in other words
january19
2017
The Good Ol ’ Days
alongside the house where I lived. Those
empty cars were where I played each
day. SP&S would deliver a loaded car, if
they had orders, to the depot, feed store,
or one of the three oil company storage
facilities alongside the track. I think those
were Shell, 76 and Chevron. Sometimes
new cars would be delivered by train to
one of the three local dealerships. By
the time the train crew had their empties,
their full cars and their orders all set up,
it would be after 5 p.m., and the O-A mill
would have shut down for the night. The
train crew would deliver empties to O-A
and then hook onto the loaded boxcars
inside the mill. They had a scale there,
and they’d push those loaded cars onto
the scale, one by one, and they’d be
weighed. This took until about 9 or 10
p.m. My brother-in-law, Ralph Aldrich
Jr., was the O-A head grader and also
railcar weighmaster. The loaded railcars
would be hauled out of the mill and put
onto a siding off the main line, adjacent
to the depot and Vernonia Feed Store.
“The train crew would spend
the night in Vernonia, either at HyVan
(today’s Ride Inn) or McDonald Hotels
as they were closer to the railroad tracks
than the Ovesen Hotels (located on the
north side of Bridge Street just east of
Rock Creek between Grant and State.)
Gene Goodman, a local lad, was hired
to look after the engine during the night
and make sure steam was up for the next
day’s run to Portland. In the morning
the SP&S crew would gather from their
hotels and head out to Portland with
the load of cars from the O-A Mill.
Occasionally there would be a load of
shingles or pulp or slab wood from other
logging or mill operations to go with the
SP&S out to the world from Vernonia.”
In the course of its time in
operation from 1924 to 1958, the O-A
Mill shipped two billion board feet of
lumber by rail from Vernonia.
By Tobie Finzel
Trains and Boys
Some readers may know Bob
New, Vernonia High School Class of
1947. For many years he has sent email
reminiscences about his childhood in
Vernonia to a long list of current and
former Vernonians. Sadly, he’s had to
discontinue the wide distribution due to
new restrictions from his email service
provider. He recently sent the Vernonia
Pioneer Museum a disc with many of
these stories and gave us permission to
share them in Vernonia’s Voice.
Bob’s family lived right by the
railroad tracks that ran to the Oregon-
American Lumber Mill. The railroad
right-of-way that goes from the mill to
Banks is now the Banks-Vernonia State
Trail, but back in the days when the mill
was active, that railroad and the freight it
carried was a lifeline for the town and the
O-A Mill. The train depot was located
about where the City Library stands
today, and a feed store and fuel storage
occupied the block where the Vernonia
Health Center is now located. The track
to Keasey ran on what is now Weed
Avenue. Here’s one of Bob’s childhood
memories of the daily cargo run:
“About 3:30 or so every
weekday afternoon you could hear the
SP&S engine blow the whistle to cross a
road alongside Highway 47, on the south
side of Vernonia. That was my signal to
run to the depot, two blocks away, to
watch the train arrive at the Vernonia
Depot. I always did that and became
friendly with the train crew. Usually,
they did not go up the main line toward
Keasey except to the railroad turnaround
about a mile up the tracks. Occasionally,
however, they would have a delivery to
Keasey. A few times the SP&S crew I
became friendly with would let me ride
in the caboose up to Keasey. That was
great fun for a little boy, and I really
felt special when I got to do this. The
crew was always the same people: Mr.
Scruggs, Conductor; Bo and Perry,
brakemen; and the engineer and fi reman
whom I did not know by name.
“The SP&S would haul in a
bunch of empty cars. They’d put them
on one of the two sidings adjacent to
the track that went to the O-A Mill,
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. January 1907 was
exceptionally cold and snowy. From
the entries, it sounds like the Nehalem
River was frozen hard enough to
Vernonia
Dental
Sunday, January 13, 1907:
Went down to Natal Grange
Hall about 11:30 A.M. to
church.
There were not
much of a crowd there. Seen
everybody down that way.
About 3 inches of snow on and
several were out sleigh riding.
Got home at 4:15 just about
froze.
Monday, January 14: Sawed
wood the first thing in the
morning and then hauled
it up.
Hauled 2 loads of
hay down the road in the
afternoon. Very cold all day.
About 3 inches of snow on.
Done a very large day’s work.
Wrote for 20 more valentines.
Tuesday, January 15: Went
up where the surveyors were
working the first thing in the
morning. Very cold all day.
Sent post card leather one to
Alice. Also got postal from
Alice. The mail did not leave
Pittsburg until 10 A.M.
Wednesday,
January
16:
Made my iron runner snow
sled. Got it done about 4 P.M.
Then a crowd of us started
down the river in it at 7. Got
down to N.D.Petersons at 8:30
P.M. Started home at 11:30.
Pretty cold all night. Had a
dandy time.
Thursday, January 17: Did
not do much work because it
was so cold. Minnie Peterson
went out to Portland.
The
surveyors are locating one
mile above Pittsburg. Went
up to Pittsburg after the mail.
Got post card from Nellie.
Friday, January 18:
Went
down to Mist with Carl and
Claus in the sled. About 4
inches of snow on. Got to Mist
at 12. Started back after the
mail came about 2:30. Broke
the tongue out of the sled
coming along by the Grange
Hall and we had a sweet time
coming home. Got home at 6
P.M.
Saturday, January 19: Went
down to Natal Grange about
11:30A.M. and got to the Hall
about 12:45. Danced a little
before meeting. Grange closed
at 4:15 and I came up and
stopped with Emil and went to
the party at Ruddimans that
night. Staid until 2 A.M. Had
a good time. About 2 inches
of snow on. Sent 2 postals to
Alice also got one from her.
Sunday, January 20:
Left
Emil’s at 11 A.M. and got home
at 11:45.
Pretty good day
and the snow is thawing fast.
Emil came up in the evening
and we went up and spent the
evening with the surveyors.
Rained pretty hard in the
evening. Got home at 9:45.
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.
Look for our next
issue February 2.
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