The Good Ol ’ Days
By Tobie Finzel
Israel Spencer
Israel Spencer, one of the earliest settlers
in the Upper Nehalem Valley and for
whom Spencer Park is named, came to
Oregon in 1876. A native of Madison
County, New York, Israel enlisted in the
136 th New York Regiment in 1862 at the
age of eighteen and served until the end
of the Civil War in 1865. He returned to
southwestern New York for three years
before heading to Michigan to work as
a lumberjack. He married in 1872, but
a year later his wife died in childbirth.
The baby girl, Emily, survived and was
raised by his late wife’s parents.
Israel left Michigan in early
1876 and traveled by the only cross-
country railroad to California and via
the side-wheeled steamship, AJAX,
from San Francisco to Portland, Oregon.
He hoped to find a homestead in the
Willamette Valley, but all the good land
had already been claimed. At the regional
land office in Oregon City, he met two
other men from the Upper Nehalem
Valley who were there to perfect their
claims. They convinced him that there
were some good parcels still available
near theirs, and he joined them on their
return journey. He acquired a quarter
section for $60 from a homesteader who
was eager to move on. This homestead
was located on what became known as
Spencer’s Addition and later, O-A Hill.
In 1879, Israel began a courtship
by correspondence with Sarah Gillihan,
a homesteader’s widow, in Chelatchie
Prairie, Washington. She had a young
daughter, Bertha, by her first marriage,
one of many things she had in common
with Israel. They were married in
Portland in June 1880. Because the
road to the Upper Nehalem wasn’t yet
completed, Sarah stayed in Forest Grove
with Bertha until July when that work
was done. There were ten other families
settled along the Nehalem River and
Rock Creek, each homestead separated
by tall stands of old growth timber
and dense underbrush. There were no
stores or other businesses at that time,
just a post office, Vernonia, named for
the daughter that another widower and
homesteader, Ozias Cherrington, had
left with eastern relatives.
Six weeks before their first
anniversary, Israel and Sarah celebrated
the arrival of Omar, their first son, aided
by the local midwife, Mrs. Pringle.
By then, Israel had built a sixteen by
twenty foot cabin of split cedar boards.
A fireplace constructed of dried mud
and wooden slats provided the cooking
space and heat. The chimney caught
fire a few times before the wood became
charred sufficiently to become fire-
resistant. They soon added a lean-to
kitchen with dining space to the south
side of the cabin. Old newspapers
provided the wall covering and added a
bit of insulation. Young Omar learned
to read from that multi-functioned
wallpaper. A woodshed, dairy barn, hog
house, chicken coop, well house, and the
small but all-important structure known
then as the backhouse constituted the
remaining buildings on the property.
Later constructions included of a much
bigger barn and improved or additional
farm structures.
With no general store in town
and such long distances to travel to “the
outside,” homesteaders like the Spencers
grew, hunted or fished most of what they
ate. Potatoes and other root crops such
as rutabagas and turnips did well enough
in the valley’s cool night temperatures.
The garden near the house provided
sweet corn, popcorn, beans, peas, squash,
onions, beets, radishes, and parsnips.
Along with the wild blackberries found
abundantly near the river, fruit trees
brought in from the Tualatin Valley
produced the apples, plums, pears, and
cherries to sweeten the diet. Chickens,
turkeys and at least one hog per person
greatly enhanced the wild game and
fish of the homesteaders’ earliest fare.
Wheat and oats grown on the property
could be ground into flour and oatmeal
at the Dietrich’s water-powered saw and
grist mill five miles away in Pittsburg.
Two or three times per year, the
three-day round trip by horse-drawn
wagon to “the outside” was needed.
The Spencers raised extra turkeys which
they’d transport live in a big crate to
a Forest Grove merchant who would
exchange them for the sugar, salt,
coffee, fabrics, and other staples they
could not produce themselves. With
no refrigeration, poultry went from
barnyard to kitchen immediately. Meat
stayed on the hoof until slaughtered and
then quickly brined or dried for later
consumption. Hog butchering, a major
production, was usually done in the
fall. A boiling cauldron of water and lye
helped remove the hair more easily. The
cleaned hogs were then cut up and salted
in other words
may15
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down in barrels of brine for two weeks.
Shoulders, hams and sides of pork then
went into the smokehouse for the final
curing.
In early 1891, Israel sold the
westernmost quarter of his quarter
section for $600. With the cash from this
sale he was able to acquire sawn lumber
from the Dietrich. With the materials
purchased, he began construction of a
new home for his growing family. He
used cedar bolts from his own property
to rive shakes for the roof. He built a
picket fence around the chicken yard
and discreetly placed the new backhouse
inside that enclosure. Indoor plumbing
was still a future luxury.
7
Mailed my enumerating report for Dist.
45 in the morning before I left St. Helens.
Thursday, May 5, 1910
Did not do much of anything in the
forenoon. Bert Mills came down in the
morning and enumerated me. This is
his last day’s work. It took him 18 days
to enumerate the Auburn Precinct. The
population of the precinct was about 415
and 93 farms. Cloudy all day.
Saturday, May 7, 1910
Sowed the ash field with timothy seed
the first thing in the morning. Then
went over it with clod masher. Finished
at 4 P.M. Awful hot all day. Jack Ray
and I went up to the dance at Swords in
the evening in the buggy. Started up at
9:15 and got to Vernonia at 11. Lizzie
McPherson was there so certainly had a
great time. Dance broke up at 4 A.M.
and I got home at 5:30.
From Virgil Powell’s Diary
Virgil was an enumerator for the 1910
census but covered the St. Helens area.
His diary entries show how much the
population of the Auburn Precinct
(Vernonia and the surrounding area) had
grown since the Spencers’ early days.
Sunday, May 8, 1910
Got home from Sword dance at 5:30.
Monday, April 25, 1910
Done up the things and did not get any
Finished the enumeration of St. Helens sleep. Started up to Woods at 11:30.
about 9 P.M. Enumerated the hotels in Walked up got there about 1 P.M. Came
the afternoon and had a lot of fun. Done down to old school house for a walk.
a terrible big day’s work. This is the Certainly had a fine time. Something
end of my enumerating Dist. 45. Will go very important to remember about today
home tomorrow. Very warm all day. The so guess I won’t forget. (Ed. Note: Don’t
population of St. Helens was 774 and we wish we knew what it was?) Awful
Houlton 348.
hot all day. Got back home at 5 P.M.
Tuesday, April 26, 1910
Started from St. Helens for Nehalem
at 8 A.M. Walked over and got here at
2:45 P.M. George also came over on
horseback. Pretty warm in the morning
but rained a little in the afternoon.
Vernonia’s Voice is
published twice each
month on the 1st and 3rd
Thursday. Our next
issue will be out June 5th.
Mariolino’s
Pizza & Grill
Serving
breakfast, lunch & dinner
Ice cream - cones, shakes & sundaes
Daily Specials
Family owned and operated for over 40 years.
721 Madison Avenue, Vernonia
(503) 429-5018
