Earthquake ruins in use at Gardiner - 1912

Earthquake ruins in use at Gardiner - 1912

Gardiner

Newspaper - Oregonian

"Brick from San Francisco disaster make up fireplace in hotel."

Morning Oregonian (Portland, OR)

University of Oregon Libraries’ Oregon Digital Newspaper Program and Historic Oregon Newspapers online

Reedsport Main Street

October 31, 1912

Public Domain

Persistent Link http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025138/1912-10-31/ed-1/seq-16/

EARTHQUAKE RUINS IN USE AT GARDINER Brick From San Francisco Disaster Make Up Fireplace in Hotel. MILL FIRM'S PAYROLL BIG Jewrett Families, Father and Son Kcslde In Fine Residences Near Une Willamette-Pacific Road, Which Passes T7p Town. BT ADDISON BENNETT. GARDINER, Or, Oct. 30. (Staff Cor respondence.) Sitting before thl splendid open hearth Are In the Hotel Gardiner I learn that the fireplace is made from bricks brought here from the rulna in San Franciaco after the earthquake, and surely none of those ruins were out to better use. The hearth la piled np high with four-foot -wood; at the rear or the back of the hearth there is a large coil through which water casses. the fire thus lur nishing all of the hot water used for domestic uae In the house, including the baths, and also supplying the laundrT. Before going further I ought to make it plain that the road we traveled De- tween the Sluslaw and this place la not the regularly traveled road. Indeed, there are two roads of greater lm portance. the one along the beach being that most used. The one we came over is simply a neighborhood highway. The distance by the route we took is 29 miles, and the others are a little longer. Gardiner ia an old town. I have not the date when the first building waa put up, but it must have been prior to 1850. for at that time Scottsburg.- 20 miles up the river, waa the metropolis of Oregon, and most of the vessels going up and down the river must have touched here after crossing or before crossing the bar, nine miles west ol this place. It may be aald that the real harbor at the mouth of the Umpo.ua reaches up to Gardiner. Jewe-tt Families Live Here. . For many years there has been large mill here, owned, or at least started by San Francisco capitalists, who own -Immense bodies of the fine timber hereabouts. This company, en titled the Gardiner Mill Company, is managed, as it has been for many vears, by one of the principal owners, W. F. Jewett, who resldea here in one of the finest dwellings along the coast. Ilia son, William, haa a fine place near his father. The mill company has largely dominated everything here for many years, but lately warren p. Reed has run a close second. He is a man of wealth and great enterprise. Like all places where one or two firms or Individuals own about every thing worth while, you will find many citizens here claiming that Gardiner would be a much larger place had the mill company pursued a different policy In this, that or the other particular. But if there bad been no great mill here Gardiner would likely be nothing but a small fishing village, for it must be remembered that the wagea paid out bv this firm, at the mill and In the log glng camps, amounts to an inmense urn every year. I want to give the testimony of C. H. . Marsh, the gentleman who purchased the right-of-way for the Willamette Pacific from Gardiner to Coos Bay. He nays that in every instance where their Una crosses lands belonging to the mill company he had no trouble whatever In getting better terms than he was prepared to offer. And the engineers tell the same story of liberal treatment at the hands of this concern. Gardiner Xot Touched. The railway will not touch Gardiner. It will cross the Umpqua about two miles east of the town, the line coming in from the north just weit of Smith River. The bridge will cross over a bay at the mouth of this river, will have a pier on Bolan Island, thence over to Reedsport, a townaite owned by W. P. Reed. But the Gardiner people are as en thuslaatlc about the railroad as if it passed through their town. .Gardiner In a member of the syndicate or shut in towns, for there is no regular line of boats from up or down the coast touching here, no railroad nearer than Drain, on the Southern Pacific. And yet all of the passenger traffic from Coos Bay points, or nearly all that goes by land, passes through this place, flopping here for dinner. They leave Coos Bay usually at some hour be tween midnight and 8 A. M. and come by launch to a landing on the channel, nearly opposite the old town of Kmplre. There a stage is taken which runs along the beach on the hard sands at low tide to Winchester Bay. just south of the mouth of the Umpqua. Here they are transferred around into the river by a lifeboat, landed on a little vessel which brings them up here for dinner. After dinner they are taken to Scottsburg by the same boat. There they pass the night and leave by stage at S o'clock the next morning for Drain, where tbey arrive about wall any time from 4 P. M. to midnight, depending upon the condition of the roads. So it will be seen that Gardiner is a sort of link in the chain of Coos Bay's connection with the outer world, hence there are close relations between the Gardiner people and those of Marsh Celd and North Bend. Large Stores' Stork Big. There are two large