The Good Ol ’ Days
By Tobie Finzel
Mineral Resources
in the Upper Nehalem
Although timber proved the be
the most lucrative and enduring of the
natural resources in this area, there were
early mining activities that occurred
in the late 1800s. In our research for
a library talk on the Weed family, we
learned that Judson Weed filed the first
gold mining claim in the area. We found
the following information on the district
on a website titled OregonGold.net:
On May 25th, 1885, Judson Weed filed
the first claim for a placer mine on Rock
Creek called the “Gertrude” in eastern
Clatsop County. Subsequent claims were
located not only along Rock Creek in
Clatsop County, but even extended all the
way to its mouth at the Nehalem River,
near the town of Vernonia in Columbia
County. Weed Creek, a small tributary of
the North Fork of Rock Creek, is named
for Judson Weed and was probably the
location of his claim.
By July of 1889, so much gold mining
was going on this area that the Rock
Creek Mining District was formed. Bill
H. Braden was elected not only the
Secretary but also the President of the
district. Some of the claims filed in the
district during the early years included
the “Protector”, “Defender”, “Elkhorn”,
“Bonanza”, “Mountain”, “Last Chance” and
the “Rolling”.
By 1894, the whole thing suddenly
petered out. Nothing more was heard
about the area and in fact, the reality that
gold was ever discovered in that area
was removed entirely to the old history
books. Incidentally, most of Rock Creek
is now located on private timber lands,
while the majority is under management
of the State of Oregon as the Tillamook
State Forest and is therefore, not open to
filing claims.
In an article in the 1891
Nehalem Journal, the writer describes
a 7,000 acre area east of Pebble Creek
that encompassed six coal seams that
lay under the big timber growing there.
There had already been some coal
mining before then, but with the overly
optimistic speculation about a railroad
coming to the area soon, the newspaper
touted the coal and timber riches that
could be extracted and sent by rail to
nearby Portland. Although the coal
was said to be of the finest quality by
the newspaper, it apparently wasn’t of
sufficient quality or quantity to warrant
extraction on a larger scale. Coal Creek,
named for the local resource, flows into
Pebble Creek near where McDonald
Road joins Pebble Creek Road, and
the Coal Creek Mainline logging road
crosses the area.
Vernonia to Pittsburg Road
Although there had been a dirt
road between Pittsburg and Vernonia
since the 1870s, in 1910 a county road
was built to improve it. In early June
work commenced on the project. It
required the felling of a number of
large trees, pulling and blasting out
the stumps, hauling gravel, and finally
grading the surface with horse-drawn
equipment. We’ve included some of the
Powell diary entries below that record
his part in the work.
This new section of road went
from the intersection of Stoney Point
Road past farms owned Albert and Lizzie
Parker and other residents. Automobiles
were still relatively few and far between.
During the construction, an automobile
sank into the still-loose gravel and had
to be pulled out by horses, an all too
frequent occurrence in the days before
hard-surfaced roads.
In our column last month, we
speculated on the surface of the “new
highway” mentioned in Virgil Powell’s
diary from 1915. We just discovered
a large sheaf of correspondence and
invoices from the Columbia County
Roadmaster that sheds new light on the
1915 highway construction project.
With a gravel base purchased
and hauled from the Peter Bergerson
quarry in Buxton, a Buffalo Pitts brand
steamroller was used to compact the
surface of the new road. Because
steamrollers were often used for tarred
gravel (macadam) and asphalt paving, it
may have been the first paved road in the
Upper Nehalem, but it’s more likely that
is was just packed gravel. If any reader
has further information on the dates
when local roads were finally paved,
please let us know.
From Virgil Powell’s Diary
Virgil Powell (1887-1963) was
a long-time resident whose family had
a farm in the Upper Nehalem Valley
between Natal and Pittsburg. Each year
from 1906 until 1955, he kept a regular
in other words
july16
7
2015
diary of his activities. In the summer
of 1910, he was a worker on the county
road project that improved the Pittsburg
to Vernonia link.
Wednesday, June 29, 1910:
Took the team down and
worked them on the scraper all
day. Got a lot of road graded.
An automobile went down in
the morning. Cool all day and
rained quite a big shower in
the evening.
Thursday,
June
30,
1910:
Worked on the road till about
3:30 and got to raining so hard
we had to stop. Hitched up at
5:45 and drove down to N.D.
Petersons and got Grace. Went
on up to Vernonia after we got
here for a buggy ride. Got back
home at 10.
Tuesday, July 19, 1910: Graded
road till about 11 a.m. and
finished. . Then went down to
Pringles and worked on the
dam the balance of the day.
Awful hot all day.
Saturday, July 23, 1910: Hauled
gravel all day and done quite a
bit. Went up to Vernonia after
supper. Ed. S. and I drove over
on Crooked Creek to a party but
only stayed a few minutes. Left
Vernonia at 7:45 and got back
home at 12:15. Pretty cool most
all day.
Wednesday, July 27, 1910:
Hauled gravel all day on the
big piece below here. Put on
about 8 rods. Not very warm
any of the day. Went and took
some of the horses up to pasture
in the evening.
Thursday,
July
28,
1910:
Hauled gravel all day. Cool in
the morning but pretty warm
in the afternoon. A big band
of horse traders went up in the
afternoon. Went up to Pittsburg
and spent the evening with the
boys that are working on the
bridge.
Tuesday,
August
2,
1910:
Hauled gravel again all day.
Had to haul with just one
team till noon as there was an
automobile got stuck in the
gravel and had to be pulled out.
Very warm in the afternoon.
The Vernonia Pioneer Museum is
located at 511 E. 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. We now have
a page on the Vernonia Hands on Art
website, www.vernoniahandsonart.org
If you are a Facebook user, check out
the Vernonia Pioneer Museum page. 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.
Friends of the Vernonia Public Library
Family:
Minimum:
Membership Dues:
Individual:
$5.00
$10.00
$1.00 plus 2 hours minimum of work in the library
Make checks payable to: Friends of the Vernonia Public Library
Mailing Address: 701 Weed Avenue, Vernonia, OR 97064
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