[photo] Gaiety Hill Alley, Salem, Oregon, February 2008

3203.

Just a moment in time that caught my eye:

This was taken in February 2008, and is of an alley in the Gaiety Hill section of Salem. That's the hill that the Civic Center is built onto the north side of, overlooking downtown from the south. Commerical, Liberty, High, and Church streets run over it; east to west you have Oak Street and Leslie Street.

When I was growing up in Salem, most of us didn't know that knoll even had a name, really. But it's a nice area (doubtless with mortgages to match). And this alley was always the kind of residential back alley that I've loved. The kind of urban interstice that radiates ineffable hominess and comfort.

Most likely this is an alley running between High and Church, just north of Mission … if memory serves me correctly.

That moisture on the ground? That's what we used to have around here called rain. Oregon used to be famous for having too much of it. We sure solved that problem though.

[liff in OR] The 2013-2014 Oregon Blue Book Cover Winner … And How You Can Enter The Contest For The Next

3052.

Its a beautiful shot of the Pacific at Yachats at sunset

Each biennium, the Oregon Secretary of State produces a volume called the Oregon Blue Book. It's an almanac full of facts and figures about the best state ever, and every 2 years, the Secretary of State chooses a new, beautiful Oregon photo to grace the cover.

This edition's winner is a photo by Beaverton's John Pederson, Strawberry Hill Sunset. A slice of this is

featured right, click here to go to a big version. It's a gorgeous shot, rich in color, taken of the Oregon beach at sunset from Strawberry Hill, which is south of Yachats. It's just the kind of scenery you get used to here, and it's beautifully done.

The full announcement can be seen at http://bluebook.state.or.us/misc/cover/front.htm. But did you know that if you have a hand with the camera you, too, might achieve a measure of State Archival immortality? The contest to select the photo that is to be the cover of the 2015-2016 Blue Book is open, and any Oregon resident can enter. There are requirements, of course; go to http://bluebook.state.or.us/misc/contest/guidelines.htm to see them. A link to the PDF entry form can be found thereunto.

Good luck there, all you amateur Ray Atkesons you!

[oregon] Birthday State

1361. Happy 149th birthday to the greatest State in the union:

Oregon.

And a Valentine's Day birthday is appropriate, because to love Oregon is to be in love with Oregon. And since I was born here, that's never been a problem.

Update: There's an official Sesquicentennial (that's 150 years, in Metric or something) at http://oregon150.org. (thanks to Pete Best at Portland Metblogs for pointing that one out)

Tags: Oregon, Oregon's birthday, Valentine's day

[meme] ZehnKatzen's Weekly Winners #6: Some Pictures Of Mission Mill

1352. For another in our occasional series in the grand madness that is Sarcastic Mom's Weekly Winners, we have some more Oregon history for you.

The Mission Mill Museum in Salem. To those in the know, it's a place to visit that documents some of the loci of the history of modern Oregon, which only started about 200 years ago (Oregon, historically speaking, from the viewpoint of Western and Anglocentric civilization – as a modern State of the Union – is excruciatingly young. Even compared to the East Coast, we're still in diapers).

The museum, located just east of downtown Salem along 12th St, SE, near Willamette University and the State Capitol group, is a small campus of buildings, some of which were always there, and some which were moved in. The Jason Lee house, the oldest frame house still standing in Oregon, is one which was moved in:

The house is made of four smaller apartments within, occupied by Lee and by American Methodist pioneers, some of whose names (such as Judson) are worn by Salem landmarks today.

This house, the Boon house, was occupied by its namesake, who was a very active joiner in territorial and early State government – so much so that he was Oregon's first treasurer. This house was a surprise. It was bigger inside than out. It also was not originally here, but occupied a point about a mile away (locals would recognize that spot as where Broadway, Liberty, and High Streets come together – near present-day McMenamin's Boon's Treasury Tavern.

The houses were designated by small plaques, as here:

 

The interiors are lovingly cared for and recreated. Actual artefacts are used whenever possible, a lot of which were acquired from donations of the descendents of the people who lived here.

