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!
p. 50 Vessels or Boats continued and Water Wheels, Weeds, Yeast
(This page was typed by NVMS staff member Susie Bentley.)
"Anita" was on the beach also.
"Frolic" 1911, Aug. 27th, came from Bay City, 50 feet long. She took joyriders to Haystack Rock.
"Louise" a boat which hauled cream for Little Nestucca farmers to the Red Creamery situated above Woods.
James B. Upton, in 1889, built a large wooden waterwheel to bring creek water into his house.
In 1910, Steve Bauer built a large wooden waterwheel in upper Slab Creek to operate a light plant. In 1918, he built a new wheel to get lights in his new barn and to chop feed for cattle.
Lewis Shortridge erected a long wooden trough supported on wood posts across the north end of the lake to get good spring water to the Campo Ground. After this rotted and was blown down, it was replaced by lead water pipe.
A weed which the early settlers called "Fletchers Delight" because it started on the farm of A. W. Fletcher, at Oretown, spread rapidly and became a pest. Finally it died out or froze out. Wild Parsnip flourished along swampy ground in early days and killed many cattle who pulled it up and ate the rest when other feed was scarce. It was deadly poison. Larkspur also a very deadly poison to cattle grew in the early days and killed many cattle. These two deadly weeds seem to have been killed out entirely.
Later fox glove started and spread rapidly through pastures and uncultivated land. It is still a pest although many persons earn good pay picking and selling the leaves for Digitalis. In 1947 - 48 another weed took hold and spread most rapidly. It is Rag-wort Tansy; Tillamook County Court ordered farmers to destroy all on their farms. A weed called by settlers "man-in-the-Ground" bears beautiful flowing clusters of white flowers resembling orange blossoms. It has a most distasteful odor. The root grows to enormous size, shaped like a turnip but sometimes as large as a washing machine.
The earliest settlers made Sourdough bread cooked in a Dutch Oven in front of the fireplace. Many housewives clung to the sourdough biscuits for every meal. They are appetizing when expertly made and are eaten hot with plenty of butter. The sourdough was made by putting some soft dough inside an earthen crock or jar and setting it in a warm place to ferment. A starter from a neighbor's sourdough (if obtainable) helps fermentation. Some of this prepared sourdough was poured into more flour, Saleratus (baking Soda) added and all molded by had sufficiently stiff to roll out for biscuits. Later real yeast was made with hops which James B. Upton started raising on his homestead. The dried hops enclosed in a bag of thin muslin, or a piece of flour sack, and salt, were stirred into the boiling hop juice to form a thick jelly-like mass. When cooled, a starter saved from old yeast was added and thoroughly stirred after which it was set in a warm place to ferment. Frequent stirring kept it from overrunning the crock. A cup full of this hop yeast was sufficient to make a "batch" of nourishing bread.
Commercial yeast came into use later, although most cooks now use fresh bakers bread.
This completes Short History of the LIttle Nestucca River Valley and Its Early Pioneers! Hopefully sometime during the '02 - '03 school year, the index of people's names will be completed and posted at the end of the document.
Thank you for being interested in the history of South Tillamook County and NVMS's Heritage Project.