Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 21, 2019)
SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM ❚ WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2019 ❚ 3B Snorkeling Continued from Page 1B Snorkeling in ‘Emerald Pool’ At mile 3.3, we reached our destina- tion: Emerald Pool. It’s long and narrow, between canyon walls just below the trail. I put my hand in the water to check the temperature. “Yup,” I said. “I’m wearing the dry- suit.” A big question for me is always whether to pack in my drysuit, a full- body layer that's the gold standard for keeping warm. It’s harder to dive be- cause it traps air, but I’d rather error on the side of warmth, so I put it on and slid into the water. It was cold. Really, really cold. Jeff dove in wearing a wetsuit, made a noise, and resurfaced. “Yeah that’s cold,” he said laughing. The upside, of course, was amazingly clear views of the deep hole, along with a handful of curious cutthroat trout that inhabit Emerald Pool. The most striking thing was the depth. We’d kick down, and the bottom was like an optical illusion that seemed close but got further and further away as you reached out to touch it. We explored Emerald Pool for an hour or so before packing up and hiking back the way we came. Waterfall canyon pool The second place we snorkeled was below the big waterfall and canyons we'd seen within the first half mile of the trailhead. It was a tricky place to access that re- quired hopping off a ledge and into the pool. I've always loved snorkeling below waterfalls, because the churning water looks really interesting underwater — waves of energy rippling through the blue. The most interesting place was downstream, where the creek drops into steep canyons and the pools are deep, with fascinating caverns visible below the surface. There appear to be even better places to explore downstream by "creek- Mill City Continued from Page 1A tee and spark of the economic windfall. “It’s a wonderful little community in terms of people diving in, building on successes and seeing the community grow.” Property values leap exponentially Mill City has gone through several growths and declines since being incor- porated in 1887, including during con- struction of Detroit Dam when the pop- ulation boomed to 1,792 in 1950. But the population went flat along when the logging industry struggled. “We went for close to 20 years with maybe a couple of houses being built,” Kirsch said. In the past five years, there have been two subdivisions with six to 10 houses each. The city council is deliberating on a proposed 15-unit subdivision and an- other developer has started talks about building an 80-unit subdivision within the city’s urban growth boundary. According to a study by RefiGuide- .org released in June, Mill City is in the top 10 cities in the United States where property prices rose the most in the pri- or year by growing 33.9%. According to Zillow.com, the average value of each home in Mill City is $208,800. “Mill City is still a very affordable place to live,” Kirsch said. In the past few years, restaurants and other businesses have sprouted to life along Highway 22. There are still two major lumber com- panies in the area, Freres Lumber and Frank Lumber along with a number of smaller logging outfits. But the city no longer relies solely on the industry. Until the latest push, the last time there was a significant infrastructure investment in Mill City was in 2004 when it switched to well water from sur- face water as its filtration system was out of compliance. A small housing development under construction in Mill City on Aug. 15, 2019. ANNA REED / STATESMAN JOURNAL Saving a pedestrian bridge leads to millions Harrington’s children were growing and close to leaving home. All she knew about Mill City was Gio- vanni Mountain Pizza, which for her was a stop between her home in Keizer and a vacation home in Black Butte. She started looking around for new places to live, but Mill City wasn’t on her list until going to a daughter’s track meet at Santiam High School. “I remember looking around and say- ing, 'This is a pretty place,'” Harrington said. She bought a property along the North Santiam River in 2003, finished building a new house a year later and never left. Kirsch said a growing portion of the community are people like Harrington, who end up retiring in the town. Harrington goes on daily walks across the old railroad bridge, which for decades has been a pedestrian bridge. After a 2014 study showed the 1888 bridge needed to be repaired or torn down, she became part of a committee whose goal was to raise $400,000 to re- store the bridge. Through grassroots small-town fundraisers, the group raised $300,000 before Marion County Rural Economic Development Analyst Danielle Gonzalez stepped in and told the group to think bigger. They expanded their scope to include rehabilitating the weight-restricted traffic bridge over the North Santiam River, applied for and received an $8 million grant from the federal govern- ment. The grant will be matched by about $400,000 from Mill City and $900,000 from Linn County. It turns out that money attracts