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SECTION B e BEDFORD. OREGON. SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 1. 1 !lt3 PAGES 1 to b
Light House
The
By EVA HAMILTON
Mail Tribune Stali Writer
It is sad to see a once grand old house going down
shingle by shingle, board by board.
Watching its rafters and beams bared to the world
seems almost indecent. It is like glimpsing a once beau
tiful actress in a state of deshabille minus her makeup
in the early morning light.
For there is a definite similarity between old houses
and former actresses. Each in her time has played many
parts. This is so of the old Ray house now being razed
at lhe corner of West Main and Quince sts. in Medford.
The house was built by Dr. C. R. Ray in about 1907.
It was purchased by the Assembly of God church in
1950 and it is now going down to make way for a
Jerking lot.
Howard Commons is directing the razing and the
lumber is to be converted into a business building.
The Story of Light
The story of the Ray family is the story of light
the kind that comes on with the pull of a switch and
its advent in Hit Rogue River valley. The house, now
dark except for the occasional reflection of a shingle
fire in one of its many windows as the demolition con
tinues, was once ablaze with light upstairs and down,
inside and out.
It was, with admiration, called "the light house" by
many. For Dr. Ray and his brother. Col. Frank H. Ray,
built Gold Ray dam and developed the power company,
which is today serving southern Oregon as Pacific Pow
er and Light.
They used their own product. Even the bathrooms,
upstairs and down, were heated as well as illuminated
with electric lights. There were eight or 10 rows of lights
in the bathrooms and 12 lights to the row to generate
heat.
There were lights in handsome fixtures on the ver
anda which encircled the front and two sides of the
house. There were many lights on the bancony which
was a second floor replica of the veranda. There was a
fireplace heated by cleriricity. The first electric home
heating known to the valley was found in tnu Ray house.
Colonel Frank H Kav. New York financier, spent much
time and monev in Jackson county during the early 19U0s.
He provided the capital for the Ray industries, launched
by his brother. .
Electric power, however, was jusi one of many Indus'
trial piojects brought to the Rogue River valley by the
Rays.
The dam was built to satisfy a need for power to
operate the Ray mines.
Mining brought the Rays to the Rogue River valley.
Dr. Ray left his practice in Chicago, lured to Alaska
by the gold rush. It wasn't what he expected and he
decided to practice medicine in Seattle. He remained
there about a year then, with his family, decided to
return east. His brother, Colonel Ray, convinced him he
should slop off in southern Oregon and investigate the
mines he had purchased in the Gold Hill area.
Stop Off and Slay
Dr. Ray and his family stopped oft and they stayed.
He decided to direct the operation of the mines. Colonel
Ray of New York was one of the vice presidents and
organizers of the American Tobacco company and had
access to adequate capital for launching the Ray indus
trial projects.
Dr. Ray furnished the creativity. He was operating
the Braden mine with steam when he got the idea of
putting an electric plant in the river. ISonds were sold
on the New York market to raise additional capital for
the electric plant.
The stretch of water up the river from Gold Hill,
now known as Gold Ray. was chosen as place for the
dam when the city of Gold Hill wanted loo much money
for a site. The Rays, with their daughters, Ina and Mabel,
and sons, Frank and Charles, were then living in Gold
Hill.
When installation started, the Rays decided to en
large the plant and furnish electricity to Medford, Jack
sonville. Central Point, Grants Pass and Ashland. The
plant was known as Condor Water and Power company.
Coffer Dams Constructed
Coffer dams were constructed first to pull the water
away from the area to permit construction of the perma
nent dam.
High water and other problems beset the project.
Several times the logs of the coffer clam went floating
down the river. The project, hiring about 100 men, had
to start all over again. Hay was sonietitv.es dumped into
the water to slow the washouts and thei-nvestors began
to believe the taunts of the people who declared early
in theame that the Rogue would never be harnessed.
