The Good Ol ’ Days
By Tobie Finzel
The Scappoose-Vernonia Road
Routes from Vernonia and other
points in the Upper Nehalem Valley to
St. Helens, Portland and Washington
County were a challenge to valley
residents from the earliest times into
the 1920s. The Pittsburg to St. Helens
road built in the 1800s to connect
the valley with the county seat was a
rough and rocky road, then as now not
particularly friendly to passenger cars.
With more automobiles in use and the
population rapidly growing because
of the new Oregon-American Lumber
Mill, Vernonia’s Chamber of Commerce
appointed a special committee to find
a good route for a market road to the
towns on the Columbia River.
William Pringle, W.C. Meyer
and Postmaster Emil Messing comprised
the committee to investigate the
feasibility of constructing a road from
Vernonia through Clark & Wilson Camp
Eight (about three miles from Pittsburg
along the East Fork of the Nehalem) to
the existing Scappoose-Chapman county
road. In October 1925, the committee
traveled up the East Fork to Camp Eight
to determine what might be the best route.
According to the article in the November
1st Vernonia Eagle, they “found that
at very little expense a road of water
grade (i.e. graveled) could be built from
Pittsburg to Camp Eight, thence down
the canyon to Bridge Twenty-three of the
old Portland-Southwestern Railroad (see
note below). Then, north over the tunnel
and come out under Bridge Seventeen of
that same line. From there it will be
very easy to connect to the Chapman
Road as there will be about one half
mile of road to be constructed from
Bridge Seventeen.” The committee
received cooperation from A.W.
Hansen, Assistant Superintendent of
the Clark & Wilson Lumber Company,
who placed a railroad speeder at the
disposal of the committee to travel
from Camp Eight eastward through
the company’s timberlands.
In the prior week’s edition,
the Eagle made a case for completing
an eight-mile road from the One-Mile
Bridge (now also known as the Green
Bridge) to Camp Eight. Only the three
miles from Pittsburg to Camp Eight
would have to be built as there was an
existing road between the bridge and
Pittsburg. The estimated cost for the
three mile road was $20,000 that could
be funded by voter approval of a road
tax. The various Clark & Wilson camps
within the Vernonia School District had
a $100,000 per month payroll, but their
remoteness held no economic benefit for
the city.
The Eagle opined: “If a good
road is put in there, it is probable that
at least half of the married men in the
camps will live in Vernonia and drive
back and forth each day, thereby letting
their children attend school here and
having more comfortable homes and
surroundings for their families, as well
as conveniences obtainable.” And, of
course, they’d spend their earnings at
Vernonia businesses! The eventual
extension of the road all the way to
Scappoose would create a market road
of benefit to both ends of the county.
Like any other public works project, this
new road was not without controversy,
but that is a story for another column.
Note: The Portland-Southwestern
Railroad was built in the early 1900s.
The railroad carried logs from Pittsburg
to Chapman Landing on Multnomah
Channel from around 1905 to 1945,
passing through a 1,712-foot-long tunnel
at the Nehalem Divide. This abandoned
rail line was converted to a truck route
when Crown-Zellerbach acquired Clark
& Wilson Lumber. It became the basis
of the new CZ Trail that connects to the
Banks-Vernonia Linear Trail.
From Virgil Powell’s Diary
Virgil Powell was a long-time
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resident who had a farm in the Upper
Nehalem Valley between Natal and
Pittsburg. Each year from 1906 until
1955, he kept a regular diary of his
activities. Like this year in the Midwest,
the winter of 1916 was a very cold and
snowy one. Despite the conditions,
Virgil made a trip to Houlton and St.
Helens in the midst of it all, presumably
on horseback.
Sunday, January 16, 1916:
Victor and I went up around
East Fork in forenoon.
Just
fooled around in afternoon.
Awful cold but fair day. About
18 inches of snow on.
Tuesday, January 18, 1916:
We went down the road a ways
in forenoon after some hunters.
Walked over the Nehalem River
on the ice for the first time in
my life. Just fooled around in
afternoon. Cold but very good
day.
Monday, January 24, 1916:
Left 7 A.M. and got to Houlton
1:30 P.M. Went on over to St.
Helens then back to Houlton and
stopped overnight. Fair during
the day but snowed considerable
late in evening. About three feet
of snow on the mountain.
Tuesday, January 25, 1916:
Left Houlton 7:15 and got home
2 P.M.
Snowed pretty hard
all day and it was certainly a
hard trip. Was sick most all
night. There is about 18 inches
of snow on.
Monday, January 16, 1922:
Over St. Helens road to St.
Helens at 2:30 P.M. Very cold.
Tuesday, January 17, 1922:
Left St. Helens 7:30 A.M. In
Portland till 3 P.M.
Out to
Beaverton over night.
Awful
cold and ice.
Wednesday, January 18, 1922:
Came from Beaverton home via
Timber. Frozen awful hard.
The Vernonia Pioneer Museum is located
at E. 511 Bridge Street and is open from
1 to 4 pm on Saturdays and Sundays
(excluding holidays) all year. From June
through mid-September, the museum
is also open on Fridays from 1 – 4 pm.
There is no charge for admission but
donations are always welcome. Become
a member of the museum for an annual
$5 fee to receive the periodic newsletter,
and if you are a Facebook user, check
out the new Vernonia Pioneer Museum
page created by Bill Langmaid. The
museum volunteers are always pleased
to enlist additional volunteers to help
hold the museum open and assist in
other ways. Please stop by and let one
of the volunteers know of your interest in
helping out.
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58605 Nehalem Hwy South • P.O. Box 292
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12-4 Sun
7
Six years later, the old Pittsburg
Road was still the main route to St.
Helens. As with the above entries, he
doesn’t mention how he traveled – by
car or horse. We assume because of the
snow in the mountains that winter, it was
the latter, possibly with a sled attached
based on some other diary entries around
this time.
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