Context Statement, Lecture notes of Business

Download Context Statement and more Lecture notes Business in PDF only on Docsity!

Front Cover: Cutler City Arch, gateway to Cutler City circa 1930 Inside Cover: Cutler City Service Station circa 1928

All images are courtesy of the North Lincoln County Historical Museum. This document was researched, written and compiled by Anne Hall. Ms. Hall is the Director and Curator of the North Lincoln County Historical Museum.

INTRODUCTION

On the central Oregon coast, a sliver of land lays between the mountains and the sea, bounded to the north by the Salmon River and to the south by the Siletz River. With Devils Lake at its center, it is a land of many waters, mild temperatures, lush vegetation, towering spruce trees and abundant terres- trial and sea life.

This little bit of paradise remained as nature shaped it for many thousands of years. Due in large part to its inaccessibility, it re- mained relatively untouched by westward expansion and modern development. Wagon roads turned to mud holes in the winter months and trains never quite made it to this area from more habitable places to the east. Settlement by the “New Americans” finally came in the late 1890s when homesteaders began to find their way into the more hospi- table corners of this windswept coast.

A string of small towns and cities, each with its own beginning and history grew up along the rivers and ocean. Soon these towns began to spread out and overlap, eventually combining to become Lincoln City.

North Lincoln County seen from Cutler City

Cutler City was one of these towns, situated on the southeast side of Siletz Bay between Schooner Creek and Drift Creek. While its history is linked with the history of north Lincoln County, its history as a town is distinctly different from the other towns. The following narrative explores the history and heritage of Cutler City as a unique entity within the larger context of the surrounding area.

Themes explored in this narrative include prehistory and exploration, Native American habitation and government policy, home- steading and early settlement, commerce and urban development, community building and government. Sub-themes; roads, transporta- tion, and national events, will only be dis- cussed in relation to broader themes such as settlement. The narrative is organized chro- nologically, except when some later event is included as part of a more comprehensive description of a person, place, business or organization.

NATIVE PEOPLES

Because the restless molding of land by water tends to obliterate traces of human history, there is no archaeological evidence to say how long this coastal strip has been inhabited. What little archaeological evidence remains indicates that Native Americans inhabited the area for thousands of years prior to white settlement. These relatively peaceful peoples shared a mild climate and plentiful foods obtained through hunting, fishing, and harvesting of root, nut and berry crops. (First Ore., pgs. 21-29)

Shell middens, Indian refuse piles, marked the sites of their encampments along the coast. The size of one such shell midden, found just across Siletz Bay from Cutler City in the late 1800s, indicated hundreds of years of native habitation at this site. That midden site and many others were lost when early twentieth century pioneers used the shell midden composite material for paving roads. (Salazar, Vol. II, pg. 83) Shell Midden

of the forests to provide greater hunting visibility and to release strong re-growth of brush shoots. The calamitous consequences of this practice were forest fires that burned out of control in 1846 and again in 1848. (Kasner, pg.1)

Consequently, Lieutenant Theodore Talbot reported a much diminished Native American presence along Siletz Bay in 1849, along with a smoke filled sky and devastated landscape. Talbot gives the first written account of the Cutler City area. As he made his way north, he stopped in what is now the Siletz Spit and prepared to cross Siletz Bay. Since he and his men were on horseback, crossing the wide mouth of the Bay proved difficult. Talbot first sent his horses across, losing one in the strong current. He and his men then attempted the crossing on a log raft built by his party. That method proving unsuccessful, his men found a canoe and the whole party made the crossing. When they finally set up camp on the opposite shore in the wet and dark, Talbot and his party were visited by a native man. The man told them that he and one other man, along with their families, were the only native people left in the Bay area. (Talbot, pg. 12)

COAST RESERVATION

On November 9, 1855, just a few weeks after a series of skirmishes between settlers and Native Americans in the Rogue River area, President Franklin Pierce signed an executive order establishing the Coast Reservation along the central Oregon Coast. The order set in motion the relocation of Native Americans residing in southern Oregon and northern California, forever changing the lives of these native peoples. (Schwartz, pg 166)

The first relocated Native Americans arrived at the mouth of the Salmon River in 1856. They traveled here by ships so overcrowded that widespread sickness and death were the results of the terrible voyage. Native groups that came later were subjected to a bitter march from their homelands, only allowed to bring the few items they could carry. Upon arrival, poverty and disease diminished their population even more due to the lack of supplies. Promised clothing, foodstuffs and homes were not provided. Government sup- plies were infrequent and insufficient. (Ken, pgs. 3-5)

Despite these hardships, three hundred acres of land were in cultivation on reservation lands by the spring of 1857. Log cabins, an office, storehouses, a warehouse, a drug store, “issue house”, cook house, blacksmith shop, school house and hospital were all in various stages of construction at that time. (Kent pgs. 3-5)

In 1887, the government passed a “General Allotment Act” known as the Dawes Act, which gave the president the authority to impose land ownership on Native Americans, an idea at odds with native culture and philosophy. The allotments consisted of individual land parcels that the government held in trust for twenty five years before giving clear title to the allotment holders. (Schwartz, pgs. 214-220)