mon- ey. Infrastructure with a school bond At one point in the 1970s, Santiam High School was one of the most mod- ern and amenity-filled schools in the state. “We have a very nice auditorium which has classrooms and the cafeteria that was built in that '69-70 school year, and that was all built with timber mon- ey,” Santiam Canyon School Board President Rich Moore said. “And when they built the elementary we have, that was built with timber money.” Oregon changed how it distributes tax dollars for schools from staying ex- clusively within their communities to CLASSIFIEDS Find a new job or career Discover Discover Disc Di scov sc over ov er your y your ourr new ou new ne w ho home home me JOBS.STATESMANJOURNAL.COM Place an ad online 24/7 at StatesmanJournal.com or call 503-399-6789 • 1-800-556-3975 Brokers licensed in Oregon Ryan Wertz Auctions, pets, services & stuff AUTO STUFF StatesmanJournal.com/classifieds in print Wednesday through Sunday TRUST THE HOMETOWN EXPERTS Michael ichael Schmid Schmidt silvertonappeal.com STATESMANJOURNAL.COM/HOMES SERVING THE EAST VALLEY SINCE 1975 being spread on a per-student basis in 1993. In the May election, voters of Mill City and surrounding communities au- thorized $17.9 million for school bonds to pay for new buildings for the high and middle schools and other improve- ments on the campus in Mill City, and the school district was subsequently awarded a $1 million grant from Oregon Department of Education. The city recognized the school bond’s passage meant the new school build- ing’s entrance would have no sidewalks and a woefully inadequate street lead- ing to it. The city applied for a Safe Routes to School grant, but the city’s lack of a stormwater system made it prohibitive- ly expensive, and it didn’t get the grant. “Storm drains are hard to fund,” Krisch said. “It’s not something every- body looks at as an important aspect.” Kirsch stays in contact with the state senator and representative for the area (Fred Girod and Sherrie Sprenger) and approached Girod about Mill City’s di- lemma. Girod offered to add money for Mill City’s stormwater system in a fund- ing bill. House Bill 5030, which was signed Aug. 8 by Gov. Kate Brown, gave the city $1,880,000 for a stormwater drainage through lottery bonds. Kirsch said Mill City will again apply for a Safe Routes to School grant, and it isn’t finished with infrastructure im- provements. Mill City is one of four cities – Detroit, Gates and Idanha are the others – part- nering with Marion County to form a joint wastewater sewer district. Mill City has its own wastewater treatment facility, but its nearly at the end of its li- fespan. “Small communities live and die on grants,” Kirsch said. “We can save up enough money to replace a water line here, resurface a street here through our own taxes and our fees, but to really do a complete project, it’s tough to do that kind of money. “Everybody benefits from infrastruc- ture.” bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com or Twitter.com/bpoehler Turn here for your next vehicle HOMES & RENTALS JOBS whacking" — swimming and hiking — but it would also have been a challenge to get back to the trail. So, we played it safe with the after- noon getting late and decided to pack up and return to the car. Overall, I'd still say the Little North Santiam is my favorite spot for back- country snorkeling, but Elk Lake Creek was a beautiful — although frigid — place to explore an underwater world. Zach Urness has been an outdoors re- porter, photographer and videographer in Oregon for 11 years. Urness is the au- thor of “Best Hikes with Kids: Oregon” and “Hiking Southern Oregon.” He can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJour- nal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on Twitter at @ZachsORoutdoors. AT SILVERTON REALTY Marcia arcia Branstetter Branstett Micha icha Christman Christma Becky Craig Broker 503.873.3545 ext. 326 Broker, GRI 873-3545 ext. 318 Offi ce Manager 503-873-1425 Broker 873-3545 ext. 313 Meredith Wertz Chuck White Christina istina Williams Williamson Mason ason Branstetter Branstette Broker, GRI 873-3545 ext. 324 Broker 873-3545 ext. 325 Broker 873-3545 ext. 315 Principal Broker, GRI 873-3545 ext. 303 Kirsten Barnes Principal Broker, GRI 873-3545 ext. 314 Broker 873-3545 ext. 322 NEW-SILVERTON SILVERTON SILVERTON SILVERTON SILVERTON MT. ANGEL #A2559 NEW TO THE MARKET 3 BR, 2 BA 1412 SQFT CALL MICHAEL AT EXT. 314 $328,900 (WVMLS#753124) #A2546 GREAT TOWNHOUSE 2 BR, 2.5 BA 1309 SQFT CALL BECKY AT EXT. 313 $265,900 (WVMLS#749500) #A2551 COMMERCIAL BUILDING 1952 SQFT CALL MEREDITH AT EXT. 324, RYAN AT EXT. 322 $286,000 (WVMLS#751145) #A2555 SILVERTON INVESTMENT 2 UNITS, 4 BR, 3 BA 2096 SQFT CALL MICHAEL AT EXT. 314 $385,000 (WVMLS#752402) #A2538 READY TO BUILD .34 ACRES CALL MEREDITH AT EXT. 324, RYAN AT EXT. 322 $79,900 (WVMLS#747134) #A2549 GREAT LOCATION 3 BR, 2.5 BA 2323 SQFT CALL MEREDITH AT EXT. 324, RYAN AT EXT. 322 $329,000 (WVMLS#750591) Brokers licensed in Oregon WWW.SILVERTONREALTY.COM | 303 OAK STREET | SILVERTON Call us today! 503.873.3545 | 1-800-863-3545 FOR RENT Call Micha at 503-873-1425 or see them on our website.
