In Other Words
July 21
2022
13
The Good Ol ’ Days
By Tobie Finzel
Voices from the Past, Part 3
This is the final segment of the De-
cember 28, 1986 conversation that took
place at Ruth Steers’s home on North
Street where she, Bob Spencer, and Harry
and Arlie Emmons had gathered. Vernonia
resident Tony Grebenc transcribed the au-
dio tape recording he made that day. We
have replaced some of Harry’s frequent ex-
pletives with synonyms. At this point in the
conversation, Harry had just quit the O-A
Lumber Mill for good and bought a tavern
Harry: I finally bought that tavern up there
where Mike’s was (currently Buckshot Bet-
ty’s – and still called Mike’s by some of
our old-timers!). I bought that and went in
there. I’d never even been in a gosh darned
tavern in my life, and I’d never drank a
danged beer or nothing. I went there that
night and all that crew I’d worked with,
the whole bunch, came in. And gee whiz,
I got to where I couldn’t even run the cash
register or draw a beer. If you would have
asked me, I wouldn’t even know that I was
scared to death. Well, anyway, I got to
going alright I guess, and everything was
working good.
Arlie will never forget that Old Man
Lilly came in there one evening, and he
said “I’ll have a beer, Harry,” and you
know it was ten cents a glass back in them
days and he put down a dime, and I went
and drawed his beer for him. He said,
“Harry, you gonna come back down to the
mill and work for me?” And I said, “Just
as soon as I’m ready to put in a hitch at the
poor farm, I’ll be down there.” That old
man, and you can ask Arlie, he hadn’t even
taken a drink of it, he just picked up his
dime and slid that beer across the counter
and went out the door. I never talked to
him after that.
Bob: First work I’d done there was un-
loading the rejects. I guess it was, I don’t
know if they were rejects but put back on
the chain again.
Harry: They went back to the mill.
Bob: It went back to the stacker, didn’t it?
Harry: No, it went back to the mill and had
to be resawed, some of it.
Bob: I had that chain so full of stuff. The
boss came along and he said, “Gee whiz,
you have everything blocked up. Don’t
work so hard, don’t work so fast. That’s
enough for today.” I never had anybody
tell me that before. Then I lined up a job on
that bull planer on the other end of the mill.
Harry: That wasn’t too bad of a job, was
it, Bob?
Bob: Yeah, that was a good job. You just
worked once in awhile whenever the tim-
ber out there were sized right, and every
once in a while, I had to start that thing
and run it a little bit to see if it was run-
ning. I used to sit, the sun shining in there,
and go to sleep and sleep half the time.
Harry: You know, I think I lacked three
months of working there twenty years, and
when I left there, I was getting $6.00 for
eight hours work. It seems to me like we
started out at $3.20 for eight hours work.
You know you tell people that, they don’t
believe you but by gosh it was the truth. I
worked on the darned railroad up there. I
think it was $3.00 for eight hours work, but
we didn’t work very hard.
Their recorded conversation ends at
this point. Last month, we said we’d re-
search what the “trotting turkey” job was.
Both Larry Bernardi and Al DeLemos
worked at the mill; Larry said that trotting
part was running the lumber from the “tur-
key” to where it would be stacked to go
to the dry kiln. Per Al, who did this job,
the turkey kept the boards going down the
chute straight and kept the lumber sorted
and spaced.
A Few Words about Bob Spencer
Bob Spencer, youngest son of Ver-
nonia pioneer Israel Spencer, was born in
1890 and lived until 1993. Over his life-
time, he worked on the family farm, in the
woods, at the mill, and in his later years as
custodian at the first Vernonia High School.
There are many stories about Bob, some
of which we will share in future columns.
As the high school custodian, he was well
loved by the students, especially the boys.
He was the kind of man a boy could talk to
for advice. When high school boys got in
trouble, they were sent to the basement to
help Bob split wood and feed the furnace.
Few of the boys really considered this pun-
ishment, and some of them got in trouble
occasionally just so they could go to the
basement and hang out with Bob. The
cover of the book on Vernonia the museum
published in Arcadia Publishing’s Images
of America series has a picture of Bob and
his white horse in the woods by a steam
donkey.