Excitement occurred when someone, obviously op
posed to the project (and there were many such people)
planted dynamite at the dam site. It was found before
any damage occurred and patrols were placed on 24-houT
duly. The men were again called off the job when fire
broke out in lhe heavy timber then growing between
the dam site and the lower Table Rock. Dr. Ray sent
all the workmen to fight the forest fire.
The late Chase R. Masters of Portland was contractor
for installation of the coffer dams. H. C. Stoddard was
the electrical engineer and Civil Engineer Perm is also
remembered for participation in the installation. When
the water was cleared from the river hcri another oppor
tunity .to mine presented itself and Dr. Ray was quick
to recognizelhe potential.
Gold Panned, Sluiced
Gold was panned and sluiced, and Miss Mabel Ray
of Medford remembers well going to visit in the home
of Dr. Joseph Hill, operator of Hill's Military academy
in Portland, with a bottle of gold nuggets from the
river bed to show the Hill stepdaughters, who were
friends.
The main dam also was constructed of logs. Charles
Ray of the Ray Real Estate and Insurance agency in
Medford. relates. The logs were bolted down to the bed
rock and iMe' spaces were filled with concrete. There
were no cement mixers then and six or seven men would
line up with shovels and mix the cement and gravel.
Equipment for installation of the plant was taken across
the river on barges.
One unit of the dam was operated with what was
called a rope drive. Ray said. When it broke down it
was necessary to find a rope splicer quickly.
Extensive Timber Holdings
The Rays also had extensive timber holdings in
southern Oregon and a sawmill was established in the
backwater at Gold Ray to care for this timber. Logs
were floated down the river from the Prospect domain
and shoved along by boatmen to the log boom.
After building the power plant at Gold Ray, the Ray
interests decided to construct Prospect No. 1 plant and
the new power source was joined with Gold Ray by
line fi.
The Prospect venture was a difficult undertaking.
Equipment was hauled from Medford. 45 miles down
the valley, by three and four horse teams and wagons.
The coffer dam, constructed to open the way for installation of Gold Ray dam, was being built when this photo
graph was taken at the bend in Rogue river with the lower Table Rock in the background. On the right is the rail
road crossing sign. The Southern Pacific line was given steady patronage by the Rays.
Completion ef Gold Ray dam in 1903 04 was cause firr celebration and this photograph, taken by the late Vinton
Efall of Beall lane, shows the crowd assemblini! for the festivities. The green boughj which covered the cook house
and dmmg room added shade at well as decoration to the setting.
4 t f
There was a 200-foot drop down into the river canyon
to negotiate.
There are still persons in the valley who worked
on the project and remember the period as the most
exciting one in the industrial development of Jackson
county.
Live Near Gold Ray Dam
The Bays for a number of years lived in a lodge
near the Gold Ray dam, constructed by Colonel Ray as
quarters for a hunting and fishing club that never quite
materialized. The whole family made trips to Portland
and San Francisco for shopping and later for schooling.
Ina attended St. Helen's Hall in Portland and Mabel
went to Anna Head and to Miss West's in San Francisco.
It was quite common to flag the train with a lantern
al the dam and dims nboard'ip train. There are those
who insinuate that the generosity of the Southern Pacific
in this matter was perhaps precipitated by consideration
then being given to eleclrifying the railroads. Anyway,
a miniature depot was set up at the dam for the Ray
family. Dr.. Ray served on a rivers and harbors com
mittee and made frequent trips by train to Washing
ton, DC.
In about 1907 the Condor Water and' Power com
pany became known as the Rogue River Electric, which
continued to operate in Oregon while a sister organiza
tion, so to speak, operated in northern California as Sis
kiyou Light and Power. It was the merger of the two in
1913 that created the California Oregon Power company
(Copco), recent predecessor of Pacific Power and Light.
Mine Closed Down ,
World War I took Its loll from the Ray empire,
Colonel Ray was in London when war broke out. He
had the Braden mine closed down and all the machinery
taken out. s
It had been "one of the most important mines in
Jackson county," according to the Oregon Metal Mines
handbook. The mine got its name from Dr. James
Braden.