The Siletz Indians did not accept the General Allotment Act until 1894 when they were given eighty acres of former reservation land per tribal member, half of what a home- steader could claim. In total the allotted land amounted to 44,459 acres, a small portion of original reservation lands. (Kent p.33)

Allotments, once they were accepted, played a major role in the settlement of north Lincoln County. The Dawes Act opened up the land for homesteaders, but made no provision for selling tracts of land. Native allotments could be sold if the allotment holders didn’t want to keep them. That meant that people with money to invest, rather than hard work, could own land with an eye to development rather than farming. Most early developers bought their land from native allotment holders. The allotment that was to become Cutler City was originally given to John and Mary Charley. (Lincoln County Abstract of Title, 1894)

Government Hill at Siletz

The beach “road” to Cutler City

Schooner Creek was named for a schooner that ran aground in the 1800s. Many legends surround this wreck, but Mr. William Dick, who lived in the Delake area in 1901, gave the most feasible account. According to Mr. Dick, his father was a crew member on a 400- ton Portuguese Schooner in 1850. The ship sprung a serious leak at sea and was forced to run ashore just inside the breakers of Siletz Bay, settling at the mouth of the creek. The cargo was salvaged but the wreck of the schooner remained. School children from the area recall playing in and around the wreck during low tides until the 1940s. A good part of the ship could still be seen well into the 1950s with the last bit of its ribs visible in the 1990s. Today, only the name and legend remain, the wrecked schooner having completely disappeared in the sands of Siletz Bay. (NLCNews 12-30-1948)

Approaching the area from the south re- quired using the beach as a road during low tides. The beach was often used as a road in those days because the hard packed sand was easier to traverse than soft muddy trails.

Governor Oswald West even declared the ocean beaches public roads in 1912. Once north Lincoln County was reached by this route, the Siletz River and Drift Creek still had to be crossed. It’s a wonder that anyone attempted to homestead the area at all. Perhaps the natural beauty of the place, beautiful estuary meadowland full of huckle- berries, rhododendrons and pine trees, drew people despite the obstacles.

Natural resources were also abundant, which meant that once settlers established a home- stead they were confident they could subsist, despite the hardships. The abundance of salmon in the Pacific rivers amazed the first settlers. Like the native peoples, the earliest settlers caught salmon along with sturgeon, eulachon, and shellfish such as crabs, clams, oysters, and shrimp.

Most of the new settlers in the Pacific North- west felled their own trees and sawed their own lumber for their homes and outbuild- ings. The abundance of timber, which could be harvested and then brought to mills via creeks and rivers, was very appealing. Lum- ber became an economic mainstay of the area, as well as its cultural hallmark. So while resources were plentiful, the obstacles to getting here meant that people had to really love the land to choose to homestead in the Cutler City area.

Schooner ribs visible in Siletz Bay

George Parmele and his family were the first nonnative people to settle near the land that would become Cutler City. The Parmeles acquired a homestead in the nearby commu- nity of Johnson, up Drift Creek, in 1896. Mr. Parmele built the first sawmill on Drift Creek in 1905, just east of the present site of Cutler City. (Nelson, p.133)

Other early residents in the area were an old native woman who lived in a small house on lower Drift Creek and Matt Aho. George Parmele was awed by the remarkable old woman known as “Old Tobby”. He said she possessed an almost superhuman skill in walking under water, often with her head completely submerged! She walked across Siletz Bay under water and was especially adept at crossing Schooner Creek, even at high tide. She made the crossings whenever she visited her neighbors Jakie and Sissie Johnson, who lived on the north shore of

Siletz Bay near the present day town of Taft. Old Tobby lived alone except at times when another elderly woman stayed with her. The land never belonged to her, and when her house burned down, Old Tobby moved away. (Nelson p.133)

One of the more unusual and interesting characters in Cutler City was Matt Aho, a Finlander and lifelong resident. Mr. Aho homesteaded acreage just west of Schooner Creek in 1905. His one room home was sparsely furnished with a table, a wood stove, an iron bed, a dish cabinet and an old Victorola. More than fifty years after he built the cabin, its contents were still the same. Matt Aho was best known for pushing a hand-hewn wheelbarrow through the town as he called out, “Roses… roses… only ten cents.” His roses were actually calla lilies that he grew himself.

EARLY SETTLEMENT IN CUTLER CITY

Parmele Family Homestead

Charlie Depoe

The Lincoln County Court approved the Cutler City town site in 1913, making it the third in North Lin- coln County. Mr. S.A. Cason helped the Cutlers survey the original site. Assisted by Walter Bones, Cason subdivided the property into small parcels of blocks and lots. He dedicated streets for a permanent public right of way that terminated at the water’s edge, thereby providing beach access to many generations of visitors and residents. Whether this result was the intention of Mr. Cutler and Mr. Cason or an accidental outcome is not known. In recognition of Cason’s work to create this town site, an early street in Cutler City was named Cason Street. Mr. Cason must have been a very good friend to the Cutlers, because when Cason and his wife separated, the Cutlers adopted their daughter, Gladys, who later became Mrs. Charles G. Davis of Neotsu. (Nelson, p. 134)

Getting to the town site was still a very big problem. A person could not walk down the road to Taft without crossing Schooner Creek. He could not visit neighbors to the south without crossing Drift Creek. The area was reached by horse, horse and wagon, by boat or by just wading across the water at low tide until a swinging bridge was constructed across Schooner Creek, just east of the road, in 1911. Although it was a scary crossing, especially in bad weather or for anyone carrying something in their hands, the bridge made it possible to walk across the creek.

