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About The Coquille Valley sentinel. (Coquille, Coos County, Or.) 1921-2003 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 20, 1985)
Sentinel/Herald-Wednesday, Feb. 20,1985--B-19 Life in Coos County often hard for pioneers By Marilee Miller Special writer Have you ever wondered what the peo ple of Coquille were doing in 1885? Certainly in the outlying districts, the country was still a rough frontier. Set tlers cared out homesites and garden plots from the forest. Yet even home steaders in the remote could now take advantage of the “culture” and the “taste of civiliatiori” afforded in a place like Coquille city. electricity, telephone dr any easy mode Of transportaion. A depressed economy from a sagging lumber trade made times very hard. There were arguments and dull.. ., money being scarcer in this part trouble-raisers, just as there were the than at any time since its discovery by neighborly and signs of progress. But whites.” Editor Dean manages to portray life in In 1885, there wasn’t an indoor bath- Coquille as quite appealing a hundred roorri in all Coquille. Nor had anyone years ago. Depressed wood economy even then Coquille went “backwards” in its adher ence to religión, is not clear. Bancrofts second volume, a history of the West Coast, was received very favor ably by .those who were delighted to read all about the exploits of Lewis and Clark, and the Astor colony at As toria. And poetry by local correspon dents appeared in the Herald nearly We wish the City of Coquille a Happy 100th Birthday Dori I Weekly BarbaraShorb Associate Broker Salesperson Strout Realty incokpokatkd 605 Spruce Street Myrtle Point A sawmill already in operation down' along the river must have given some persons employment. And no doubt the mill did a brisk business in local trade for the new houses eVer going up. The stores in the business district, the hack lines.and street builders, the river-, boats, all must have provided incomes apart from agriculture or the fledgling timber industry. Without even leaving home, “Ko-kwellers” could go to col lege - that is, get a sound secondary education or prepare for advancement in life by taking business courses. The “predominating topic” at the out lying settlement at Fairview might be finding a way to build bridges over the North Fork, but the next most import ant subject was “the flourishing condi tion” of the Fairview Church, presided over by the Revs. Edmunds and Hollen- beak. Fairview may have been a little ahead of Coquille in this direction. A church directory for Coquille mentioned only the Methodist denomination, which held preaching services once a month. “We aren’t told whether there were Sun day “class meetings” in the interim, but only that Circuit Rider Rev. H.B. Swaf- fdrd conducted services on the “first sabbath” of the month , at North Fork, the second at Lampa Creek, the third week at Fish Trap, and the fourth in Coquille City.” The 1884 papers listed, beside the Methodist services, both Bap tist and Universalist services. Whether the church directory was a paid ad or not all churches contributed, or whether every issue, about a wide variety of ser ious or nonsense topics. Entertainments and musical pursuits were of importance to local citizenry in that “progressive* ydar. To celebrate the advent of1885, a grand ball was! held on New Year’s Eve “under the auspices of. the Coquille City Brass Band.” “The affair was a success in every feature; there being a numerous attendance in honor of the occa sion. .. The members of the band are persistent in their efforts to obtain proficiency—they are punc- tual in attendance without regard to the severity of the weather. May they meet with the success they de serve. We understand that they will give a dramatic entertainment on some day in the coming rrionth.” The Coquille Thespians were perform ing in town — and before Myrtle Point audiences — a “fascinating and soul stirring play, ‘Among the Breakers.’ ” This play, or some other entertainment, put on by The Coquille Thespians, earned enough money to purchase a “magnificent bell” to be hung in the schoolhouse. The 475 pound bell cost $60 in San Francisco, plus shipping fee by coastwise vessel. Because the Thespians still owed $21 on the bell and freight, they planned another fete to pay off the bill. Other articles in thè Herald lamented that the lumber trade was “unusually Bus. 503 572-2425 1-800-641-4266 Center of the Eye Photo Graphics Custom Portraits Commercial Photography Your home - Nature’s Realm Studio 2 N. Central, Coquille