It was sold lo Colonel Ray in 1900. but he continu'ed
to call it the Braden mine. In 1907 the mine produced
, more than $30,000, according to the mineral industries
report of the state of Oregon.
It was the Gold Hill mine, however, about which
the fabulous mining tales were told. It was commonly
called the Gold Hill poc ket and production reports vary
from $400,000 to $500,000.
Brick Plant Vncludod
A brick plant at Tolo was another Ray enterprise.
The bricks in the Alex Sparrow house on Kirtland rd.,
now home of the James Firths, came from Hie Ray
kilns. An electric train was operated to carry clay to
the plant. The Ray family often rode on this train and
o3 the electric car, which went down into the Prospect
canyon. The Prospect hotel, now operated by the James
Heston Grieves, was Ray properly and housed guests
from many corners of the nation, brought to southern
Oregon by the Rays.
The family owned 10,000 acres of farm land in the
Tolo-Gold Hill vicinity. Some of it was purchased to
avoid damage suits which might develop from mining
tailings or the' overflow of water in the dam region.
A 12-inch pipe was installed to carry irrigation water
from, the dam area lo the McDonough farm about Pa
miles away. All the farms continued under the names
of the owners from whom Ray purchased the acreages,
most of which are now included in .'he.Cal-Orc holdings
Also in the Gold Ray dam area was a granite quarry
operated by the Rays. The granite in the Copco build
ing and in the Masonic building, both on Medford's Main
si., came from that quarry.
Frequently Recalled Memories
Trips lo the mines are among the most frequently
and intentionally recalled memories of Miss Ray and her
brother, Charles. There was a French chef at the gold
mine and bnlh Rays remember the festive meals and the
table where family and crew dined. It was a table with
a revolving center (lazy Susan style) and Its store of
fruits and vegetables "turning 'round and 'round." gave
a carnival atmosphere to dining, particularly inviting to
former Chicago children.
From Gold Ray. the Rays moved into ft rcnlcd house
where the Hotel Medford now stands, thei? to a New
town St. residence while awaTling completion of the
West Main st. house.
A small planer was brought to the site lo provide
the right finish In the lumber oing into the house,
which became the family dwelling for many years. Then
Dr. Ray died while traveling home from New York.
Mrs. Ray lived only three more years.
Miss Ray, alone, called the place home, but another
war soon brought new faces to the house. The first
architect-engineers for construction of Camp White and
their families rented moms. The camp was organized and
five drmy couples rented five rooms.
Real Eiiale Office Opened
A real estate office was opened in the home by II.
L. Cook. Miss Ray became a notary public and Hie house
became polling place for the voting precinct. Then It
was sold to the Assembly of God church next door. It
was used for various church classes and for wedding
leeeplions.
-.lis vried career c ame to a Trihfirft end this summer
when it was sold. It is now hrmg torn down for the
lumber that is In It, good solid lumber, sawed and planed
In the mills of Its original owner.
It Is prnhsbly necessary that the old house come
down In Just thp manner it docs today. But It would
seem more fitting if one of the sonic booms that occa
sionally makes lla windows clatler, as a plane goes over
from Kinsley field, Klamath Falls, could rare it With !
m final blast.
. ',t tM 1
jaF T-
Dr. C. R. Ray, who left his medical practice in Chicago lo
join the Alaska Gold Rush, developed several industries here
In addition to bringing electricity to the Rogue River Valley.,
ud few jf QKpto,TT
This pieto. c ol lhe Dr. C. R. Rav home on Merlfnrri's: Wi vl !t.,m o ihn firi
tak"n atb'f iij completion. The climbing roses and rose garden, which added beauty to
lhe area for years, had not been plante d.
,
I
., : I.
lo bt
build-
This Is probably the last phnlnnraph that will be taken of the Ray house, which Is I
replaced by a parking lot to be used bv lhe Assembly of God church next door. Tha I
Uig was sold by the cbutch to men who are teuuig it down.
V i t