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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (March 21, 2019)
community march21 2019 9 Lost Knife Returned to Family After decades in Bear Creek an old treasure finds its way home By Scott Laird Living in an area like Vernonia, with all the history contained here, often leads to the uncovering of many interest- ing objects and artifacts. It’s not all that often those found items can be traced back to their original owners. The recent discovery of a lost relic concluded in an unusual, and even happy, ending. Susan Ely and her family have spent years walking Beaver Creek, look- ing for treasures among the rocks and algae behind their farm. Their property is located on Highway 47, south of Ver- nonia at the Timber Road split, an area formerly known as Treharne. “We got in the habit of walking the creek when we first moved in,” says Susan. “On warm summer days the kids liked to go there, and they would bring back pieces of pottery, canning jars, pieces of metal, and pieces of any num- ber of things that were interesting and unique.” Susan says the creek gets enough high water every year that new things are always being uncovered upstream and washing down to their property. “The kids started a collection of things they found and we continued do- ing our ‘creek walks,’ hunting for more interesting things,” she says. “We were always finding things that weren’t there before, including carnelian and jasper, rocks you would find in the Nehalem.” Susan says on a recent creek walk she happened to find something a little bit different in the creek bed. “It was a mother-of-pearl handled pocket knife that was engraved with a name.” After cleaning the knife up, Ely says they were able to make out the name of “Patrick D. Sauer” engraved on the handle. “It’s not very often that you get to pick up a piece of history and find someone’s name on it,” said Susan. “You don’t find things that are unique to an individual very often and that’s what made this pretty special.” The name didn’t mean anything to Susan, but she got some help from To- bie Finzel, a volunteer at the Vernonia Pioneer Museum. “Right away Tobie told me to get in touch with the Gwins.” Kathleen Gwin, a long time Ver- nonia resident, is the younger sister of Patrick Sauer. Kathleen says her family moved to Vernonia in 1939 from North Where Do You Read the Voice? Dakota. She was three years old when the family moved west. “We settled in Treharne and lived across the highway and Timber Road from where Susan lives now,” says Kath- leen. Kathleen says she doesn’t remember her broth- er, who was three years older Kathleen Sauer Gwin with Susan Ely. than her, owning the pearl handled knife, but it obviously belonged to him at one time. you so much for finding it and giving it “There were some older boys that lived to me.” nearby, and it sort of surprises me that Kathleen says she plans to pass my mother would have let Patrick cross the knife on to Patrick’s son Chris. the highway to play with those boys in “I grew up reading books like the creek, because she was very protec- Where the Red Fern Grows and Gentle tive. She had to have bought him the Ben,” says Susan. “I know in one of knife for his ninth or tenth birthday.” those stories there was a boy that had Kathleen says the family only a pearl handled pocket knife, so that’s lived in Treharne for about three or four something that I think of when I think years, so that means Patrick most likely about adventurous young boys. I can lost his knife in the creek around 1942 or envision Patrick walking the creek the 43, about 75 years ago. same way we do, and his knife falling Unfortunately Patrick passed out of his pocket and him not knowing it. away several years ago. This really feels like a piece of nostalgia “I can’t believe you found it and that was really special and unique to that it had his name on it,” Kathleen told Su- young person.” san. “I’m so pleased to see it and I thank Marie Krahn Massage Therapy Senior Airman Jerrian Pond caught up on all the latest news from Vernonia in an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia while serving in the U.S. Airforce. 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