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 activi-
ties. He continues to spend his spare time
with his fiancée, Inez.
Thursday, July 18, 1912. Went
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622 Bridge Street Vernonia, OR 97064
phone (503) 429-0880 -- fax (503) 429-0881
down and worked at opening up
the trail from the Ray place to
Enterprize road. Very hot all day.
Inez and I went over to the Elliott
place after supper.
Friday, July 19. Went down and
finished opening up trail over to
Enterprize road. Very hot all day.
The boys finished hauling my hay
about 3 P.M.
Saturday, July 20. Went out on
Fire Patrol but was so wet up on
Enterprize road came back and
went up on St. Helens road about
4 miles. Went up town in evening.
Big surprise party at Gessell
followed by two severe accidents.
Big thunder storm followed by a
heavy rain.
Sunday, July 21. Went up to
the big city of Pittsburg. (Note: A
tongue-in-cheek description. By this
time, there was not much left of the town
of Pittsburg; the post office had closed
in 1908, the newspaper, store, lumber
and grist mill were gone, and most of
the commercial activities had moved to
Vernonia.) Went all through the
school house, fooled around and
came home. Rained considerable
all day.
Monday, July 22. Did not go on
the Fire Patrol so went across
the river. Placed the hay rack
in shelter. In afternoon went
down to Mist, had a dandy little
stroll. Weather fair in forenoon,
rained in afternoon. Some-one
feeling rather sad along about
10 P.M. Feeling fine about 11 just
for a reason that will never be
forgotten.
Tuesday, July 23. Weather fair in
forenoon, rained in afternoon.
Went berry picking. Also went
to bed early in the evening like
good little fellows. Was out on
Fire Patrol.
Wednesday, July 24. Rained
pretty hard all day so did not go
out on Fire Patrol. Garfield came
down about 12. The girl and I
had a long talk about affairs
late in evening.
Thursday, July 25. Was out after
berries in forenoon. Did not go
on Fire Patrol. Pretty fair day.
Inez and I went up to Vernonia
after supper in the buggy after
the mail. Got back about 10.
Vernonia’s Voice is published on
the 1 st and 3 rd Thursday. Look for
our next issue on August 4.
Friday, July 26. Started out on
Fire Patrol 6 A.M. and got back
2.30 P.M. Pretty fair day. Wanted
to go for a horseback ride in
evening but the girl could not see
it that way. Tomorrow evening
and then for Clatskanie.
Saturday, July 27. Started on Fire
Patrol 5.40 A.M. and got back
1.30 P.M. Inez and I left in buggy
for Clatskanie 2.30 P.M. and got
to Clatskanie about 7 P.M. Took
in the big city till about 11 P.M.
Very hot all day.
Sunday, July 28. In Clatskanie
did not get up till about 8 A.M.
The girl and I went over to Depot
in morning. Took in town in
afternoon. Left out there about 4
P.M. and got home 10. Awful hot
all day.
The Vernonia Pioneer Museum is located
at 511 E. Bridge Street and is open from 1
to 4 pm on Saturdays and Sundays (exclud-
ing holidays) all year. There is no charge
for admission but donations are always
welcome. Become a member of the mu-
seum for an annual $5 fee to receive the pe-
riodic newsletter. We now have a page on
the Vernonia Hands on Art website, www.
vernoniahandsonart.org If you are a Face-
book user, check out the Vernonia Pioneer
Museum page. The museum volunteers are
always pleased to enlist additional volun-
teers to help hold the museum open and as-
sist in other ways. Please stop by and let
one of the volunteers know of your interest
in helping out.
Columbarium
and Urn Garden
A beautiful location for cremains
of your loved ones nestled
among fir woodlands
Vernonia
Memorial Cemetery
All-inclusive urn garden space
and interment for $1,750.
Columbarium niches start at $2,250.
For more information visit
www.vernonia-or.gov/cemetery
or call 503-429-5291
City of Vernonia – 1001 Bridge Street,
Vernonia, OR 97064
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