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
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