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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!
p. 46 Tragedies continued and Near Tragedies
(This page was typed by Susie Bentley, NVMS staff member.)
In October, 1944, Hollis (Sack) Franklin and his brother, Lloyd, purchased a 56 foot halibut boat, the "J. C.. Hergert", and left Eureka, California, with five men aboard to fish for halibut. On board was Capt. John H. Courage, Hollis and Lloyd and two other men. They were last sighted not far from Eureka by the halibut schooner "Columbia". After being missing for 35 days, all hope for their safety was given up on December 8th. No word has ever been received from them and no parts of the vessel has ever been found washed in or afloat. A complete mystery surrounds their fate. Hollis is survived by his wife and three sons. The two Franklin men were born near Oretown in Little Nestucca section, grew up in the same locality. Their parents were Frank and Jane Bozley Franklin, early homesteaders and pioneers.
One winter between 1882 and 1885, because of deep snow, Hardy Rock (mail carrier between Oretown and Grande Ronde), was forced to make the trip for three months on foot with the mail bags on his back. Once the water in the Little Nestucca ford was so high, he lost the mail bags in the river and had a difficult time getting out himself. The swift, deep current carried him and his horse some distance below the ford where the horse got a footing against a steep bank but could not climb it. Rock managed to get from the horse to the bank by grasping and holding on to the bushes and pulling himself up while still holding to the long extra length of bridle and, at the same time, dragging the pony up. The mail bags were washed away and were not found until some years later, lodged in a large drift in the river.
Dec. 1886, the captain of the wrecked vessel "Carmarthan Castle" almost lost his life in the Little Nestucca River. He was swept from his horse while trying to cross the perilous ford of the river in company with Henry Page, the mail carrier. But for the strenuous efforts of Page, Capt. Richards would have been drowned.
April 18, 1909, Lester and Arthur Atterbury, D. J. Dunn, L. E. Whiteman, Wm. Bragg, Lloyd and Will Miller went out over the Bar in Mill Bros. gasoline launch. They got into trouble and were picked up by Capt. Tarbell of the "Della". He tried to tow the launch in against the tide but was forced to cut it loose. It drifted in on the beach and was gotten into the Bay on the 20th. Capt. Tarbell, being a frequent visitor in the home of Chris Christensen, became of Christensen's small daughter, Iona. Once she wrote a letter to the Captain, who had in the meantime gone to Manila. This letter landed in the dead letter office in San Francisco, later the dead letter office in Washington, D. C. from where it was returned to Iona one year after she had mailed it. She still has it unopened.
November 27, 1910, ? Livingstone, while horse-back crossing the ford in the river below Baxter's place (toll-gate) fell from his h horse into a deep hole. Although he tried to swim out, he would have drowned but for the timely help of Ole Redberg who pulled him out. At the home of Joe Stienmassle, he was supplied with dry clothing. The horse got out by itself.
In 1910, John and Gilbert Rock had a narrow escape at the mouth of the Bay while trying to land a rowboat, loaded with many sacks of gravel which they had gotten from the bay beach, and intended loading on the wagon waiting on the south spit. They lost an oar and had great difficulty in landing the rowboat.
February 8, 1910, the "Gerald C" (Captain Mathers) went ashore on the north spit. She was pounded hard during an extremely high tide. While trying to board her, the boat engineer and Will Penter were caught by a huge breaker. The engineer was thrown down and rolled up on the beach, wet all over, and Penter got thoroughly soaked to his waist. On the 11th, the vessel was pulled into deep water just before a high tide.
Continue to page 47 of "Short History of the Little Nestucca River Valley and Its Early Pioneers!"