The Good Ol ’ Days
By Tobie Finzel
Early Schools, Part Two
Before the larger, central
schools, one and occasionally multi-
room schoolhouses served the children
of the small communities that sprung up
throughout the Upper Nehalem Valley.
With the large families of those days,
it didn’t take many homesteads to war-
rant a school. Parents built the simple
structures of logs or split cedar boards,
long cedar boards were turned into the
first school benches and desktops. Like
the homes in those times, there was no
inside plumbing and most locations had
separate boys’ and girls’ outhouses.
Teachers were not just instruc-
tors in reading, writing, arithmetic,
spelling, geography, and penmanship,
they were also required to build the daily
fire in the woodstove that provided the
only heat. Sweeping, dusting, washing
windows, and any required maintenance
were also part of the job. Teachers of-
ten served multiple one room schools for
three to five month school “years” and
boarded with families of the students
due to the poor roads and distance to the
larger towns.
Students walked or rode horses
to school. Each brought his or her own
lunch, often packed in an empty lard pail.
Older students helped the younger ones
with their lessons, and in some schools
the older boys could earn fifty cents for
helping the teacher with schoolhouse
clean-up. A few schools offered some
ninth grade classes, but after Washing-
ton School in Vernonia added two class-
rooms for high school students in 1915,
all high school education was held there.
Tucker School on Rock Creek
(now Keasey) Road was built in the
1880s on the Tucker homestead near
present day Edens Road and Cedar
Ridge Camp & Conference Center. One
of the teachers there was Mrs. Corne-
lius Hatfield, wife of the town’s doctor,
who commuted to her job on horseback.
Four miles past Tucker was Rock Creek
School, east of the Keasey homestead,
Homewood. The logging camp and
railroad switching yard at Keasey town
even further out Rock Creek also had its
own school.
The Wilson School on Wilson
Cutoff Road near Timber Route was built
in 1889; an even earlier school known as
the Harding House preceded it. Pleas-
ant Hill School, built in 1908, succeed-
ed Wilson School. Located on Timber
Road near the present golf course, it was
home to the Vernonia Grange for several
years after the smaller schools consoli-
dated into town in the late 1930s. Kist
School served the families who lived
in that community near Clear Creek; it
was converted to a private home that
still stands. One older map also refer-
ences a separate Clear Creek School but
the museum has no documentation for
it. Pebble Creek Road, southeast of Ver-
nonia, was home to at least two schools:
McDonald and Rogers Schools, the lat-
ter sited on the Rogers homestead.
Vernonia’s Voice
is published twice each month on
the 1st and 3rd Thursday. Look for
our next issue September 1.
in other words
august18
2016
North of Vernonia on what is
now Highway 47, Pringle School stood
on that family’s homestead near present
day Stoney Point Road’s eastern end.
The settlements in Pittsburg, Natal, The
Burn (northwest of Natal), Mist (origi-
nally known as Riverside,) and Birken-
feld all had their own schools. Among
the eighth grade graduates in 1921 were
members of the Enneberg and Kauppi
families. The Mathews children were
also students there. The late Walter
Mathews became known as a logger
poet. The teacher, Florence Melis, was
a graduate of Mist School and Oregon
Normal School, the teacher’s college in
Monmouth that became Western Oregon
University. Normal schools provided a
two year program to train teachers, and
many Upper Nehalem Valley educators
received their degrees from the Mon-
mouth institution.
Logging camps provided school
rooms – often in railroad boxcars - for
the children of resident workers. Such
classrooms were used at Clark and Wil-
son Camp 8, four miles east of Pitts-
burg, and at Koster Camp, six miles
down the rail line south of Vernonia
near present day McDonald Road. An
earlier school in Braunsport, also in this
area, was located near the home of Mrs.
Anna Braun. In 1920 another Braun
School was built. There were about fif-
teen pupils at the time from the Braun,
Schmidlin, McDonald, Holt and Seidel-
man families. Drinking water first came
in a bucket from Beaver Creek, served
with a shared dipper. Later, a stone jar
with a spigot and personally owned fold-
ing cups replaced the water pail. The
structure is now in private ownership
and was moved to its present location on
Highway 47 – Nehalem Highway South.
Camp McGregor and Camp Olson, large
logging camps in the Coast Range on
Oregon American Lumber Company’s
timberland offered schoolrooms for the
resident youth.
Schools at Vesper and Fishhawk
served the children of those communi-
ties. The Vesper School was a two story
building with its own residence known as
a “teacherage.” The first Mist School,
sited where today’s Mist gymnasium
building stands, burned down shortly af-
ter the construction of the present four
room Mist School that was built in 1918.
Birkenfeld School was built in 1922
with classes for elementary and second-
ary students. The high school was later
named Winema High School and was
part of the Vernonia School District. By
1941, the high school students began at-
tending Vernonia High. The elementary
school continued until 1959 when the
students moved to Mist. The Birkenfeld
building is still in use as a community
church.
Many schools came and went as
the population fluctuated and ultimately
declined with the end of the big timber
and lumber mills. Road improvements,
busing and school consolidation ren-
dered the remote schoolhouses obso-
lete with the exception of Mist School.
Part of the Vernonia School District, it
serves the Mist/Birkenfeld community’s
children from kindergarten through fifth
grade. Once students enter sixth grade,
buses bring them to Vernonia. Parents in
and near Vernonia who favor the small
school, blended grades atmosphere may
apply to have their children bused there
on a space-available basis.
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. In our Powell en-
tries for July 1906, he refers to a Wilkin-
son School House, but we have not
found any other references to a school
by this name. Summer was the season
for camp meetings, evangelistic gather-
ings held in a tent or outdoors and often
lasting several days. Those attending
often camped on the site. The “wheels”
mentioned may have been bicycles as
automobiles were still great curiosities
in 1906.
Saturday, August 18, 1906:
Finished binding and shock-
ing wheat at noon. Hauled
in 4 loads in afternoon.
Went up to camp meeting in
evening for first time. The
Natal boys rode their wheels
up. Got back about 11:30.
Sunday, August 19: Went
up to Vernonia and stayed
all day and took in night
meeting of camp meeting.
Ora and Miss Alderson went
out to St. Helens. Big crowd
came up from Natal and
took in afternoon session.
START RIGHT. START HERE. SM
Summer
is here!
7
Had a great time coming
home. Messing rode his
wheels down.
Monday, August 20: Messing
left here about 10 then cut,
bound and shocked the little
piece of acots. Sent postal
cards to I.D. A.P. L.P. H.P.
Tuesday, August 21: Fin-
ished hauling the wheat
and oats at 12. Went down
to Rays in afternoon and
took hay rake back. Cloudy
and looks very much like
rain in evening.
Wednesday, August 22: Went
up to Parkers and Newt put
the dogs out. Ray Mills was
down there on one stand.
Did not get the deer while I
was there. Think it must of
went into East Fork.
Thursday, August 23: Went
down to Mist and over on
the Burn also part way to
Deep Creek. Stopped coming
back at (Natal) Grange Hall
where they were digging a
well. Very warm all day. I
got home at 4:15.
Friday, August 24: Sawed
a little wood in morning.
In afternoon went down to
Cooks catching chickens that
Throope let get away. Went
down after supper and was
catching chickens and La-
meck came along and we
went up to Vernonia to camp
meeting. Got home at 9.
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. We
now have a page on the Vernonia Hands
on Art website, www.vernoniahandson-
art.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.
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