Illinois Valley news., July 10, 2013, Page 7, Image 7

Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Page A-7
History of the Hippies of Takilma: by Kindi Fahrnkopf
Part 17 – Cleanup Challenges
The challenges of inter-personal
conflicts and differences might have
taken some on an unexpected detour,
and divorce may have broken up
some alliances, but friendships and
connections have rarely been bro-
ken. The dedication of the hippies
to their little corner of the earth has
been strong. Over the years, the dif-
ficult tasks of making improvements
to old homes and buildings, and the
daily struggle to survive and pay
the bills were very hard, but the ex-
tremes of weather made things even
worse. I suppose it was before most
of the hippies arrived, but the flood
of 1964, was supposed to have made
the East Fork of the Illinois jump its
banks and there was 40ft of water on
Sauer’s Flat. Two big freezes below
zero degrees were in 1972 and 1989.
Everyone remembers the year 1989
as the one where everybody’s plumb-
ing had to be repaired in the dead of
winter.
After the Fire of ’87, there was
an appeal of the Environmental As-
sessment for the Longwood Salvage
Timber sale, with the TCA as one
of the plaintiffs. The Forest Service
as part of its settlement to the com-
munity of Takilma, constructed the
Bike Path. There was a great deal of
concern for the safety of people and
their pets on the road with the logging
and fire trucks. A Forest Service crew
worked with community people who
were hired to do much of the labor.
The foreman of the crew was former
Takilmanite John J. The Forest Ser-
vice also got permission for easements
and applied a layer of crushed granite
to the surface of the path. In the end
the Takilma Bike Path stretched from
4 Corners to Hogue’s Meadow and
provided a safe and enjoyable alter-
native to motorized travel throughout
Takilma. Romain, a forest biologist
from the Meadows said, “The Bike
Path ended where the East Fork Il-
linois River Trail begins. The East
Fork Illinois River Trail stretches all
the way to Young’s Valley in the Sis-
kiyou Wilderness. So a hiker could
start at 4 Corners and walk deep into
the Wilderness and come out on the
Klamath River.”
It is quite strange to remember
that some neighbors did not always
get along with Michael G. of the
Treesort and went out of their way
to make life difficult for him. One
neighbor, who I will call Wilbur, got
quite greedy on growing weed and
decided to challenge the easement on
his property line with Michael. He did
not like the fact that Michael’s horse-
back riders would cut through his land
on their way back to Hope Mountain.
His vengeance had led him to cover
the trail with slash, rocks, and broken
glass. He cut down all his big trees to
pay for the lawyer, and lost. Then he
was a subject of a counter-suit when
his big dogs attacked and bit Michael.
He needed to escape, so he sold his
land and told everyone with astonish-
ing arrogance that he was moving to
Alaska to hunt bears.
It was due to this strange chain
of events that Betsey N’s family
moved to Takilma, and bought Wil-
bur’s land. Betsey said, “We wanted
to get the community back on track
again, because we knew what a trau-
matic experience it had been for ev-
erybody. So we just decided we were
going to be the peace keepers. So the
first thing we did was we went up there
and cleaned the community trail out
completely from what was blocking
it until there was one tree left. So we
sent down for Michael to come with
his chain saw, and we had him cut
the last tree out. Just trying to make
things right again! TA was on the
other end, and he opened up the other
end and it was wonderful to just get
that trail opened up again!” Betsey’s
family has welcomed a more peace-
ful atmosphere since then. With the
advice of Romain, they were able to
restore the natural meadow that used
to grace their yard and to allow non-
motorized travelers to use the com-
munity trail once again.
Many times hippies helped to
clean up the earth when there was a
need. Beginning with the cleanups of
Hogue’s Meadow, and the cleanups
on Rough and Ready Creek, groups
have formed to cleanup the awful
trash left on public lands by low lives
and vandals. One recent group, call-
ing itself the Friends of French Flat,
has cleaned up massive loads of rub-
bish, dumped into and near the Logan
Cut. Inspired by the leadership of
Greg and Mary W.; the community
rose to support their valiant efforts to
restore the French Flat area, a beauti-
ful lowland ecosystem.
Just two years ago, another
group of various volunteers, took it
upon themselves to clean up a piece
of property near the corner of the
TCA property, along the creek. This
tiny bit of land had 2 trailers and an
old mobile home abandoned on it,
and attracted the homeless and other
vagrants to hide there. The people
were fed up with looking at that hor-
rible sight, so they got permission
from a Mr. H. and started a massive
clean up, including recycling of any
of the metals and other materials. As
days went on, many from the com-
munity stopped to help or donate
funds for gas money. Finally, it was
done and cleaned, and one man even
stayed on over the summer to rake
and clean all of the trash out of the
creek. It was a labor of love, to know
that the children would be safe walk-
ing around town again. Surprisingly,
the real owner of the property, after
hearing of and seeing the clean up,
was so appreciative of the commu-
nity of Takilma, that she promised to
donate money to the Dome School
and the Library.
