The Good Ol ’ Days
By Tobie Finzel
Winter Storms
With the heavy rains, flood,
landslides, wind storm and snow of the
past month, we were reminded of the
variety of winters residents have endured
over the past hundred and forty years of
Upper Nehalem settlement. Just as in
current times, some winters are mild
while others are memorable.
The biggest windstorm on
record in the Upper Nehalem occurred
on January 9, 1880, just six years after
Vernonia was first settled. The “Great
Gale” that lasted for several hours and
affected most of western Oregon was
also dubbed “The Storm King.” A big
snowfall accompanied the wild winds.
The Green Mountain Spring Road, the
first route in from the Tualatin Valley,
was completely obliterated by fallen
timber and was abandoned.
Because wind gauges and record-
keeping weren’t as sophisticated in those
times, it is presumed The Great Gale
rivaled or exceeded the Columbus Day
Storm on 1962 which many Vernonians
remember vividly. For several hours,
Category 3 hurricane winds – remnants
of tropical Typhoon Freda - battered
the coast and gusts over 110 miles per
hour took down power lines and trees
throughout western Oregon. All of West
Oregon Electric’s customers lost power
for days while the lines were restored.
The “Great Coastal Gale of
2007” centered itself over the Coast
Range, taking out hundreds of acres
of standing timber and dumping up to
sixteen inches of rain in a twenty four
hour period. The result of those heavy
rains was Vernonia’s record flood when
the Nehalem River crested at 19 feet
on December 3 and cut off all access
in or out of town. The February 1996
flood had been considered a 500 year
event, but the 2007 flood resulted in
the extensive changes we see in our
landscape: elevated homes, removal of
several buildings including our former
schools, and areas that cannot be built
upon. This past December’s flood
mercifully crested four feet lower and
affected far fewer structures.
Due to the geography of the
Upper Nehalem, flooding is certain when
heavy rains fall for days on end or when
a “Pineapple Express” suddenly melts a
heavy snowpack in the Coast Range. We
Terry’s
Gym
have heard that at least one of the earliest
settlers who farmed the flood plains of
the Nehalem kept a rowboat tied to his
front porch.
The winters of 1949 and 1950
brought extremely cold temperatures
and heavy snow throughout the Pacific
Northwest. In the Vernonia area, logging
operations in the surrounding hills were
suspended due to snow as deep as twelve
feet. Some of our older residents recall
that open trenches had to be dug to get
through downtown Vernonia to get to
school or businesses. We have no local
newspaper records for 1919, but that
winter brought the most snow in Oregon
history with over forty inches falling in
a twenty-four hour period. The January
1969 snowstorm brought half of that,
but the cold temperatures kept it on
the ground for weeks. Our most recent
record snow fell in December 2008 with
resulting multiple day power outages
due to the extensive line damage.
We are fortunate to have Virgil
Powell’s diaries as a historic record of
the weather in our area. His daily notes
may not be specific as to temperature,
rainfall and snow depth, but they give a
good idea of the fluctuations day to day
and year to year. One thing we all know
– if you want predictable, monotonous
weather, don’t move here!
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 diary
of his activities.
Wednesday,
January
18,
1911:
Stayed in and
cleaned house just about all
day. Received my new white
Leghorn chickens.
Rained
terrible hard all day.
Monday, January 23: Elmar
and I started out in the woods
with the dogs about 10:45.
Went up by Damairs in Sec.
18, 5-3. His dogs put one in
at Cooks and my dog put one
here in the field. Newell and
Jim killed them both. Was
fooling around on a cougar
track when we first went out.
We came back out by Wolfe on
the St. Helens road. Found
the section corner of 17-18-
in other words
january21
2016
19-20. Got back home at 3:45.
Pretty good day for hunting.
About 6 inches of snow up in
Sec. 18.
Tuesday, January 24: Went
over to the Elliott place and
hauled over a load of cabbage
and roots for the cow. Also
hauled up a load of bark and
one of wood. Rained terrible
hard all afternoon.
Wednesday,
January
25:
Done a little washing and
worked around the house in
the forenoon. Went up to the
forks of the Rock Cread roads
about 1 p.m. horseback and
met Fritz Faltinat. Got back
home about 3:45. About 3
inches of snow on. Had all
kinds of music over the phone
(NOTE: we presume a gramophone) in
the evening.
Thursday,
January
26:
Fool around the house all
day.
Lamack came up in
the afternoon and stayed
overnight. Had all kinds of
music all day. Snowed quite
a bit in morning.
Saturday, January 28: Was
cleaning and pressing my
clothes and getting ready
for the dance about all day.
Fritz, Elmar and I started for
the dance at Vernonia about
3 p.m. Walked and got there
about 4:30.
Pretty large
crowd there and had a good
time. Very fine most all day.
The dance broke up about 5
7
a.m.
Wednesday,
February
1:
Went up to the funeral of
John Pringle, Sr. Went up
horseback. Started up at 8:15
and got up to Vernonia at
9:30 a.m. Pretty fair in the
forenoon but snowed quite a
little in the afternoon. Got
home from Vernonia at 2:30
p.m.
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. 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.
Vernonia’s Voice
is published twice each
month on the 1st and 3rd
Thursday. Our next issue
will be out February 4th.
IT’S TAX TIME
Call your LOCAL tax preparer
R
Y
O
A
LL PL
P
US LLC
Edi Sheldon 503-429-1819
edisheldon@gmail.com
Licensed tax consultant • Full service payroll
Personal & small business bookkeeping • QuickBooks assistance
CORPS, S-CORPS, LLC, Partnerships • Personal one-on-one service
LTC #29629 - Oregon licensed tax consultant
RTRP #P00448199 - designated as a registered tax return preparer by the Internal Revenue Service
The IRS does not endorse any particular individual tax return preparer. For more information
on tax return preparers, go to www.IRS.gov.
Insurance sending you in the wrong direction?
Let us send you in the right direction.
VERNONIA
C H I RO P R AC T I C C L I N I C, I NC.
VernoniaChiro.com
Joseph Dombek, DC
(971) 248-4055
Now Accepting New Patients
610 Bridge Street • Vernonia, OR 97064
JOIN
THE TEAM!
503-901-1705
16720 Noakes Rd. Vernonia
Meyer’s Auto Body • 493 Bridge St • 503-429-0248