When such things are not available, historically accurate substitutions and replicas were used. Articles "from period" of course were preferred. Not everything that belonged to the early Methodists survives, of course.

This view, in the Lee house of an upstairs apartment, does indeed contain a lot of authentic tools and writing materials, the majority of which were probably owned by the occupant. That pile of metal objects is an actual period surveyor's chain, for instance.

The museum is as much a showcase of early Salem commercial history as it is of Oregon history. For a great long time, until 1962, the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill operated in Salem, providing jobs and an name for Salem as a source of fine woolen products. The company's legacy lives on today in the world-famous Pendleton Co.

The mill and factor itself are in beautiful condition:

Though the above has a certain "Willy Wonka" vibe about it somehow.

Salem may not be as blessed as Portland with the Bull Run water, but it's got something almost as good; North Santiam water, tapped of the stream at Stayton, a town about 15 miles away. There, via a canal, water is diverted into Mill Creek which meanders into Salem from the southeast and is futher tapped by an old fashioned mill race which runs through town and into the mill:

 

Like much of Oregon's Cascade Mountain water, it's esteemably soft, making it perfect in the production of world-famous woolens. And it makes for very quaint mill photos, too.

That's all the time I have for now. Must run! Up against the clock...

Tags: weekly winners, Salem, Oregon History, Jason Lee, Thomas Kay Woolen Mill

[or_photos] A Gorgeous Ruin

1292. At the bitter end of South Water Street, (yes, Silverton again) there is this gorgeous tumbledown building, just reclining on the side of the road, taking its leisure.

Just to the left, out of shot, is the city limits. This is the last bit of Silverton before you leave town and get back out into the country, on your way to the Falls.

The door on the end seems to suggest that it was some commercial building. Would it only that I could remember what it was ... but remember, this was the side of Silverton I never hung around in (funny, considering I was born and did half my growing up here).

Behind it is the steep hillside on the other side of Silver Creek, which directly behind it. I wish I could just remember ...

It is a fabulous ruin. Very beautiful in its way.

The Wife™ was behind the lens for these. Credit where due.

Tags: Silverton Oregon, South Water Street, ruins, tumbledown

[or_photos] Silverton - Street Signs and Back Streets

1291. More Silvertonage.

Some time ago I uploaded Silverton photeaux with the aim of showing off the street blades in My Little Town™. I realized that I never quite got to that. Herewith ...

I give you here your typical pair of Silvertonian street blades. Silverton, as many towns do, name streets after the families of the settlers who originally populated the town. Barger and Cowing are two such family names.

As seems appropriate for a town of Silverton's size, the street blades are uncomplicated. They show a designers' sense of hierarchy; the specific (street name) stands out, the generic (street type) is diminished. Information processing is limited to what the driver quickly needs to digest. Also notably is the mixed-case, which, when the sign went up, some time in the 1970's, was something of an innovation. There is now a school of thought that holds that the brain processes not only the shapes of the glyphs but the overall shape of the word – which, if correct, suggest that a mixed-case word of clear glyphs packs more informational punch.

The typeface is a recogizable FHWA version.

This corner is in one of the most charming neighborhoods that one could imagine, south of downtown and between the South Water Street arterial (the road to Silver Falls State Park) and Silver Creek. Looking south down Cowing from Barger, here's what you see:

This is charming enough to make an hold hard-hearted former Silvertonian like me consider moving back some day.

Next we have a street blade set from one of Silverton's hidden corners. You won't find Fourth Street on most maps, but it exists. thou there's not much of it:

This is looking north on Fourth from Drake:

There is, by the by, just out of shot on the right, this big gorgeous house that overlooks that asphalt sidewalk. You can see it quite plainly if you look up Drake Street from South Third (it's a rather short block).

And this is south on Fourth from Drake:

 

Up there at the top of the hill, according to maps, Fourth doubles back and becomes Fifth. I didn't have the nerve to walk up there though: it looks a little bit private even though it's a public right-of-way, and I didn't want to make the people up there look like I'm doing surveillance. If there's a sign for the corner of Fourth and Fifth, we'll have to find that another day.

