southtillamookcounty.com
History
"Short History of the Little Nestucca River Valley and Its Early Pioneers" written about South Tillamook County, Oregon
The page below was written by Mrs. Hardy Rock (Alexandria LEY Rock) and published in 1949. NVMS students have retyped her history so that many may read it. Although some punctuation errors have been corrected the text remains as written by Mrs. Rock.
Note that Alexandria LEY Rock's "Short History of the Little Nestucca River Valley and Its Early Pioneers" has been republished in book form as of January 2007 and is now being offered for sale by the Tillamook County Historical Society!
(This page was typed by eighth grader, Jesse, during the spring of 2002 and edited by Dean Bones.)
The first industry for profit was fishing. James B. Upton with his two sons, Charles and Willis, fished at Upton Falls. Upton had acquired title to the falls and adjacent twenty acres from the government. His daughter, Mrs. D. Ostrander of Portland, still owns the falls and twenty acres adjacent.
Other settlers fished in River below and in the Bay; these fish were hauled by horse team to the Willamette Valley and peddled out for ? or any produce such as flour, fruit, sugar, coffee, grains etc. C. Christensen and sons, Will and Fred, were among the first fishermen. Many families moved to the Willamette Valley to pick hops during the hop season, returning with supplies for the winter. S. H. (Hardy) Rock peddled fresh mutton twice a week on Camp Grounds with his cart and one horse. Some men spent the summer months working in harvest fields to earn money for their families. Young women found employment away from home in Sheridan, Salem and other towns. Cattle were raised for sale, also sheep for mutton and wool, which was packed in long large wool sacks and hauled to Sheridan or Salem for sale.
The first county sawmill stood a little distance from the present site of the Andy Hess barn in Meda district. Krebs operated it awhile, selling to John Weiss who moved it nearer the site of the Nery Gould residence. It burned down. He then started one on what was the Fraser farm (now belonging to Caddy Hutchins). Later on, Weiss moved it near Fall Creek for Job Foster.
Tom and Frank Foster first operated a sawmill across the Little Nestucca River from home of Job Foster; moved it up on the high hill overlooking Meda and operated it there for several years. Sam Bauer (brother of Steve Bauer and grandfather of Gerald Bauer of Neskowin) operated a sawmill up Slab Creek on what is now the farm of the Jones family.
About the year 1888 or 1889, George and Tom Evans operated a sawmill at the mouth of the creek flowing into Nestucca Bay some distance north of the old time residence of Chris Christensen. Rome Dunn of Meda furnished logs for this mill.
Grant Irish operated a mill for awhile on what was the Hellenbrand farm (now the Kinman farm) between Oretown and Neskowin.
At the present time, 1949, there are no sawmills in our section of Tillamook County.
Continue to page 35 of "Short History of the Little Nestucca River Valley and Its Early Pioneers!"