Pngr 10
Tile Hentlnel, Cottage Grove, Oregon
Thum.. Nov. 10, IMO away to work, leaving the house,
Bits of Early Silk Creek History
As Told by Mrs. Lillie A. Crowe
w; R. Dillard of Eugene, former
county clerk and former resilient
of this atea has sent us a letter
from Ullie A. Crowe to Mrs Mary-
Burcham, a resident of the Silk
Creek community for fifty-three
years. This letter relates bits of
interesting early day history of
thu Silk Creek country, which w .ll
no; doqht be of interest to old
linters. The letter:
Oregon City, Oregon
February 7, 1938
Mrs Mary Burcham
iottage Grove, On'gon
Detin Frit nd,
I Received your long newsy let­
ter; which was most interesting to
md. Was glad to hoar your chil­
dren are al) well and busy making
a career for themselves So many
of our Adventist friends moved
awny; I was surprised some an*
still “holding the Fort,'' and main-
tairung their school. Where is Al­
lie fetes? Is Dow Estes’ wife still
there? What became of her son.
Ijei&rd?
How time changes
thitfes I doubt my ability to give
mini history of the early settle­
ment1 of Silk Creek, so called now.
It w*s first called Hazelton Valley
by the old settlers. Maybe I can
give you a few pointers that w ill
spur you on in the job you are
doing. In the "Nineties'' there
Singe) home caul'll Royal, tn honor
of Hazelton whose given name was
Royal.
We came to Oregon from Wash,
in June, 1879 We intended to go
to Rogue River Valley and locate.
John Walker
but w hen wi
we stoppi'd anil stayed overnight.
We had traveled over the moun­
tains with Mr Walden's family.
Mrs. Walden w - Mr W iIker's
daughter. We had a fine ttip to­
gether. Well when they saw us
coming we had to stop and grand­
pa Chrisman a n d Mr. Walker
talked Pa and Ma out of the no­
tion of going to Rogue River tell­
ing them that Lane Co. was the
best part of Oregon, etc. etc. In
the morn they said they would go
with father up to Mrs. Hall’s, who
pretty well furnished which suited
us all right.
While then'. I got acquainted
with all the youngsters from
Walkers to Burn Veatclw’ and
went to church at Cottage Grove
with some of them, or the Rev
Dillards family every Sunday The
first pieaeher I heard then' or in
Oregon was Dr. Drivers' son. Af­
ter that, it was Wallace or Dillard
during our stay. Father was busy
all the while looking the country
over with the intention of buying
a place if he could find one to suit
his fancy and terms. Some old
sports at Cottage Grove invited
him to go deer hunting. He gladly
accepted their invitation with an
eye open to see more country.
Well, they- were gone three days.
only one that
Father
killed a deer. After that he went
Martin an old
and met
hunter who invited him up to his
house in Hazelton Valley to look
at some place there which was
for sale, Father saddled his black
mule the next morn and struck
out for Hazelton Valley, but he
i'Dt
'til hi' reached the
naw is now located. They intro­ Siuslaw Valley, now Lorane. There
duced father to Mrs. Hall as a he met the genial Hardy Crowe,
renter for her house. Well, we who told him all he knew about
stayed there about a month. Mrs. the country. Father back tracked
Hall’s son had lived there but his and stayed all night with uncle
generous-
wife had left him and he had gone. L*wis Martin.
hearted man. The next morn he
showed him the Craig place which
was for sale. Craig was more than
anxious to sell. Finally, father told
him he would buy the place if it
suited Mother, if he would take
his new covered wagon and tent
and horses weighing IS hundred
pounds e a c h.
lovely young
span* and the balance in money.
Craig took him up. It was mst
the trade Craig wanted as he had
R-U-AWARt?
MAY BE 06”
TERM in CD aV
Tut NUMBER
OF RlNâS IM
IÍS -TRUNK-
EACH
R ino or ORAIN
REPRESENTS
CNE YEAR’S
“I’m not a thief ... I just want you
to tell me where your husband had
his ditching problems solved! It
must have been the
Zumwalt & Williams
Sand & Gravel Co.”
Phone 384R2
LONGER, HEAVIER
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proof enough of our depen­
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RAYMOND P. ANDERSEN.
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RrPFnilDERSEn
SHELL OIL DISTRIBUTOR
PHONE 250
4 TH. & TAYLOR
COTTA&E DROVE, OREOON
AFTER NAMING THE WEDDING DAY
FOR
WOMEN
THREE MAKES A HAPPY CROWD, as proved by Vic« President Alben
Barkley, Mrs. Carleton S. Hadley and her daughter, June, H, after tire
couple announced they would be married in St. Louis on November 18th.
Barkley, 71, and the widowed Mrs. Hadley, 38, have been a romantic
twosome since they were first Introduced in Washington. (International)
recently lost his team and some
cattle and was almost destitute
with nothing to work with and
no money to buy anything. When
father got hack he told us he had
Ixrught a place at "Jump Off Joe".
You know how Pa always joked.
Mr. Dillard told us we would find
good neighbors and good soil up
then'. So. we packed up. paid our
rent and started in "high spirits”
for Hazelton Valley.
