Valsetz, Oregon
Valsetz was an unincorporated community and timber company town in Polk County, Oregon, United States, west of Falls City in the Central Oregon Coast Range.[1] It no longer exists.
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[edit] History
Oregon Geographic Names says that the William W. Mitchell Company started the town in 1919 and named it as a portmanteau of Valley and Siletz Railroad, whose terminus was at that location.[2] Company town researcher Linda Carlson says the town was founded by the Cobbs & Mitchell company of Cadillac, Michigan during World War I.[3][4] Valsetz post office was established in 1920.[2]
| Valsetz, Oregon 4/26/1926 to 10/12/1986 |
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In 1947, Cobbs & Mitchell sold the town to its sales agent, Herbert Templeton.[3] He operated it as the Valsetz Lumber Company until 1959, when its sawmill and timber stands were sold to the Boise Cascade Corporation.[2][3]
After the depletion of the old growth timber in the area in the 1970s, the railroad was torn up.[2]
In 1983, Boise Cascade announced that all operations at Valsetz would end early the next year.[2] About that time, the town's population was about 300.[5] In 1984, the town and most of its structures were removed, as everything in the community, property and streets included, was owned by the corporation. The post office closed the same year.[2] The site became part of the Valsetz Tree Farm.[1][2]
Valsetz Lake, an artificial lake next to the townsite that was formed by damming the South Fork Siletz River, was drained in 1988.[4][6]
[edit] Legacy
Former residents of Valsetz gather for an annual reunion in Falls City, which is the site of a Valsetz memorial.[7]
The place was nationally known for its record rainfalls and for its newspaper, the Valsetz Star, which was started in the 1930s by 9-year-old Dorothy Anne Hobson.[3] At one time the population of Valsetz was over one thousand, and served by its own elementary and high school, which fielded championship basketball teams.[3]
Near the site of the former community is the "Valley of the Giants", 51 acres (210,000 m2) of Bureau of Land Management-protected old growth Douglas-fir and Western Hemlock forest on the North Fork of the Siletz River. The valley was set aside for protection in 1976.[8]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Valsetz (historical)". Geographic Names Information System, U.S. Geological Survey. November 28, 1980. http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:1158530. Retrieved 2010-01-18.
- ^ a b c d e f g McArthur, Lewis A.; Lewis L. McArthur (2003) [1928]. Oregon Geographic Names (Seventh ed.). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. p. 988. ISBN 0-87595-277-1.
- ^ a b c d e Carlson, Linda (2003). Company Towns of the Pacific Northwest. Seattle: University of Washington Press. pp. 139, 238. ISBN 0-295-98332-9. http://www.lindacarlson.com/historybook.html.
- ^ a b 1988 Polk County Itemizer-Observer article cited in Ferrari, Greg (March 22, 2001). Valsetz. http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/geo422/Greg%20Ferrari-%20Valsetz%20Document.pdf. Retrieved 2008-03-25.
- ^ Friedman, Ralph (1990). In Search of Western Oregon (2nd ed.). Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers, Ltd. p. 181. ISBN 0-87004-332-3. http://books.google.com/books.
- ^ "Valsetz Lake (historical)". Geographic Names Information System, U.S. Geological Survey. May 22, 1986. http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:1158531. Retrieved 2010-01-18.
- ^ Rouse, Jennifer. "Falls City Honors Valsetz: Gone But Not Forgotten". Polk County Itemizer-Observer (www.fallscity.org). http://www.fallscity.org/valsetz.html. Retrieved 2008-03-25.
- ^ Gault, Roy (November 7, 2003). "Walk among Salem's old-growth trees". Statesman Journal.
[edit] External links
- "Valsetz, 1928" image and history from the Oregon Historical Society
- Historic photos of Valsetz from Salem Public Library
- Image of the Valsetz veneer mill being burned in 1984 from Abandonedrailroads.com
- Privately maintained Valsetz site
- Award-winning feature documentary film about Valsetz
Coordinates: 44°50′18″N 123°39′14″W / 44.83833°N 123.65389°W
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