8
community
may10
2011
Living On a Lake in the Country: A Victorian in Mist, Oregon
By Gayle Rich-Boxman
This beautiful Victorian home
in Mist, Oregon, is a delight to behold.
Getting to know the history of this
gorgeous property through the eyes of the
owners, Orin and Louise Green, allows
all of us to better grasp the pioneering
spirit of this part of the country back in
the late 1800s. The photos were shot on
a perfect-blue-sky day last fall.
Built in 1870, the current
owners have painstakingly preserved
much of the history of the home both
in pictorials as well as oral and written
stories that have passed down. In order
to keep some of this intact for the next
owners, the Greens have created a time
capsule in a column of the living room.
Some of what it contains is below:
• Pictures and information on the
builder, Lars Magnussen
•
Copies of baptismal certificates of
two of Magnussen’s daughters (four
children altogether, 3 daughters and one
son)
• Names of prior owners
that they knew about
The Greens were ripping
down a wall in one of the
upstairs bedrooms, and
they found an old wallet.
It has a picture of a boy
about 8-9 years old along
with a driver’s license
that expired 6/15/1943
with the name Leonard
Ira Harris, whom they are
assuming was one of the
owners, and it has one
Indianhead-Buffalo nickel, a dime and
five pennies. The Greens are certain
of these three owners; the Magnussen
family, the Garlock family and the Serby
family, but there were others; they just
don’t have accurate information on the
rest. Larry Garlock with Clatskanie
Insurance was born in the bedroom
where they later found the wallet. He
told Louise this himself!
Here is more of what Louise
Green, one of the sellers, shared with me
about this wistful (Mistful?) property.
The old Magnussen place was
built from local fir and some cedar in
the 1800s. Lars
Magnussen came
here as one of
the first pioneers
of the Nehalem
Valley.
He
brought his bride
here from Norway, and the Magnussens
raised their four children here. Pictures
of the family are located on
the wall in the dining room.
Mr. Magnussen made a small
washhouse/canning
room
down beside Messner Creek
[located at the back end of the
property].
Legend has it Mrs.
Magnussen’s
mother
in
Norway had lost her life
in a stream while washing
clothes, so Mrs. Magnussen
insisted that a stove be put in
the washhouse with a pump
to bring water from the creek
before she would use the washhouse.
Inside the house where the
kitchen still is, Lars built the family a
wooden bathtub that also had a wood
cover so it could double as a table.
Louise Green:“When we moved
here in 1985, we had to replace all of
the foundation (long cedar logs), which
was ‘powdered’ wood. While under
Boosters Buzz:
Bidding ends June 15th.
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was a mystery to us just what the purpose
was, so I asked around and found two
stories.
The first story seemed
realistic:
when
Indians
attacked, the family would go
down in the hole through the
living room floor and sought
protection there as well as
use of the cedar trough-like
structure going to the outside
to fire back at the Indians.
The next story probably
‘holds more water’: It was
said the Magnussens built a
vegetable storage under the
house and the trough provided
air circulation. Maybe both?
Gayle Rich-Boxman is a Broker
with Vernonia Realty, specializing in
Fishhawk Lake Recreation Club
You can reach her direct at 503-
755-2905 or by email at richbox@
centurytel.net
News About the Vernonia Boosters
New Sports Fields Under
Construction—The Vernonia
Booster Club is working to
develop new, temporary sports
fields for baseball, softball
and soccer to replace
the fields lost at
Spencer Park when
construction started
on the new school
campus.
The
new
field, called Titus
Field, is located on
Lone Pine Road, just
south of Vernonia.
Volunteers
are
installing a backstop and fencing; the wet spring
weather has slowed progress
so far. Anyone interested in
helping donate time, labor or
s t o We
anything else can contact Brent
ck no
Dass at 503-429-9352.
ba w
tte
The Junior Baseball
rie
s
Organization (JBO) season is
scheduled to begin mid-May.
aga s
the house, we discovered a hole in the
ground about 5’ deep and 6-7’ square. It
Thank You Supporters!--
The Boosters and especially
JBO say thank you to all their
business supporters this year.
A special thank you to Bighorn
Logging Corp.--their generous
donation allowed all new
uniforms to be purchased for
every baseball team this year.
Look for all the players to be
wearing a patch recognizing
Bighorn Logging this season.
Join the Boosters!--The Vernonia Boosters
support all sorts of activities for youth of all ages
in our community. The next Booster meeting
is May 11 at Washington Grade School. It only
costs $10 to join and
support youth sports
in Vernonia.
Soccer
Camp—
Vernonia
Youth
Soccer is planning
a Challenger Soccer
Camp at Washington
Grade School on
June 27-July 1. This
British-style
camp
provides players of all ages and abilities with
the rare opportunity to receive high-level soccer
coaching from a team of international experts. Each
day includes individual foot skills, technical drills,
tactical practices, small-sided games, coached
scrimmages, and a daily tournament. Equally
important, the Challenger coaching staff provides
kids with lessons in respect, responsibility,
integrity, sportsmanship, and leadership. Camp
programs include a free ball and shirt and a free
British Soccer jersey for online registrations
45 days prior to camp! For more info go to the
Vernonia Youth Soccer Facebook page.
Booster Fundraiser—JVO Baseball will again be
selling fireworks this year; make sure to stop by
their booth and support local youth sports when
you get ready for your 4 th of July celebrations. JVO
Baseball is also currently selling Papa Murphy’s
discount cards—get $25 off pizzas for just a $5
donation! Contact a baseball player to get yours.