Charles Imlay oral history recording on Ladd-Reed farm. The Imlay family handled a lot of the Ladd-Reed farm’s grain in the earlier years; storing it, cleaning it and then shipping it to town to be sold. The farm itself produced mainly wheat in the earlier years, but later expanded to producing oats, hay and livestock. Besides this farm Reed also had a farm in the valley that was about 3000 acres. At one point both men believe that Reed owned as many as 14 farms at once. The house on the farmland was run by the foreman; having eight to six rooms and a large kitchen that could fit as many as 40 men at once for a meal. Besides the house there were three different barns for the horses, hogs and cows and a creamery. By 1895 all the livestock had been sold or moved from this main farm to a different, besides the ones used for the creamery. Despite owning the land and farm Charles never recalls seeing Mr. Reed on the farm.
An audio recording of an oral history of Jake Narup of Hillsboro, Oregon, in 1974 about the end of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. He describes life on a farm in Washington County during the time of the Henry Ford automobile craze, railroads being laid, and the strikes throughout the Portland metropolitan area over milk in the 1930s. Logging is discussed including wages, animal usage, and the affect the wars had on the business. At 32:15, there is an interruption in the recording and the interview date changes from March 28, 1974, to April 19, 1974. A second interruption in the recording at 48:45, topic changes to logging camp life, the starting of unions and their contributions, some logging companies in Washington County, and the Tillamook Burn. There is a partial transcript of the recording with it.
Part three of an audio recording of an oral history of John T. Labbe recorded on January 31, 1978, on logging in Washington County, Oregon, during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Labbe had worked in logging since he was a kid during the summer and he has written a book called Railroading in the Woods. In this recording, he finishes going through his alphabetical list of mill and logging companies, with most of them being in the western part of the county and one in Middleton in the east. Labbe describes the associations that the logging owners formed to set prices and limits on production. West Coast Lumber Associations and the Four Ls (Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen) were a couple of these associations. The demand for union organizations depended on the type of job being done in the logging industry as some of them had set schedules and prices already and the workers did not want to be watched over. Labbe finishes by talking about personally knowing many of the owners of these companies with a purely business relationship. There is a typed introduction and a full transcription of the interview.
Part two of an audio recording of an oral history of John T. Labbe recorded on January 31, 1978, on logging in Washington County, Oregon, during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Labbe had worked in logging since he was a kid during the summer and he has written a book called Railroading in the Woods. In this recording, he talks about his book that shows primarily through photographs how loggers used railroads. He talks about the spread of railroads in northern Oregon and how the majority of them ran along the coast range - like the Southern Pacific Tillamook Line. Describes the difference between laying down a permanent railway line compared to logging on a dirt road, the equipment and the care to which the operators gave them in their free time, and how the decline of the railroads coincided coincidentally with the Great Depression. About halfway through the recording, Labbe switches topics slightly to talk about individual logging companies and their relationship to each other in Washington County. He goes through an alphabetical list in his hand of the companies and talks about the owners, their location, and how they generally only lasted between five and ten years, with some of the smaller ones only lasting a year or two. Near the end, Labbe describes how the timber in the east was running out and so many of the logging companies chose to buy land in Oregon instead of going out of business. There is a typed introduction and a full transcription of the interview.
Part one of an audio recording of an oral history of John T. Labbe recorded on January 26, 1978, on logging in Washington County, Oregon, during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Labbe had worked in logging since he was a kid during the summer and he has written a book called Railroading in the Woods. In this recording, he tells the history of logging operations, the mills, and the railroads, and how they got started in Washington County. He describes different people in the field and how they were involved including Mr. Jones of Cedar Mills, C. H. Wheeler of the Timber and Cochran Mills, John DuBois who owned many mills including the Wheeler Lumber Company; Tony Laussman of Stanley-Smith Timber Company and Sunset Logging Company; Mr. Miller of Cox-Miller lumber company; and David Eccles who built railways throughout Washington state and Washington County. He talked about gyppo loggers and describes the most and least successful ones- Lyda, whose operation was likely the one that started the Tillamook Burn, and Max Meyer, a former baseball player who used old and used equipment. He mentions that the Tualatin River was not only once used for logging but for boats as well. He finishes with describing the life of loggers and how the Tillamook Burn affected the logging business. There is a typed introduction and a full transcription of the interview.
