Devoted to the Mining, Lumbering, and Farming Interests of this Community, to Good Government, and Hustling for a Grub Stake
A special publication of the
By Wing,
YELLOW BLACK
By Engine
of Steel
By Wheel,
MAGENTA
A salute to transportation at the 56th annual
CYAN
Bohemia Mining Days!
July 16-19, 2015
By Cindy Weeldreyer
"By Wing, By Wheel, By Engine of
Steel" is the theme of the 56th Annual
Bohemia Mining Days festival, which
highlights the key role various modes
of transportation had in the evolu-
tion of our community. Cottage Grove
began as a tiny 1850s-era village along
the banks of the Willamette’s Coast
Fork, where Kalapuya natives and
later the Donation Land Claim fami-
lies enjoyed the bounty and beauty of
the Southern Willamette Valley.
Located at the headwaters of Oregon’s
Willamette River and nestled between
two of its uppermost tributaries: the
Coast Fork and the Row River, Cottage
Grove was in the center of a fertile
valley that supported a wide variety
of cultivated crops by the time it was
incorporated as a city in 1887.
For centuries prior to white settlement
and unconstrained by the dams of
today, these rivers meandered through
the wide fl oodplain, depositing fresh
silt every spring as the snow melted
in the Cascades. Large runs of Spring
Chinook returning to spawn and die
added vital minerals to the farmland
and forests downstream. Combined
with Oregon’s legendary rainfall dur-
ing the winter months, locals grew
bumper crops surrounded by acres
upon acres of old-growth timber yet
they had one major problem… MUD!
From Indian trails to
wagon roads
The fi rst “roads” in South Lane County
were narrow trails made by deer, the
Kalapuyas and later fur trappers who
traded at nearby Fort Umpqua. When-
ever possible the early trails went
between the foothills, avoided swampy
ground and crossed natural fords in
the rivers. Portions of the trails had
unavoidably steep grades that made
traveling a challenge even on good
days. The early settlers found much
of the Willamette watershed nearly
impossible to traverse during the rainy
season. Wagons often bogged down to
the axles in the goopy clay mud.
Enterprising Cottage Grovers put the
large stands of old growth Douglas
fi r that surrounded them to good use
and laid large planks on local roads
to make winter travel easier and thus
earned the nickname “Slab Town.”
By 1860, the California and Oregon
Stage Line offered the fi nest service of
the day between Portland and Sacra-
mento. A trip between the two stations
required six or seven days. A ticket
guaranteed your arrival but did not
specify when.
To the west, the Cartwright Road
connected the Silk Creek Valley with
the Lorane Valley and the Applegate
Trail. The fi rst road east from Cottage
Grove followed the Row River up into
the Bohemia Mining District. Along
the road boarding houses and saloons
sprang up to meet the needs of travel-
ers and miners.
Trains, planes and
automobiles
The arrival of the train in 1872 trans-
formed Cottage Grove into a bustling
gold mining and lumber town in
the late 19th century and early 20th
century. It also created a bitter rivalry
between Lematians on the east bank
of the Coast Fork and Slabtowners on
the west. The Feud lasted for decades
until 1900, when Lemati dissolved and
Please see TRANSPORTATION, Page 3