S. A Cason

Bessie Knauf and Hazel King crossing Schooner Creek swinging bridge

One of the delightful stories about Matt Kangas shows how he kept his word, even when joking. Early one fall Bill Gerttula, who brought in supplies by boat, asked Matt Kangas how much flour he wanted to order for the winter. Matt jokingly replied, “Ten barrels,” thinking that such an exaggerated amount would not be taken seriously. Matt forgot about his joke, and Bill, believing that the Kangas family really wanted that much, informed Matt late that fall that his flour had arrived. Matt then remembered that he

Matt Kangas Family. Back L to R: Orval, Lizzie, Edna, Matt, George. Front L to R: Elma, Saima, Ernest, Edward

had failed to straighten out the order, and without protest, he took the forty sacks of flour, each weighing forty-nine pounds. He carefully stored them in the attic of his cabin, protecting them from moisture with an oilcloth. The joke wasn’t on Matt for long, however. The following year World War I brought food shortages and the government required people to use flour substitutes, which were awful by all accounts. Matt’s mistake helped the family weather this particular shortage quite nicely. (Salazar, Vol. II p.65)

Cutler City continued to be sparsely populated during the early part of the twentieth century due to the lack of usable roads. It wasn’t until 1927 when the newspapers proclaimed, “All Hail the Salmon River Cutoff! Our road, Portland’s road, Oregon’s road, the Northwest’s road, America’s road!” that the Salmon River Cut-Off was completed. It provided the lowest pass across the Coast Range as well as the straightest mountain road to the coast, beginning at what is known as Valley Junction and extending to Lincoln City. (Oregonian, September 15, 1927)

Salmon River Highway, completed

The portion of highway connecting Lincoln City with Newport to the south and Tillamook to the north, the Roosevelt Military Highway, was completed in 1927. However it was not until 1936 when the Yaquina Bridge was completed that the highway linked all the coastal cities in Oregon.

Coast Highway circa 1938

The completion of the Salmon River Cutoff and the Roosevelt Military Highway marked the beginning of a new era for north Lincoln County. The country as a whole had entered the Automobile Age years earlier, but until usable roads were built to the coast, automo- biles were seldom seen in north Lincoln County. Completion of the highways meant a surge in automobile travelers and soon visitors began arriving in north Lincoln County by the hundreds.

At first, overnight travelers slept in their cars or set up a tent they carried in the trunk when they visited the coast. Some ingenious souls attached homemade awnings directly to the vehicle to provide shelter. When the popularity of this type of auto camping soared during the early 1920s, coastal towns established auto parks to accommodate travelers. Cutler City had one of these auto parks, complete with garden cottages. The famous “Cutler City Arch”, gateway to the city and the Siletz Bay Auto Camp, is first mentioned in the 1930’s. The arch spanned Cutler City Road, the street that veers west from Highway

101. The arch welcomed visitors and provided a main entrance into Cutler City. (Salazar, Vol. III, Pt. 2, pg. 51)

CUTLER CITY DEVELOPMENT AND EARLY BUSINESSES

Auto Park and Cottages in Cutler City

On March 10, 1930, the town officially became Cutler City when a post office named in honor of the Cutlers was established. Its residents, who had been working to that end for some time, greeted the news with jubilation. At last the town was official and could act as one entity. (BRN 3-28-30)

Jacob H. Boomer, the first postmaster, also has the distinction of having had the first major fire in Cutler City. In 1937, a fire caused by a faulty flu destroyed the Boomer

cottage. The Delake Volunteer Fire Department responded to the call and contained the blaze, saving the L. Shultz home and adjacent cottages but not the Boomer home. (BRN 6-4-37)

The area made slow but steady progress during the 1930s, despite the Great Depression. Land sold for approximately $300.00 for a 50’x100' lot with no improvements. Arthur Cutler offered the lots for ten dollars down and a payment of $5 a month, an affordable price even when times were hard. (Mr. Richard Cutler, Salem, OR) With the arrival of new residents, new businesses began to spring up as well.

First Cutler City post office

Among early businesses is one that survives today, the Crab Pot, located on the west side of the highway. Ariel and Alice Thomas built the Crab Pot on the site of a cottage owned by Mr. Gerlick and Mr. H. B. Stowe. Gerlick and Stowe operated a small seafood business from a porched-in area at the front of the old cottage. The cottage burned down in the late 1920s and was replaced in 1930 by a new building and a new business. From its earliest

Ariel and Alice Thomas

Aerial photo of Cutler City circa 1935