Dorena Historical Society

Emperor of the North

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The New York Times has an interesting review of the new DVD of Emperor of the North (AKA Emperor of the North Pole).  The film starred Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine and was filmed on the railroad tracks in the Row River Valley. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/movies/homevideo/emperor-of-the-north-and-wind-across-the-everglades-fighters-in-nature-and-showbiz.html?ref=movies

 

 

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An Early Resident

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Katie Kirk sent these wonderful photos of her Great Great Grandfather, James Alan Kirk, on his land in Dorena.

 

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This land is now part of Dorena Lake.  

Katie remembers her grandfather, Ralph Kirk, holding her on his hip when she was a little girl, pointing out over the lake and saying “There was the land they took from us, Katie.”

 

 

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Robert Drenner, Wildlife Artist

 

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 The Drenner House

Noted Wildlife Artist, Robert Drenner lived in Culp Creek from 1934 until his death at age 77 in 1971. He purchased land on Lower Brice Creek Rd in 1934 and completed a large lodge style house by 1940.  The land was originally settled by George and Sarah Kerr. Mr Drenner was passionate about wildlife and natural history.  He chaired the Oregon Centennial Commission in 1959 and was instrumental in bringing about the reenactment of the Oregon Trail that year. He produced historic pageants in the Cottage Grove  area, starting with a cast of 4 kids in Culp Creek.

 

Photo courtesy of the Cottage Grove Historical Society

Drenner dressed for one of his Historical Pageants. Photo courtesy of the Cottage Grove Historical Society

 

 

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In 1940 he produced a large mural for the then brand new Cottage Grove High School.  The mural was salvaged and is being stored by the Stewart Foundation.

 

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A number of paintings by Drenner hung in the old Cottage Grove Public Library in the building that now houses the Woodard Foundation. These beautiful geese are among them.

 

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This detail shows Drenner’s signature.

 

 

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An old newspaper article shows the amount of work that went into a Drenner project.

 

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This whimsical plate by Drenner showed up on Etsy recently.

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Back to School at Dorena 100 Years Ago

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This photo of Dorena High School and the text that accompanies it are from the files of the Cottage Grove Historical Society. The High School at Dorena closed in 1936 and local students have attended Cottage Grove High School ever since.

 

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Lee Marvin at Culp Creek School

Lee Marvin

 

Lee Marvin showed up at Culp Creek School one day in 1972 to visit with the kids and play a game of ball. Lee was in town filming Emperor of the North with Ernest Borgnine.  The story goes that one of the students was afraid that he would be in trouble for staying late after school, so Mr. Marvin walked him home and told the surprised mother that he was the reason her son was not home on time.

 

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Four Generations in Disston

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This photo shows four generations of one family in Disston in 1919. From left to right are Florence Carr, Grandpa Egbert, Lena Carr, Florence Proudfit and Grandma Carr.  Lena Carr was the Postmaster of Disston from 1916 until 1948. The photo is from the collection of the Lane County Historical Museum

 

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Time to Cool Off!!

 

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 Photo found on Pinterest

Moon Falls is a lovely spot to visit on a hot summer day.  It is a bit of a drive up Layng Creek Road to the trailhead, but an easy walk from there. From Cottage Grove, OR, travel east on Row River Road 2400 for 19 miles to the junction of Layng Creek Road 17 and Brice Creek Road 2470. Turn left on Layng Creek Road 17 and continue for 8.8 miles to Forest Road 1790. Turn right and travel for 0.25 mile to Forest Road 1702. Turn left on Forest Road 1702 and travel for 2.8 miles to Forest Road 1702-728. Turn right on Forest Road 1702-728 and continue for 0.3 mile, turning left on Forest Road 1702-203. The trailhead is at the end of the road. Parking is limited to 3-4 vehicles. Please maintain turn around room for visitors. It is a good idea to stop at the Forest Service Office about 2 miles east of town on Row River Rd to pick up a map. Layng Creek is named after George Layng, an Irish immigrant.  The Layngs settled near Rujada on Layng Creek.  They raised cattle and did a brisk business supplying meat to the Bohemia Mines.

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Rujada

 

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According to McArthur’s Oregon Geographic Names Rujada started out as a lumber camp at the eastern end of the Oregon, Pacific and Eastern Railway out of Cottage Grove.  The name sounds Spanish, but it is not.  It comes from the first initials of Reserve and United States, followed by the initials of the first names of some of the founders (Jack and Dave?) It is correctly pronounced Roo-jay-duh. A train full of logs from Rujada.

 

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Here is a family group on the porch of a lumber camp cabin at Rujada.  Love the hammock! 

An article in the Oregon Daily Journal in 1922 had a story about an excellent mountain guide up at the Rujada camp. According to the article this guide, Ruggles, “did not waste one’s breath with conversation, walked as slowly or as fast as one wanted, obeyed all commands and piloted folks to and from the logging camp.”  Ruggles was, of course, a dog.  He would meet the train and lead the passengers to the camp and back.

 

 

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There was a fire look-out for a time at Rujada, as well as a Civilian Conservation Corps camp.

 

 

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  Here is a group of campers in 1964.

Starting in the 1930’s Rujada became a popular place to camp.

 

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The Swordfern Trail

Rujada is still a wonderful place to camp and hike. The Swordfern Trail follows the creek for a while and then heads up to an old logging road that loops back to the campground.

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Row River Valley Cemeteries

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This is the gravestone of Alfred H. Bigelow at Sears Cemetery. He was the first Postmaster of Dorena.

Sears Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the Row River Valley.  The story of its origin is sad and touching. Sarah Alexander was a young wife and mother in the Valley back in 1852.  She had consumption and knew that she was going to die soon.  She wanted to pick out her own grave site, so she selected a lovely spot under an oak tree on a hill in view of her home.  She was buried there 5 months later. The spot became Sears Cemetery.

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The gravestone of Mary  Southwell and her son Walter.  The feud between the Southwell and Clark families gave the Row River Valley its name.

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Vinnie Stewart was the daughter-in-law of early pioneer Bake Stewart.

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The Englands were among the first to settle the valley and many of them are buried in Sears Cemetery

 

 

 

 

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The Hunt Cemetery is a pioneer family cemetery near Wildwood Falls. There are a total of twelve graves here, mostly members of the Hunt Family. Quinten was the first of the Hunt Family to be buried there.

 

 

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The Touchette brothers share an unusual grave site in the Hunt cemetery.  They are buried head to head and each has his own side of the tombstone. John Touchette built a mill at Wildwood Falls in 1895 and was dead a year later. There is also a Doolittle Cemetery near Cerro Gordo.  Six members of the Doolittle Family are buried there.

 

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Cute Row River Valley Kids of Yore

 

Not sure of the identity of this cute little farmer, but the photo is from the Van Schoaick Family

 

 

More Van Schoiack kids, Lattie, Belle and Ray, in a formal portrait from a Cottage Grove Studio

 

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Four boys in a tree in Star circa 1900.  Might be a Wicks child or two in this photo.

 

 

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Opal Whiteley and her sisters, early Row River residents.

 

 

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A very somber Chloe and Faye Whiteley, sisters of Opal. The bottom three photos are from the Lane County Historical Society’s online photo archive. Check it out here http://www.lanecountyhistoricalsociety.org/research-photocatalog.html and a nod to http://www.mysouthlane.com/ for posting about great online photo resources.

 

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