Next, here's an example of a downtown blade, from First (properly, N. First) and High

The blocks defined by First, Water, Main, and Oak are a historic district now, with attendant signage:

 

While the brown color and the distinctive and refined serif type here communicate charming antiquity, the e-x-t-e-n-d-i-n-g of the type in the word FIRST by stretching it out makes me cry a little and die a little inside.

And this is what a numerical street outside of downtown looks like. Note the directional, in the same case and size as the generic.

And Portland isn't the only place you'll find a Stark Street ... there's also one just east of the above picture, along B Street between N. Second and N. Third.

I am really burning the time here. Up against the clock, got to go. More later.

Tags: Oregon photos, Street blades, Silverton Oregon

[meme] ZehnKatzen's Weekly Winners #5: Silverton and Her Creek

1233. For this week's Weekly Winners, here's yet more photos of Silverton (we did take quite a few). But the focus this time is just what gave the charming little burg its name – a picturesque (and famous) stream known as Silver Creek ... or, as you might see it italicize on a map, Silver Creek.

Silver Creek is famous because the canyon in its upper reaches, about 15 miles southeast of Silverton, are home to the most amazing constellation of waterfalls south of Multnomah Falls, and Silver Falls State Park is Oregon's largest. Directions to the Falls are given to tourists from Salem, but every Silvertonian knows that Silverton is the true gateway to the falls.

But I, as is my will and my wont, digress. After flowing through forests and hills, and after being interrupted by the dam that impounds Silverton Reservior, Silver Creek meanders through trees into the south end of town.


I, like many people, do not live in the place I was born. I was born here in Silverton, within a mile of this creek (no great achievement – Silverton hardly sprawls). The creek, like many places in Silverton, is a mix; flashes of beauty embedded in a great amount of what's unremarkable, but still very pleasant. The result is idyll.

Additionally, living in Portland means I still get to be insufferably smug about being native Oregonian even though I don't live in my birth town any more. And I am. Insufferable about being an Oregonian, I mean. But there I go digressing again.



After flowing past Oregon hill foliage and rough, past a pocket neighborhood containing streets emblazoned with the names of Silverton pioneer families such as Barger and Cowing, the creek sidles up along downtown. Just like many early Oregon towns, Silverton built her downtown with its back to the water:


The downtown buildings are there on the left. The covered bridge, and the park on the right, are rather recent, and evidence of another Oregonized evolution; the opening up of the riverfronts of towns that had turned their backs on the river. The park site is personal for me; when I was a sprout, there was a grocery on that site owned by a family friend, a Mrs. Lillian Hoyt. Hoyt's Grocery was a neighborhood grocery in a town small enough that there were few neighborhoods; a convenience store before there were convenience stores. Even my mother worked behind the counter once or twice. Penny candy, half-dollars the size of your palm ... good times, good memories.



The view north (above) is pretty much the same as it's always been. This photo might have been taken 30 years ago. And, though Silverton is still a small place – with a population still below 8,000 – My Little Town has contrasts where the eye endeavors to look. For right on the other side of those buildings in the picture is this:



North Water Street which, save for the changing of the tenants of the retail spaces, still looks not very much different from, say, 30 years ago.

Once again, the Tao of Silverton.





Tags: meme, weekly winners, Silverton Oregon, oregon photos, or_photo, Silverton Photos

[or_photos] More Photeaux From Silverton

1228. We have mounted a batch of new Silverton photos to our free flickr account. This means you'll have to search by tag to see them, but no worries; here's a hardcoded link to those.

We aren't completely done with uploading Silverton yet; but with the free limit on flickr being what it is, we want to do it judiciously. think of it at The Best of ZehnKatzen for now.

The picture illustrated is of the east side of North 1st Street between East Main and Oak Street. The small-town downtown architecture is charming as all get-out, and the colorfulness is adventurous.

A note to Silvertonians; there is no relocation imminent, and anyone who wants to do (and should, quite honestly) a Silverton Daily Photo blog is in no danger of having their territory poached.

