Story of Mongold
(Continued from Page 1)
of Mongold began to be hauled in
piece-meal. The apartments were sal
vaged from Fruit Valley w^r housing
in Vancouver, Wash.
They were
sawed, and hauled in on trucks, re
assembled, painted, roofs repaired and
chimneys built. When completed, or
re-completed, they were something
less than a bride’s dream, but they
were eagerly snatched up by the fam
ilies who had been living in tents
and others who had been driving long
distances to work on the dam.
By early 1949 all 48 apartments
were full or overfull. As one ob
server put it “There weren’t a dozen
kids in each apartment, it just seemed
like it.’’ A new grammar school was
built at Detroit to accommodate the
influx of new children.
By then Mongold’s fire station was
fully equipped and manned to supply
fire and police protection and ambul
ance service. The so-called Mess Hall
was being used as an office for the
Army Engineers while the permanent
building was completed. About sixty
single men were living in the barracks
and plans were underway to set up
an adjacent trailer park to house more
workers.
I). D. R. A. Formed
As soon as people had time to catch
their breath after getting settled, they
looked around them. Most of them
had lived in cities with buses by their
door, shopping around the corner, or
ganized play for their children and
wide variety of entertainment at hand
for their leisure hours.
Now they
found themselves isolated by poor
roads in what looked to them a wild-
erness. No doctor, no dentist, the
nearest grocery and dry goods store
three miles away, no place equipped
for the children to play and the sole
entertainment facilities a distant
movie playing Westerns.
So a meeting was held and the De-
tioti Dam Recreation Association was
formed. The first order of business
was a playground for the small fry.
With warmer weather sand boxes and
wading pools were provided. A soft-
ball diamond was built and promptly
pressed into use. A weekly newspa
per was set up. Square dances, a
sewing club, study club, bridge and
pinochle club and Teen-ager club were
organized. A fishing derby and crib-
bage play-off were soon underway.
Shortly the first tuning up of instru
ments heraldeel the beginnings of what
was to become the fourteen-piece or
chestra known as Mongold Mavericks.
At first the Mess Hall had been
used in the evenings as a common
room but now the members decided
that the multiple activities deserved
a place of their own and the men
pitched in and built a community
center—the Hut—complete with kitch
en and rest rooms.
The Hut was
soon furnished and equipped with juke
box, card tables and ping pong equip
ment, and the first dance proved to be
a huge success.
From that time until the Hut was
finally dismantled this year the door
was never locked and the hall was
seldom out of use. It provided a place
for the teen-agers, Sunday school
classes, children’s parties and im
promptu get-togethers.
By this time the Detroit Dam Ree-
reation Association was a going con-
cern financially and ready to tackle
other ventures. A contract was ne
gotiated for garbage disposal for the
apartments and trailer court, housing
over thirty families.
Laundry had
always been a headache in the
cramped quarters of the apartments
and trailer court so the association
purchased and installed a large, com
plete self-service laundry.
Beginning of the End
By late 1952 the peak of the job
was over and the workers began leav
ing for other places and other jobs
all over thé world. The first resident
engineer, Col. Jack Miles, went to
Peru, S. A.; the Jeff Boyers and
“Woody” Burgesses to Washington,
D.C.; the BilE-Smitbs and the Keith
Pinkstaffs to Hanford, Wash.; the
Charles Staytons to L.A., Calif.; Col.
C. C. Davis to Lake Champlain, N.Y.;
the Plato McFees to Casablanca, N.
Africa; the Lewis MaeDaniels to
Alaska and others to all points north,
south, east, and west, wherever heavy
construction is now in progress.
As the people left, the apartments,
barracks, mess hall, the trailer court,
and finally the fire station were sold
and dismantled.
The Detroit Dam
Recreation Association had a final
banquet for its members and dis-
banded, donating the remaining 1300
in its treasury for the purchase of
incubators for the Santiam Memorial
hospital.
The windows, doors, and
other salvageable m.aterial ftom the
Hut were hauled to Detioit, where
they will be used, fittingly, in the new
Community building. In May of this
year four of the remaining apartment
buildings were given for salvage to
Canyon organizations, the Idanha and
Mill City posts of the American Le
gion; the Eagles’ Auxiliary and the
Fire and Community building for the
City of Detroit.
Still living in the apartments that
stood on highest giound are three
families that saw Mongold’s beginning
and will see its ending—namely the
Claude Becks, the Ted Browns and
the Bill Shufords.
So this is a story of the beginning
and ending of the town of Mongold
and a tribute to the people who lived
there and built a dam and a special
tribute to a man who never lived to
see the dam.
3—THE MILL (IT5 ENTERPRISE
June 4, 1953
meet at 2 o'clock on Monday. June 8,
at the Senator hotel. This will be
the last meeting of the summer, the
fall meeting will be held the second
Monday in September.
Mill City Garden club held its late , Mrs. Winifred Pettyjohn will tell of
spring flower show in the Presby- her recent cruise through the Medi-
terian recreation room. A total of terranean and the Holy Land.
177 entries included beautiful iris of
The usual white elephant sale will
every color, flowering shrubs and ar be held following the meeting.
rangements.
Mrs. John Neal of Lyons and Mrs.
Elmer Taylor of Mehama judged the
exhibits.
Clerks were Mrs. Harold
Pound and Mrs. Charles Dolezal.
A baked food sale chairmaned by
Mrs. R. Olmstead as held in connec
tion with the show to help pay for
two pairs of drapes for the Santiam
Memoiial hospital donated by the
garden club.
Flower show chairman Francis
Dolezal thanks all who helped make
the flower show a success and Dora-
lee Wilson for typing the master copy
schedule.
Garden Club Holds
Spring Flower Show
li l t ( enter St
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Naturopath-Proctologist
Phone 3 9460
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E3J
THE FOURTH "R
Some American pioneers believed that
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THE CHURCH FOR AU
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It has dared so many spectacular things
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If yXMre not interested in the Church
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For Guaranteed Cleaning
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NU METHOD
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W'lhout a . ”na Ch
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democracy n£?*<Îïnrch-
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24-HOUR SERVICE
Mill City
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STIFFLER S RADIO & APPLIANCE
CHARLES S. MORGAN
Reasonable Radio Repairs
Phone 3207 — MHl City
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OREGON REPl BI.ICAN WOMEN
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KELLOM’S GROCERY
VERNE’S BARBER SHOP
WRIGHT TRUCK LINE
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Mill City
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BALDWIN’S CLOTHING STORE
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