Then just this last fall of 2012,
the little red “Love House” in Takil-
ma, where Otis lived and Ed Little
Crow and Kitty lived before him,
burned down. Tragically, it took his
life, that Halloween Night. After-
wards, the community decided that
the sight was just too heart-break-
ing to live with and started a cleanup
of that place too. Today, the work is
nearly done, and the scars are heal-
ing over. People are envisioning just
letting that land rest, and having it be
an open space for those of us that are
left to carry on life in Takilma. Some-
one remarked recently, “Otis’ passing
felt like the end of an era.” The Spi-
ral Living Center held an Otis Jones
Memorial Bike Ride, all the way to
town, the summer of 2013.
philosophy of the population. It was
art donated by Jefry, but it was sto-
len, presumably by the same thieves
that stole the Angel Sculpture off of
the Coffee Heaven roof in the middle
of the night. These thieves favored
stealing public art and bashing mail-
boxes. The long tradition of thievery
in the Illinois Valley, started back in
the 80’s when the bronze plaque from
the Waldo Township memorial mark-
er was stolen. The people all over the
Valley were angry about that loss, and
it as an issue brought people together,
to protect a priceless piece of history.
A replica plaque has recently been re-
placed on that marker by the E Vitus
Clampus Organization, after people
did fund-raising to try to replace it.
The people of Takilma no doubt
had their share of challenges over
the last 40 years, but they always
worked hard, and found solutions to
better their lives and the lives of their
community and now even their town;
Cave Junction. People from Takilma
that worked in the trades were creat-
ing inroads with the locals and being
appreciated for their special talents
and abilities. From Doug’s Building
Designs and abilities to be a “go-be-
tween” and mediate with the Build-
ing Dept., to Robert’s dedication to
the best in plumbing workmanship, to
Charlie’s engineering of tree houses,
The site of the former “Love House” today.
The house that Kitty bought and lived in,
Takilma once had a sign at eventually took the life of her Otis, on Hallow-
Four Corners, which said “Nuclear- een night, 2012. What remained was cleaned
Free Zone Think Globally-Act Lo- up by the community.
cally”, and it reflected the general
All the Special Occasions in
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and human-powered cars, to Mike’s
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woodworking, to Otto’s car and pump
repairs, to David’s fertilizer and fire-
wood deliveries, and many more in-
dustrious workers. It seems people
really found their calling in Takilma.
Many bridges were built in the
schools and other organizations, be-
cause the Takilma people were some
of the best teachers they had. Takil-
ma people like Alyce, Della, Sally,
Cathy, Bill, and Trish were among the
most favored teachers at Evergreen
Elementary and Lorna Byrne Middle
School. With Takilma people getting
involved in town because of their
children, it seemed that the lines were
getting blurry; the hippies were fully
part of the larger community. The tal-
ents and skills of some of Takilma’s
best and brightest were finally being
noticed and appreciated by the gen-
eral public. The old stigmas were
melting away. As Alyce fondly re-
members “People were surprised and
told me, but you’re just so nice!”
Author Kindi Fahrnkopf is a
poet and flower child of the 60s who
has lived in Takilma for 33 years. She
moved to Cave Junction in 1979 with
her husband and two small children
to open the Cave’s Cobbler shoe re-
pair and Birkenstock shop.
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FOR
Valley Little Lea
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ackberry Festival
August 3rd and 4th, 2013
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* Co-Ed Softball Tournament
* His & Hers BBQ (cook-off) and Dessert (bake-off)
For more applications & Info Call Shelly at 541-415-1718
Return Applications to: Blackberry Festival, PoBox 86, Cave Junction, Or., 97523
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Special Needs: ____________________________________________________
There will be no refunds due to cancellation or inclement weather. The event will remain open to the public during the advertised hours. It is the
responsibility of the exhibitor to provide shade and signage for their space and for leaving the space clean and free of refuse. The festival committee
reserves the right to reject any work considered objectionable to the public, including but not limited to paraphernalia and pornography items. I/We the
undersigned have read the information sheet and will adhere to the rules and regulations set forth by the Blackberry Festival Organization. I/We do
hereby hold harmless the Blackberry Festival Organization, the City of Cave Junction, the I.V. Little League and festival volunteers from any and all
claims for damages, personal injury, property damage or wrongful death occurring or arising from the rental and occupation of said space by exhibitor.
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