We reached our destination
about one o'clock I’M. Mr. Craig
was waiting at Masterson's gate
to let us through. We drove down
through Masterson's pasture to
the line fence, and thro another
gate. I said is this the "Jump Off
Joe" place? All I could see was a
bare spot with a log cabin on it, a
few apple trees, and many black
stuntps all surrounded with big
trees. Mrs. Craig met us at the
yard gate with tears of joy in her
eyes and a puny baby on her arm
with three or four other young­
sters tagging on behind. She was
kind and courteous. She had din­
ner waiting for us. We spread out
our lunch too, and ate our first
meal at Silk Creek. July 21. 1879.
I was heartsick and homesick but
thought I could stand it if the
rest could. Father said we will
winter here and if not sat isfit'd we
will sell out and go on to Rogue
River Valley in the spring. I said,
"no let us go hack to Minn." We
still owned our old home there.
The Craigs moved away happy as
“clams in high tide," and we never
heard from them afterwards. We
did hate to see the big horses go.
They left us a few old hens and
father bought their cow and Billy
the pony and their old wagon. The
black mule anti Billy made a queer
looking team. Well, we all got to
work and made a general clean­
ing. Father built on a bedroom for
Charlie and plastered up the old
fireplace anil Mother and I pa­
pered tlje house all over, the ceil­
ing was rough boards, we paper« d
it too. The kitchen was a board af-
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P
'
Phone 771
f ur and cold in winter. Soon, the
neighbors, two by two, came in
to m ' c us. But. when Sunday came.
there wns no place to go. We were
surely lonesome. When Christmas
came, we were invited to dine
with Mr. Mastersons'. We watted
there in snow four inches deep
and enjoyed a fine dinner, but.
when we got back home in the eve
the house was cold as a luirn Dail
made a big fire in the fireplace;
but. alas, the house plants Mrs
Craig gave us were frozen stiff.
The little orchard supplied us
with apples all winter. Native
pheasants and grouse were plenti­
ful. Father occasionally killed a
deer. He went also to Crowe's in
Siuslaw Valley anti bought some
bacon sides. They gave him a box
of the biggest and beat apples I
have ever seen. Little ditl 1 dream
at that time I would ere long Ite
“cewing” from
that "Crowe's
nest." Spring came and we were
all satisfied to stay <>n the ranch
at Silk Creek Father engaged
Frank Crowe and Joe Elliott to
build the house that now stands
there, or did when I was last
there. At that time I asked Mr
Elliott to organize a Sunday school
at our school house. He said he
would hi* glad to if he Oould get
seme helpers. About this time I
think the Siageis anil DamewtMxls
and Rambows moved to Silk
Creek. In the fall the Worthing­
ton family came and located on
the place North of Fathers.
When they left Dad bought it
for my brother, Charlie. The next
Spring Rev. Bennett bought the
Turpin place, and the Lewis Mar­
lin family moved away. A Sunday
school was organized at the school
house with Joe Elliott Supt. and
Lillie Harris, Sec. Prior to this I
had gone to Nat Martins to a
"Sing" and while there had a talk
with Jesse Martin who asked me
if J had heard the names of the
creeks. He told me the one that ।
ran by their place was Little Cal- |
ico and one that flowed by out­
place was Big Calico and the one
by Lewis Martins was Silk Creek
Our conversation stopped there.
Afterwards I found out that some
of the neighborhood boys got to­
gether while fishing and jokingly
proposed these names as Mrs.
Lewis Martin had sold their only
cow to buy a silk dress and tire
ladies living by the other creeks
wove calico.
’When I got home from the Sun­
day School organization I told
Mother they forgot to give the
Sunday School a name. I said to
Mother the school house is located
on Silk Creek so why not call it
Silk Creek Sunday School. Little
did I know it had been named
thus sarcastically. Next Sunday
when I made the second report I
read it Silk Creek Sunday School.
I noticed some of the older men
and boys laughed but I thought
nothing of it and read on. Evei
after that it was called Silk Creek
and printed on the map of Oregon,
but the Calicos never went on rec- 1
ord, so far as I know.
The next Christmas tree pro- i
gram was celebrated at the school!
house. Revs. Bennett and DillardI
preached for us occasionally.
Now this is some of the history
of early days at Silk Creek. I will
write on the next page the names
of the settlers living in Hazelton
Valley when we located there.
Then, I think, you will have suf­
ficient starting chics so you can
write up a history of Hazelton
Valley, Silk Creek and Royal Post
Office.
Living in Hazelton Valley when
we camo listed below.
From Uncle “Voss” Voatchcs
North, wen- Medleys, Colling
Dick Nees, Hazeltons, Grandpa
Turpin, Lewis Martins, Master-
sons, Nat Martins, and Hugh
Thomas who sold out to the
Wheelers later on. Our nearest
neighlxir north of us was Hansons
in “Lynx Hollow".
On Match 7, 18X3 I married
Wm. N. Crowe at my fathers and
mothers home at Silk Creek and
took flight with my Crowe to Lo- |
rane. After that I did not keep tabi
on Silk Creek proceedings.
I have wytten as my memory
prompts me. I have given you a
start. Hope you get other data.
Will say In conclusion the people
of Silk Crock have placed a jewel I
in memory's casket for me and
the Cemetery there holds a sacred
plot. It Is where my father and
mother are buried. God bless you
all.
LILLIE A. CROWE
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