 1849 and died Nov.
2, 1894 at the age of 72.