An audio recording and transcript of an oral history of Bert Pickens on February 3, 1978, about the logging industry in Washington County, Oregon, during the beginning of the twentieth century. The recording starts with a quick overview of what was discussed: logging equipment, changes in logging methods, life in the logging camps, the IWW (International Woodworkers of the World) union, and past friendships. The interview starts at 0:34 and at about 4:00, it becomes harder to hear Bert Pickens. He also talks of wages, the effects of the Great Depression and the wars on logging, and the Four L (Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen) company union.
An audio recording with a full transcript of an oral history of Chester Fischbuck on April 25, 1978, about his family’s onion farm near Sherwood, Oregon. He talks of his family’s settlement in the late nineteenth century and his great-grandfather being the first to grow onions in the area. The land before the settlement is described and then the process of growing and farming onions. The onion market was not affected by the Great Depression because of the international trade of onions. He talks of his neighbors and their history and onion farms, the Riperian Water Rights on the Tualatin River, the addition of electricity to the farm as it grew, and the future of the onion farmland. The transcript has a page of introduction to the interview.
An audio recording of an oral history of John and Olive Mulloy on April 20, 1978, of their lives in Laurel, Oregon. It covers the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century with the settlement of their families in Washington County along with the Native Americans. Interview goes back and forth between John and Olive talking about their family histories, the settlement of Portland, crops in their area, the Milk War in Portland, and the settlement and influence of churches. Recreational activities such as baseball teams, musical bands, and dances are also discussed. There is a short pause in the recording at 30:55. There is a transcript of the first half of the recording with a two-page introduction to the interview.
An audio recording of an oral history of Edward Bernards recorded on April 5, 1978, of the Verboort community in Washington County, Oregon. He talks about the early settlement of the Dutch and Chinese in Verboort in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Bernards describes the farms and what was produced and shipped around the world, particularly hops. The Catholic Church and community as well as other social activities are discussed, including a Major League baseball player named Larry Jansen. Voices in recording are hard to hear due to white noise, and from 28:40-29:20, background noise makes the voices inaudible. There is a page transcript of an introduction to the interview.
An audio recording of an oral history of Frank Bud Smith on logging. Interviewee is noted as Frank on cassettes; Francis on transcript file. There is a transcript of this interview.
An audio recording of an oral history of Oliver Vandomelen about his experiences with farming and logging in Oregon, recorded on May 15, 1978. Vandomelen was born in Banks, Oregon, in 1906. He was a member of the Dutch-Catholic clan who settled in the town of Verboort and has spread to the northern part of Washington County. Growing up in the unincorporated area of Oregon called Mountaindale, Vandomelen helped on his father’s farm doing every bit of chore imaginable. The Mountaindale store had been in the area before he was born, so it was really old. When his father lost the farm during the Great Depression, Vandomelen found work on other farms and was able to survive until he got into logging with his brother-in-law. He talks about the best ways to log with horses, the ideal conditions under which to log in the woods, and his first experiences to getting the hang of logging. Vandomelen lived in or near Cornelius for seven years. He then bought land in Mountaindale and started his own farm. He mostly grew strawberries, but also had grains, some oats, barley, and wheat among others. Vandomelen talks about the benefits of using horses rather than machines when plowing land. He also mentions the different kinds of crops that farmers used to grow in the area, including growing corn to send to the Bird’s Eye cannery in Hillsboro. When describing logging, he mentions the different woods and sawmills that were around, including Sherman’s Mill. Much of the areas in Washington County where people were farming, logging, and living were made up of unincorporated communities such as Mountaindale, Bacona, Shady Brook, Green Mountain, and Dixie Mountain, among others. Snooseville was another where it was so named because of the snoose (snus) that was used by the area’s inhabitants. Vandomelen briefly mentions that Native Americans must have been in the area at one time, because his father and others would find many arrowheads while farming. Vandomelen talks about the local dance halls with its dancing and fights and his own experience with them. He talks about how his children grew up in the area also and how he was seeing new people move into the area. At the end of the interview, Vandomelen says that he will continue farming strawberries with horses as long as he can. Voices in the recording are clearly audible throughout, but there are some background noises of dogs barking and a baby crying. Vandomelen’s wife also chimes in periodically. The recording ends in the middle of a question in the interview. There is a full transcription of the interview along with a two-page introduction and an index.
