June 1, 2018
CapitalPress.com
Courtesy Photo
Gordon’s grandfather, Frank Ross, helped organize the Coos Bay
Creamery in 1892. It burned in 1919.
Gail Oberst/For the Capital Press
Gordon Ross, whose family pioneered dairying in Coos
County.
15
Courtesy Photo
Milk boats collected dairy products on the waterways of the Coos
River until roads were built in the 1940s.
Gordon Ross spins Coos County cow tales
For the Capital Press
Gordon Ross, 82, spreads
his photos on the Friends Café
table in Eastside, Coos Bay,
points at one and makes his
claim: His great-grandfather
brought the first dairy cows to
Coos County in 1857. He adds
that nearly everyone coming
over the Oregon Trail brought
with them at least one milking
cow.
He elaborates: A.B. Coll-
ver, Ross’ mother’s grand-
father, moved from Iowa to
Oregon, looking for free land.
A.B. eventually bought a claim
along the Coos River, moving
his family and 31 Durham
cows there from the Umpqua
Valley.
Ross spins a tale of family
fortune and misfortune that
meanders like the sloughs
of his home county, both the
Collver and Ross families
booming and busting in apple
and milk processing long be-
fore he was born. By the time
he was born in the 1930s, his
family had a small dairy farm
on Ross Slough, now owned
by his son.
In those days, milk and
people were transported down
Catching Inlet to the cream-
ery by boat. Until electricity
and milking machines came to
the slough in 1939, cows were
milked by hand. In 1941, a
road was built into his family’s
farm.
“I always knew I was go-
ing to be a dairy farmer,” Ross
said, more than a dozen years
after he sold his herd and farm
to his son, Bob. His son now
dairies in Lee Valley near Myr-
tle Point, milking 300 cows,
but uses the old farm for rais-
KILN DRIED
BEDDING SHAVINGS
ing heifers. Ross continues to
help his son as needed.
Bob has four adult kids —
the two boys help on the dairy.
This spring, they’ll be putting
up silage while Gordon drives
the truck.
“My labor’s free, but some-
times my son says even that’s
too much,” Ross laughs.
While he was a dairyman,
Gordon Ross supplemented
his earnings for more than 40
years by hauling fish waste to
farmers for fertilizer, an in-
dustry that still thrives.
Gordon had intended early
in life to be a minister, attend-
ing Bible school in Portland
until his father decided to sell
the farm. Gordon, newly mar-
ried to Wilma, returned and
bought the Ross Slough farm
and for a while also owned
Collver’s Stock Slough farm.
Many locals also know
Gordon as a long-standing
Coos County commissioner,
serving from 1976 to 2006.
Gordon said he decided to
join the commission when he
learned that he couldn’t get a
permit to dig a drainage ditch
on his property. He ran for
commissioner and won, sev-
eral times over.
“One lady who knew I was
a dairy farmer said I milked
that job for all it was worth,”
Gordon punned.
Gordon has not kept his
collection of humorous quips,
his love of God, and deep
knowledge of Coos history to
himself. He’s written two reli-
gious pamphlets, and is work-
ing on a third book to be re-
leased this year called “Don’t
Sweat the Small Stuff, God
Will Take Care of the Rest,”
a look back at his public life.
His most widely read book
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is “Yester Years,” a collection
of humorous stories passed
down from his forebears orig-
inally published in a news-
letter for retired senior vol-
unteers. He’s also published
Collver family letters from
the turn of the century, wrote
a book, “Gordie,” about his
father’s life, and a 75-page
book describing the unincor-
porated areas of Coos Coun-
ty titled “Welcome to Rural
Coos County.” Many of the
books can be found in a deep
search on Amazon.com.
Or call him up. If you meet
him for a burger at Friends
Café, he may bring you a
copy.
What’s ahead for a retired
dairyman? He still likes to
work with cattle, and says
his favorite job is to hold the
gates to the stock trailer while
his son loads the livestock.
What happens if he doesn’t
show up for the job?
“Bob said he’ll replace me
with baling twine,” Gordon
said.
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