stores here, one owned by the mill company and the other by Mr. Reed. They carry im mense stocks, and by Investigation I found their prices low and the quality of their wares of the best. The hotel has been mentioned, but there must be a word said about the table they set and their rooms. It is a fine modern building, three stories high, fine rooms, well furnished, many of them with baths attached. C. A. Perkins is the manager, and he knows how to run a hotel so as to make his guests feel at homo. He looks out for their every comfort and eonvenience. And the table is fully up to any $3 house you will find anywhere. In short the Hotel Gardiner is the best house that any city, even twice the size of Gardiner, in the West has. It is a metropolitan establishment In a village of less than 400 people. Just a word of digression. Many of the readers of this article will remem ber Dr. R. H. Barber who practised )n Portland for several fears along in the early '90s. He also practised in Oswego. Toncalla, and perhaps other places. His wife, Mrs. Jean Barber, was admitted to practice also, and they rams here from Toncalla a dozen or more years ago at the Invitation of practically all of the leading citizens of the town. They had a hospital and a. drugstore, and were doing a large business. One afternoon of a cold and stormy day about five years ago he was summoned by a horseback rider to go at once to Florence, there being then no physician at the mouth of the Siusiaw. He left Gardiner on horse back between 4 and 5 o'clock in the afternoon, his route lying down the t'inpqua to the beach and thence up the beach to the Siusiaw. He was I, ... : i cautioned that Ten Mile Creek, which flows into the ocean from the lakes I have mentioned, was very high. But evidently by some freak of -wind or tide there was so little water in it that he crossed it unknowingly. "So when he came to the Sluslaw, at the jetty, he supposed it was Ten Mile, and almost by a miracle his horse swam It. But. he must have been chilled to the bone, for a small flask of whisky which he took from his Docket and attempted to drink from was unopened lying on the sand. He evidently lacked the strength to draw the cork. He wandered up to the Jetty and fell into a little hole In the rocks in which there was about four feet of water. The horse was discovered the next day, and later his body was found. Tragic Death Told. Such was the ' tragic death of a brave man, a fine citizen, a loyal friend, a loving father and husband, and no article dealing with Gardiner would be complete without the mention of Dr. Richard Henry Barber. Mrs. Barber Is still here. She owns a fine home, her son, Eric, is a splendid young man and Is doing well, all of which hundreds and thousands of people throughout Oregon will be glad to know. We were fortunate In being taken in charge here by F. B. Browne, the engineer in charge of the new road between the Lmpo.ua and Coos Bay. James Grady, a general foreman of the comoanv also made hlmsell userui in showing us around. V e had two launches at our disposal and took in all of the sights from the ocean up to Scottsburg, also up Smith River and Schoneld Creek. The rormer iiows Into the tJmoona from the north, as before noted. . It Is quite a stream. navigable for 21 miles, up to Sulphur SDrlnr. which Is simply a larm- house postofflce. Seven miles farther ud there Is a fall of 20 feet In the stream, which some day will furnish a lot of power for some enterprise no doubt. Up the Smith there are many fine dairy farms, and a lot of cream comes down that stream every day to a creamery, owned by the T. 8. Town send Company. This Is located at Reedsport. Many fish are also taken up that stream and brought dawn to one of the canneries here. Or rather there is one here run on the co-opera tive plan and one at Reedsport owned bv the Reed and Elmore interests. Perhaps the fishing grounds on the Umpqua and Its tributaries are as pro llfio as any in Oregon. Reedsport Busy Place. Reedsport. aside from the tannery and creamery, has a general store and a large warehouse, the latter belong. lng to the Willamette Pacinc it is full of goods and chattels of all kinds belonging to the company and to Copenhagen Bros., who have the con tract for the construction ot the rona from the Umpqua to Coos Bay. And speaking of them reminds me that it Is difficult to find out just who have the various contracts. It would be a story of itself to tell of the wheels within wheels responsible for the lettlngs. I think I mentioned that McArthur. Perks & Co., the Montreal capitalists are the contractors for the whole road. Yet Twohy Bros, may have the first 21 miles Independent of them. I could get no definite informa tion. It is inside history that the Cana dian firm has large timber Interests along the line, and it came near build ing the road, or in conjunction witn Porter Bros., who also have very large timber and other holdings along the Siusiaw. Their contract runs rrom the end of Towhy's down to Acme. Joseph Porter Is in active command on the irroand. which perhaps largely ac counts for the way they are rushing thlngB. When I began this letter I supposed it would carry us on to Coos Bay, but the trio from the umpqua to tns Day must be left for another article.

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