in other words
october19
2017
7
The Good Ol ’ Days
By Tobie Finzel
The Detricks of Pittsburg
In the winter of 1877-78, three
farmers from Crete, Nebraska, settled
near the mouth of the East Fork of the
Nehalem River. Peter Brouse (spelled
Brous in some histories), Joe Kenkle and
Isaiah Detrick and their families estab-
lished “squatters rights” on their lands
until the official government survey was
conducted a year or two later. Brouse
was the first postmaster for the new
community that he named Pittsburgh in
hopes that it would become a big indus-
trial city like the one in Pennsylvania.
That city may also have been his birth-
place according to one source. The Post
Office dropped the “h” in 1892.
Brouse and Detrick had plans
to establish a saw and planing mill as
well as a buhr-stone grist mill. They
first built a twenty foot dam across the
East Fork to create water power for their
mills. Along with other settlers, they
built a market road to connect Pitts-
burg to Yankton. Their partnership was
dissolved some eighteen months later.
Brouse established a sash and door busi-
ness at the mill that became one of the
two largest in the Pacific Northwest at
the time. Detrick stayed in the area,
logged timber for the mill and perhaps
worked at the lumber and grist mill fol-
lowing the dissolution of the Brouse
partnership.
When Brouse found a location
on the Cowlitz River with better trans-
portation and left the area in 1888, he
took the sash and door equipment with
him. He sold the remaining mill enter-
prises to a newly-formed organization,
the Pittsburg Milling Company, with
partners W.D. Case, E.O. Darling, S.N.
Cross, and Isaiah Detrick. Case ran the
planer and grist mill, and Detrick logged
and did the hauling to St. Helens with
his oxen, two or three yokes (4-6 oxen).
Detrick also ran the overall operations.
In a history of the Nehalem pio-
neers in a Columbia County Historical
publication of 1963-64, Isaiah’s son,
Lloyd, recalled the time as a teenager
that he was a temporary driver for the
mill. It took three days with two yoke
of oxen to make the round trip to St.
Helens. The nights were spent in the
hills, and Lloyd slept under the wagon
to feel safe from cougars. When set-
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tlers down the river purchased lumber,
he and his father constructed a raft and
brought it downstream to the military
road crossing above Mishawaka (near
Elsie) in Clatsop County. They returned
to Pittsburg by the old military road up
the Salmonberry River and crossed to
the headwaters of Rock Creek.
Cash was scarce in those early
days so mill goods were often purchased
with farm products or labor. According
to mill records, among the local men
who worked there were members of
Virgil Powell’s family and one or more
of the Keasey brothers. Customers
included the Keasey family and other
early settlers such as Van Blaricoms,
Spencers, and Pringles.
Lloyd Detrick and his sister,
Bertha, along with their mother,
temporarily moved to University Park
in Portland so that they could get an
education beyond the eighth grade. Omar
Spencer, son of pioneer Israel Spencer,
was a student at University of Portland,
at that same time. He had completed
his teacher training in Clatskanie and
convinced Mrs. Detrick to move near the
university so that he could board with
her and her two children.
Returning to Pittsburg, Lloyd
resumed his work at the mill. For a brief
time, he and Isaiah were officers of the
Weekly Sentinel, a newspaper that was
published in the late 1890s, a succes-
sor to the Nehalem Journal (1889-94).
In 1905, Lloyd married Rosa Parson in
Portland, Oregon. His sister, Bertha,
married Carroll “Cad” Keasey in 1898.
She was misidentified as Lloyd’s daugh-
ter in our column last month.
Hauled wood for the school also
hauled manure most all day.
Bright all day. Sent a postal to
Alice. Gladys came.
Wednesday, October 16: Sawed
wood for the school till noon.
Fixed the saw in the afternoon.
Hitched up the buggy about 3
P.M. and took Gladys down as
far as Petersons for a ride. Saw
Alice, Minnie and had a fine
talk. Got back home at 5:30.
Thursday, October 17: Filed the
saw and cleaned out the well in
the morning. Bright and fine
day. The roads are just about
as good as they are in the good
old summer time.
Friday, October 18: Sawed wood
for the school all day. Pretty
hot all day.
Saturday, October 19:
Went
down to Natal Grange. Started
at 8:15. Stopped at Petersons a
little while going down. Went
down in the buggy. Not very
many at Grange. Cloudy all
day. Grange was out at 3:30
and I came up to Petersons and
stayed overnight. Had a fine
time.
Sunday, October 20: Was at
Petersons till 12. Alice, Minnie
and I went down the road for
a buggy ride about 10:30. Had
a dandy time.
Got back to
Peterson about 11:30 and then
I came on up and got home at 1
Tuesday,
October
29:
Commenced to work on the St.
Helens road. Commenced at
Pittsburg and got out about
1 ½ miles. Rained a little but
pretty fair day.
Wednesday, October 30: Worked
on the road all day and got
about 2 miles out. Cloudy but
pretty good day for working.
Sent a letter and postal out by
Yankton to Alice. Got a package
of postals in the evening. Saw a
deer out on the road as I was
coming home.
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.
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. The school mentioned
in his entries below was likely the
Pittsburg School that was located on the
bluff above the Nehalem downriver from
where the East Fork joins the main river.
The later entries in the month show that
he was working on the Pittsburg Road,
constructed by the first settlers some
twenty years earlier and then still the
closest link to Yankton and St. Helens.
Tuesday, October 15, 1907:
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P.M. Took some pictures in the
afternoon, one of house, one of
bluff. Washed the buggy.
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