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Work on Officer's Quarters continues as State
Parks looks to improve Fort Yamhill experience
6 NOVEMBER 15, 201 1
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
A $100,000 Spirit Mountain
Community Fund grant awarded
to the Oregon State Parks Trust
in 2009 for its "Fort Yamhill: Con
necting Place and People" project
has helped in the renovation of the
"Officer's Quarters" building at
Fort Yamhill State Park.
On Friday, Oct. 28, members of
Oregon State Parks Trust's Board
of Trustees toured Fort Yamhill
State Park and were given a de
tailed breakdown of work done on
restoring the Officer's Quarters
building the only original struc
ture remaining onsite and ar
cheological field investigations that
will allow for the eventual reloca
tion of the building to its original
spot at the fort.
"Spirit Mountain Community
Fund's grant was very significant,"
said B. Bennett Burns, co-chair of
the nonprofit organization dedi
cated to preserving and enhancing
Oregon's state parks. "We couldn't
have done it without them."
The 90-minute tour concentrated
on the Officer's Quarters building,
which used to sit atop the hill at
Fort Yamhill State Park, looking
down on the Grand Ronde Agency,
where the ancestors of Grand
Ronde Tribal members were sent in
the mid-1850s after signing seven
treaties with the federal govern
ment. Fort Yamhill was built in 1856
on the border of the Grand Ronde
Reservation and was meant to act
as a buffer between new settlers
to Oregon and Tribal peoples, said
Fort Yamhill interpretive ranger
Matt Huerter.
The one company stationed at
Fort Yamhill included between 60
and 70 soldiers who controlled the
only road in and out of the Grand
Ronde Reservation. The U.S. Army
built a gate across the road and
only allowed those with business
with the Grand Ronde Agency or
the fort to pass.
When the fort was constructed,
six Officer's Quarters buildings
sat atop the hill at Fort Yamhill,
authoritatively looking down on
the agency and Tribal members
who had been moved to the reserva
tion. Fort Yamhill consisted of 28
structures, a parade grounds and
200-foot flagpole.
Huerter said Lt. William Hazen
initially constructed "cottage-style"
buildings for the fort's officers to
live in in 1856, spending about 25
percent of the construction budget
available.
However, Lt. Phil Sheridan ar
rived a year later and did not like
what he saw. He redesigned the
cottages with more classical ac
cents and expanded their size, us
ing up the other 75 percent of the
budget.
Both Hazen and Sheridan went
on to become Civil War generals
who competed intensely throughout
their careers. Huerter said their
lifelong rivalry may have started
at Fort Yamhill.
Sue Licht, a preservation archi
tect, briefed Oregon State Parks
Trust trustees on the work that has
been done to the Officer's Quarters
building, which was moved down
from the hilltop and used as a farm
building and residence.
Workers have taken out a wall
installed in the 1920s, as well as
stairs that were constructed in the
hallway. As material was removed,
the building returned to a more in
terpretive state and provide clues
about its original use, Licht said.
"It was exciting to get the fluff out
of here and see the original space,"
Licht said.
For instance, a fireplace used to
sit in the middle of two rooms. The
front room probably was used by
Sheridan to entertain guests and
the back room was probably his
private living quarters. A well-worn
I ; ..'TW.WW
CM . ,
t Noon -1 p.rn. - Visit with anta
(please bring your camera)
1 p.m.-M(zal
2 p.m. - Children singing
' T' :::se bring children's hats or gloves for the
7i!amina Tree of Giving to put with the
children's gifts.
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Paopla look around tha Officar's Quarters building at Fort Yamhill Stata
Haritaga Arta to saa tha rastoration work that has baan complatad on tha
structura during a tour organizad by tha Oragon Stata Parks Trust on Friday,
Oct. 28. Spirit Mountain Community Fund has baan a kay donor for tha "Fort
Yamhill: Connacting Placa and Peopla" project.
rut in the wood in the back room
where the hearth would have been
indicates that Sheridan probably
spent a lot of time pacing back and
forth in that spot, trying to stay
warm.
Other restoration work on the
Officer's Quarters building in
cluded recreation of a porch and
installation of a bay window.
Licht said a recent discovery
of a painting of Fort Hoskins in
Philomath, which was a sister fort
to Fort Yamhill and built by the
same people, provided clues to what
Fort Yamhill probably looked like.
"There were no photographs of
Fort Yamhill, so what do you re
store it to?" Licht said about the
importance of the Fort Hoskins
painting.
Excavations atop the hill where
the Officer's Quarter used to sit
also provided important clues. For
example, the sandstone founda
tion included a jutting "V" shape,
which indicated there used to be
a bay window that overlooked the
road in and out of the Grand Ronde
Reservation.
After the fort was abandoned in
1866, the buildings were auctioned
off and for the next 121 years families
farmed some of the land and Douglas
fir trees and blackberries overran
the rest. In 1971, the fort was listed
on the National Register of Historic
Places. Oregon State Parks pur
chased the Fort Yamhill property in
1988 and opened Fort Yamhill State
Heritage Area in 2006.
The goal, said Dennis Wiley,
Oregon Parks & Recreation Depart
ment Willamette District manager,
is returning the Officer's Quarters
building to the top of the hill, which
CULTURAL GATHERINGS
NOV. 19: RESTORATION CELEBRATION POWWOW. Chinook Winds Casino Event Cen
ter, 1 777 N.W. 44th St. LINCOLN CITY, OR. 1 -800-922-1 399, ext. 1 230.
NOV. 22: 28th CTGR RESTORATION CELEBRATION. Grand Ronde Tribal gymnasium,
9615 Grand Ronde Road. GRAND RONOE, OR. 503-879-1418.
DEC. 3: LCC POWWOW. Lane Community College gym (Bldg. 5), 4000 E. 30th Ave. EU
GENE, OR.
If you or anyone you know has information on cultural events happening, Smoke Signals would
be glad to list it in our Cultural Gatherings. Please e-mail newsgrandronde.org or write to
Smoke Signals, 96 15 Grand Ronde Road, Grand Ronde, OR 97347.
will help give park visitors a better
idea of how intimidating the stark
whitewashed buildings might have
been to the Native peoples living in
the valley.
In addition, Oregon Parks hopes
to create ghost buildings at Fort
Yamhill to give visitors a better
idea of how large Fort Yamhill
actually was since little above
ground physical evidence remains.
There are also plans to rebuild the
Blockhouse, which now stands in
Dayton and is in such poor condi
tion that it cannot be moved back
to Fort Yamhill.
"It is a lot bigger than I imag
ined," Burns said as she looked
over the excavated site where the
Officer's Quarters used to sit.
Wiley said the state will continue
working with the Confederated
Tribes of Grand Ronde on telling
not only the military history of Fort
Yamhill, but also the complemen
tary Tribal history.
"Fort Yamhill's history is inter
twined with the history and culture
of the Grand Ronde people and
their relationship to a military fort
located on the edge of their reserva
tion. The 'Fort Yamhill: Connecting
Place and People' project will bring
this unique, important historic site
back to life, providing visitors with
a deeper understanding of the fort
and how it affected the people living
nearby," said Oregon State Parks
Trust in its funding application
to Spirit Mountain Community
Fund.
The state Parks & Recreation
Department pledged to include
ongoing maintenance and upkeep
as part of its Fort Yamhill Heritage
Area budget. B
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