The Good Ol ’ Days
By Tobie Finzel
Museum News
We wish everyone the best for
Christmas, the other December holidays
and the New Year. If you’re looking for
a last minute gift for someone with Ver-
nonia connections, stop by the museum
during our open hours, Saturdays and
Sundays from 1 – 4 pm. We have copies
of both books on Vernonia history and
music CDs by Hobe Kytr and Timber-
bound as well as a selection of DVDs of
photos and videos of Vernonia events.
The Vernonia books are also on sale at
R&S Market (formerly Sentry).
We also want to thank our mem-
bers, donors, visitors, and volunteers for
helping us keep Vernonia history alive
and accessible. Thanks to Mike Snow
of ArtAttack! we’ll soon have a new sign
in the outdoor equipment shed thanking
those who helped make our two most re-
cent projects possible.
The Malmsten Family in Vernonia,
Part 2
After his return to Vernonia from
the odd jobs he’d taken in the St. Hel-
ens area, Franklin continued to work his
homestead. By 1895, his father, Olof,
had proved up his own homestead and
decided to return to Minnesota. Franklin
and his brother Otto accompanied him
on the long walk to St. Helens, each car-
rying a suitcase weighing from fifty to
seventy-five pounds. They took a steam-
boat to Portland where Olof boarded the
train to St. Paul. Otto and Franklin re-
turned to Vernonia on foot.
Franklin resumed timber fall-
ing and other odd jobs around Vernonia.
He befriended Dorr Keasey, grandson
of Eden Keasey whose land claim was
five miles up Rock Creek; much of that
land remains in the Keasey family to this
day. Franklin and Dorr worked together
in a local sawmill. When the engineer
at the mill was fired for not keeping the
steam power steady, Franklin got the job
as both engineer and fireman.
Franklin went back to logging
for a short time with Frank Brown, a for-
mer sheriff from Maine. He next took a
job as a dump cart driver on a new rail-
road that was being built between Rain-
ier and Astoria and Seaside followed
by a stint with Northern Pacific near
Warren. When his parents, his brother
Sidney, and Olof’s brother Andrew, re-
turned to Vernonia in December 1897,
Franklin rejoined his family. Olof and
his wife, Louisa, bought seven acres on
two adjoining lots on the Nehalem River
by what is now Mist Drive. The family
lived in an existing home that burned in
later years; the barn they built still stands
at Farmwoman’s Nursery.
Franklin, still a bachelor, wasn’t
sure about remaining in Oregon; in April
1898 he returned to the family farms in
Minnesota where he partnered with his
brother, Elon. He traded half interest in
his Vernonia quarter section for half in-
terest in Elon’s farm equipment. They
farmed both Malmsten family farms un-
til Olof sold them in 1902; the brothers
then rented nearby properties and con-
tinued farming.
Two weeks after Franklin re-
turned to Minnesota, his brother Charles
came to Vernonia and filed for 160 acres
on Pebble Creek Road. Elon married
in 1899, and Frankin attended the state
agricultural college in St. Paul where he
studied agriculture, animal husbandry,
mathematics, and steam engineering.
He then went to a business school in
Minneapolis for a three month course in
bookkeeping, arithmetic and language.
Shortly after the sale of the family farms,
Franklin visited Iowa and met Bessie
Anderson to whom he was married in
1903. His wedding coat and their wed-
ding picture are among the Malmsten ar-
tifacts on display at the Vernonia Pioneer
Museum.
Franklin harvested the 1903
crop on the rented farm and moved to
Swea City, Iowa, where he went into
partnership with his brother-in-law in a
hardware business. Franklin and Bessie
came to Vernonia in late 1906 with their
baby daughter, Hazel, to visit his parents
who had not yet met his wife or child.
They decided to remain in Vernonia.
Franklin sold his share of the hardware
business, and Bessie and Hazel returned
briefly to Iowa to sell the household
goods that they didn’t ship to Oregon.
In 1907 Franklin decided to
build a saw mill with his three broth-
ers (Charles, Sidney and Elon, the last
brother to come to Oregon) and a Mr.
Hurt. They called their business “Ver-
nonia Lumber and Fuel.” The mill was
located near where the New Hong Kong
Restaurant stands today. With all the
brothers and parents now in Vernonia,
they set up a telephone line between
in other words
december18
2014
their homes and let other neighbors join
in. At first known informally as “The
Swede Line,” it became the foundation
of the Nehalem Telephone Company.
Part 3 will complete our brief
history of the Malmsten Family in our
January column.
From Virgil Powell’s Diary
Virgil Powell (1887-1963) was
a long-time resident whose family had a
farm in the Upper Nehalem Valley be-
tween Natal and Pittsburg. Each year
from 1906 until 1955, he kept a regular
diary of his activities. It appears that a
woman named Alice was his sweetheart
in 1906 and 1907 but, as usual, the de-
tails are definitely lacking! At the end
of his 1907 diary, Virgil noted that he
had sent 38 post cards to Alice in 1906
through January 15, 1907, and 23 leather
post cards.
Friday, December 20: Went down to
the Pringle School House in the morning
and took one of the library books down.
Also hunted for some pheasants. Pretty
fair day but awful cold.
Tuesday, December 24: Started down
for the shooting match at Natal at 9 and
got back at 4:30. Had a pretty good
time. Started for Vernonia doings at 6
and got back at 12:30. Had a pretty good
time. Did not rain any all day but cold.
Received two postals from Alice. Got 7
altogether.
Wednesday, December 25: Did not do
much but stay in the house all day be-
cause it rained awful hard all day. Re-
ceived a postal from Dee.
Thursday, December 26: Went up to
Pittsburg the first thing in the morning to
7
mail some letters. Pretty fair day. Sent
a postal to Alice. Received a note from
Alice asking me down next Saturday
night. The mail has not been over from
Clatskanie since Monday.
Saturday, December 28: Went down
to Pringles in the morning and heard the
phonograph for a while. Snowed a little
and a terrible bad day. Received a short
letter from Alice. Started down to Peter-
sons at 6:45 p.m. and had one of the best
times I have had for a long time. Got
home at 2:30 a.m.
Tuesday, December 31: Was getting
ready for the dance at Vernonia most of
morning. Started for Vernonia at 3 p.m.
Got there at 4. Alice was my partner for
the evening. Had a fair time. Left the
dance at 3:30 a.m. and got home at 5:30.
Slept till 9. Myrtle and Henry came.
The Vernonia Pioneer Museum is located
at E. 511 Bridge Street and is open from
1 to 4 pm on Saturdays and Sundays (ex-
cluding 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 do-
nations 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 mu-
seum 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 help-
ing out.
• Kitchen & Bathroom Remodels • Finish Carpentry
• Ceramic Tile Work • Custom Home Construction
• Additions • Commercial Tenant Improvements
Jim Morrison, Jr.
General Contractor
CCB# 112057
Ph: (503) 429-0154
MorrisonRemodeling@hughes.net
Vernonia, OR 97064
• Licensed • Bonded • Insured
Terry’s
Gym
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IN AND AROUND THE
VERNONIA AREA
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to use a rotation of available providers,
UNLESS YOU SPECIFICALLY ASK
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16720 Noakes Rd. Vernonia