Tags: Silverton, Silverton Oregon, Oregon Photos, Silverton Photos

Powered by Qumana

[or_photos] Silverton, Nexus of The Eastern-Mid-Willamette-Valley

1221. Welcome to Silverton, Oregon; gateway to Silver Falls State Park; Birthplace of Homer Davenport. Here we have the corner of Water and Main ...


A picture postcard if ever I've seen one.

The one thing that you notice when you're in downtown Silverton ...


Is that there seem to be signs ...


Pointing you just about everywhere.


Indeed, is there anyplace worth going to that you can't get to from Water and Main in Silverton?


Our advice: if a Silverton Police officer pulls you over downtown ... just don't tell him you didn't see the sign.

Tags: Silverton Oregon, Downtown Silverton Oregon, Oregon Photos

[or_history] Come Hell or High Water: Welcome Back To The 1940's

1169. This weather event seems to be promising to be more significant that the 1996 floods, in terms of all-around damage and overall mayhem and chaos. Withal, we've heard that, amongst other things:

• Interstate 5 is closed at Chehalis and the main rail line in western Washington is buried in mud at several points, closing access from Portland to Seattle.
• Every major state route from metropolitan Portland to the Oregon Coast (State Routes 18 and 22 to Lincoln City and Newport, State Route 6 to Tillamook) as well as US 26 to Seaside are closed for at least a few days.
• US 101 is compromised in at least a few places in the annual "Will the Coast Highway Remain Open During the Storm Season" crapshoot.
• Tens of thousands of people remain without power or communications on the north and central Oregon Coast (we note that Chinook Winds casino in Lincoln City is open and providing some temporary shelter to locals)
• Last we heard, Vernonia is utterly cut off–it's a hassle to get out, and darn near impossible to get back in.

Here at Sonnenuhurhaus we, on the other hand, are plagued with a mere roof leak. We shall not bemoan our bad fortune in the light of others.

To the point, though, the news of coastal communities cut off by the vicissitudes of weather make us think more of a time about fifty or sixty years ago. You see, to anyone born later than 1960, facilitous access to any community in Oregon by road is taken as read. Until the 1950s though, this was hardly a given, and even before that, wintertime meant the closing of passes and the general cessation of cross-mountain travel for quite a bit of the popuation.

It wasn't until the 1940s that the Oregon Coast Highway, US 101, then called the Roosevelt Highway, was completed. Before then, family folklore has it (The Wife™'s grandparents lived in Newport during the middle of the 20th C) that it was quite common to use the beach to motor from one town to another where conditions allowed. Before the 1930's, when Conde McCulloch's gracious bridges graced our coastline, ferries plied the coastal bays.

Even as late at 1960, the route to Salem we all take for granted–Interstate 5–was a road interrupted by a ferry crossing at Wilsonville. Now a wide spot on the left bank at the end of Boones Ferry Road, Boone's Ferry (pictured here in 1952 hard at work) connected motorists of the Wilsonville area to northern Marion County's extension of Boones Ferry Road. The completion of what was then called the Baldock Freeway spelled the end of that crossing.

I think what times like this give us (or at least those of us fortunate enough not to have to endure a power outage, a living room full of Johnson Creek water, or a tree through the roof) is the chance to really experience what it was like to not simply be able to assume that there was always a road there. This is what they mean when they said your tax dollars at work when they were building all those roads, and why road taxes are important: they'll make sure you'll have a road waiting to take you where you need to go, whether you need to go or not.

It's kind of a grounding sort of thought, which we'll turn over in our minds while we wait to hear that we can get through to Seattle along Interstate 5 if we so choose–or not, if we don't care to.

(NB: 1952 photo of Boone's Ferry from ODOT History Center page)

Technorati Tags: Oregon history,oregon bridges,oregon highways

[bloggage] Hat Tip To Jeff Mapes

1151. If you surfed over here to see the large size of the Sleepy Downtown Salem (Liberty Street) that Jeff Mapes referred to in his blog here, you can see that here.

And thanks for coming over, if you did – and thank you, Jeff, for the mention! Most skookum of you!

Tags: pdx, bloggage, linkage, or_photo, Oregon photos, Salem Photos, Downtown Salem