Some of the following information was taken from a chapter in Golden Was The Past the stories continue… contributed by Dorothy Bond.

The Galloping Goose was a funny little streetcar-like contraption that ran up and down the Row River Valley on the railroad tracks. The Goose was either a remodeled boxcar or looked like one.  It was built around 1915 and was powered by a gasoline engine and had 6 flanged wheels to hug the tracks.  The goose featured windows all around, benches and a comfy pot-bellied stove.

The goose had 17,000 riders in 1917.  It was used by farmers, housewives, miners and anyone else looking for a cheap way to and from town,.  The entire trip cost one dollar and station to station was 5 cents.  By the end of the 1920s the advent of the automobile meant retirement for the Goose.  The old streetcar body became part of a farmhouse and the days of public transportation in the Row River Valley came to an end.

Here are some photos of a few Row River Valley bridges that aren’t there anymore.

This bridge was located where Dorena Reservoir is now.

This bridge crossed Teeter’s Creek down by the lake.

This bridge over Sharp’s Creek was always referred to as “Red Bridge” even though it was painted white for most of its existence.

A Row River Bridge conveniently located over a good swimming hole.

A bridge over Upper Brice Creek.

Sometimes bridges break accidentally…..

Sometimes they break on purpose! This is a still from Buster Keaton’s film The General, filmed on the Row River. This bridge was specially built for this scene.

This is one of the two surviving covered bridges on the Row River.

This is the other covered bridge that still stands on the Row River.

Back around 1910 or so, controversial Oregon author Opal Whiteley lived in the Row River Valley.  She traipsed through the woods studying nature and writing her observations down in her diary, or not, depending on which version of events one believes.

The Cottage Grove Public Library at 700 E Gibbs has a great collection of Opaliana.  I recommend K.K. Becks Opal: A Life of Enchantment, Mystery, and Madness.  Beck gives a thorough and skeptical look at Opal’s story.  More sympathetic views of Opal can be found at intersect.uoregon.edu/opal/

Regardless of where the truth lies, the Dorena Historical Society takes a perverse kind of pride in this little wisp of a local, who cut such a wide swath through the world.  Opal gallivanted through America, India and Europe hanging out with French Royalty, Maharajas and even one of Oscar Wilde’s former lovers.

Opal is 4th from the left in this photo of Dorena High School.