An audio recording of an oral history of Robert Benson on the history of Washington County, including a discussion of his family, the history of Hevetia, Indians in Washington County, and reflections on the importance of local history. There is a transcript of this interview.
An audio recording of an oral history of Robert Benson on the history of Washington County, including a discussion of his family, the history of Hevetia, Indians in Washington County, and reflections on the importance of local history. There is a transcript of this interview.
An audio recording of an oral history of Robert Benson on the history of Washington County, including a discussion of his family, the history of Hevetia, Indians in Washington County, and reflections on the importance of local history. There is a transcript of this interview.
An audio recording of an oral history of Peter Hing recorded on April 18, 1978, on his family’s settlement in the early nineteenth century on the west coast and the history of the Chinese population in Washington County, Oregon. He mentions the Race Riots in Portland, Oregon, religion and the conversion of many Chinese to Christianity, the Opium War, family tongs, and the industries that the Chinese laborers were involved in- farming, grubbing stumps, and mining. Hing describes his personal life going to school in the Tualatin area in a one room schoolhouse, his father purchasing land and the hops business in the area, and the importance placed on Chinese children of his generation to continue their education. Many Chinese who went on to college, Hing included, did not find jobs, immediately or ever, in their field of study because of racial discrimination. Hing compares that to his experience in 1978, the time of the interview, and states that there is no discrimination in the hiring process and it is based strictly on merit. Hing also describes the process of borrowing money that the Chinese had in the early twentieth century with the formation of clubs of ten to twenty families. He finishes with distinguishing between the different generations of the Chinese in America and how that has affected the perception of them both in America and in China. There is a typed page of introduction along with the recording and how Peter Hing was chosen to be interviewed.
An audio recording of an oral history of Chester Robinson and his family’s history in Washington County, Oregon, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He describes the settlement of his great-grandfather on the Donation Land Claim and the original file that was signed by President Andrew Johnson. Talks about the farmland and how it has been used over the years, including its connection to the Milk Wars of 1930 and its business with the Red Rock Dairy. Also talks about politics and the county’s Republican leaning, his life as a teenager on the farm, the passing down of farmland in a family, taxes on farmland, and the historic water tower in the area that was built in 1905. The recording has a lot of background noise including other voices and sounds of automobiles outside. There is a transcript with an introduction and an index, but the transcript ends about halfway through the interview.
An audio recording of an oral history of Arthur P. Ireland recorded on April 28, 1978. The interview starts with a brief introduction to the Ireland family history dairy farming on their donation land claim starting in the mid-nineteenth century. He describes the uses of certain breeds of cows, the specifics of the dairy market, the building of cheese and creameries factories, and the growth of demand in Portland for milk. From personal involvement, he talks about the Milk War in Portland in 1930 and how the Dairy Cooperative Association was involved. Legislation on dairy production and a typical day on the farm in Forest Grove, Oregon, are also detailed. The last half of the recording is harder to hear due to some background noise and white noise. There is a full transcript of the interview along with an introduction and index to the interview.
