GREETINGS FROM COW CREEK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
SPRING 2013
The following is a July 23, 1932 newspaper article taken from a treasure trove of Glendale newspaper articles saved in a scrap book by Howard Lystul, an early 1900's Glendale businessman. It is unknown from which newspaper the article was clipped. South Umpqua Historical Society in Canyonville had possession of the scrapbook. That organization generously donated the book to
Jennene Johns for Cow Creek Historical Society. It will be placed in the CCHS Springer Martin House Library, once the archives room has been completed.
Dog is Efficiency Plus in Bellhop Job
Aids Guests, Guards Luggage, Rooms
Can’t be Bluffed, Knows His T–Bones
The Glendale Hotel has a bellhop who has never sought a tip, but who has an outstanding record for efficiency in looking after the welfare of hotel guests and their property. The Glendale hotel is owned by Dr. & Mrs. H.R. Nerbas and is managed by Mrs. Nerbas and her son, Dick—and by Duke. Duke is the bellhop. He is a large police dog and most any hotel in Oregon would pay a good salary to have as an able employee.
There is very little about the hotel business that Duke has not learned. He meets the incoming guests and frequently helps in carrying their luggage. He escorts them to their rooms, and woe betide any person other than the guest or a hotel employee who tries to enter a room after it is turned over to the guest.
In the evening, as the patrons of the hotel return to their quarters, Duke is on hand. He never sleeps until every guest is in bed. A guest may bring in a friend, or a stranger may enter the hotel and go to a door and knock with no molestation, but let some stranger come in and start prowling through the hall, and Duke is promptly on hand to learn his business.
A few nights ago Mrs. Nerbas was wakened by Duke’s low voice bark. She found a stranger, wearing rubber sneakers, in the hall. He was unable to give a satisfactory reason for his presence, and was given his choice of departing of his own accord or by being removed by Duke, the official bouncer. He promptly decided to make his own exit, which he did without loss of time.
Keeps eye on Luggage
A guest may safely leave his luggage, no matter how valuable it may be, in the lobby of the hotel and may know that it will be safe upon his return. Let a guest pick up the wrong piece of luggage and duke promptly advises him of the fact.
A short time ago two men came in from the mountains with knapsacks and left the packs in the lobby overnight. The next morning one of the men came down and started to take out both of the knapsacks. Duke objected. The man remonstrated. Duke repeated his objection. The man could have could have his own pack—there was no objection to that—but the other pack was to be taken by no person other than the one who had placed it there originally. Duke won the argument. The man took his own pack, departed and sent his partner in for the second knapsack; then the whole transaction was completed to Duke’s entire satisfaction.
T–Bones His Weakness
Duke likes T–bone steaks. At meal times he prowls around until he hears a customer order a T–bone. Immediately Duke “hikes” for the kitchen, parks himself in his own private corner and there he stays until that tray comes back. Then he makes his presence known and demands the bone. Some member of the Nerbas family, however, must give him that bone, for he will not touch meat until it carries the scent of the consequent sanction of his masters or mistress.
Duke is the “Lightning” of the Glendale hotel. He is the watchman, bellhop, official bouncer, and the watchdog of the treasury. No one can touch the cash register but an employee of the hotel. When he sleeps, he makes his bed by the cash drawer, and the managers of the hotel know the treasury is in safe keeping
Duke so far, however, has not learned to carry ginger ale and cracked ice to the guest rooms. Dr. Nerbas states the the dog has never been trained in any of his practices, but demonstrates an unusual ability to make himself useful to the hotel management and guests.
(Note: At the end of each meeting, CCHS Historian, Jennene Johns, gives an interesting report or reading about historical events in the Cow Creek Valley. Jennene’s reports are the high–light of each meeting. The above article was the March report. The meetings are at 10:00 a.m. on the second Wednesday of each month at the Springer Martin House, 7331 Azalea Glen Road, Glendale, OR Visitors are welcome.)
GLENDALE CEMETERY CLEAN–UP SATURDAY, MAY 18TH
FROM 10 A. M. TO NOON
POTLUCK IN THE PAVILION AT NOON
BRING YOUR FAVORITE DISH AND EATING UTENSILS
(ALSO BRING GLOVES, TOOLS & “ELBOW GREASE”!)
GREETINGS FROM COW CREEK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
APRIL 2013
Things are “looking up” in the community....and at the Springer–Martin House. Scott Walter has come back to town, re–stocked the shelves & re–opened the Glenway Super–Store in Glendale. Local folks, Jason King & Tom Schmilt have been operating the Cow Creek Service Station on Junction Road, just past the “Tickle Bottom Bridge spanning Mighty Cow Creek” (aka Harold Cooley Bridge) near the I–5 freeway interchange. The two recently re–opened the gas station on the corner of Sether and Gilbert in Glendale. The Glendale Cow Creek Station specializes in detailing vehicles and auto parts...as well as selling gasoline. Another plus in the community is the re–opening of the former Sams/ Vern’s/ Lynn’s/ Junction/ and now called Bobby & Sheila’s Café, next to the Cow Creek Station on Junction Road. The food is good and the service is quick. We wish great success to the new businesses...as well as to all the older established businesses in the Glendale/Azalea community.
ELEVENTH AIRBORNE GLENDALE AIR SOFT TEAM
Two men from the Glendale area, Mike Wright and Ralph Des Laurier, have been working with a group of area young people for several years. The name of the group is “Eleventh Airborne, Glendale Air Soft Team”. The mens’ goal is to teach the young people to have respect for themselves and others, to have discipline and to live their lives with honor. The group was offered a donation to help buy safety gear and equipment for their games, but the leaders said the young folks needed to earn what they get, so a deal was made that the group would rake leaves in the Springer–Martin yard to earn the donation. A date was set. Even though there was a light layer of snow on the ground with freezing temps that day, the group and their leaders were “on the job”. They spent two cold Saturdays raking the leaves and hauling them away. Our thanks to the group for raking the leaves in spite of the cold weather and our thanks to their leaders for doing what they are doing!
HOUSE RESTORATION
CCHS has had a new “shot of energy” from Donald Brady and his three daughters, Beverly Doescher, Evalyn Cooper and Susan Satre. The Brady Family has cut logs and milled boards from their property to replace the original wide moldings around the windows and baseboards in the upstairs bedrooms that were damaged when taken down to install sheet rock on the walls. A group of CCHS members are in the process of painting. After the walls are painted, the wooden floors will be sanded and varnished, and the new molding will be installed.
CCHS MAY TEA SATURDAY, MAY 11TH
The Annual May Tea/Old Picture/Art Show is scheduled for Saturday, May 11th at 1:00 p.m. Space is limited to 45 seats. Price of the tickets is $15 each for adults and children. If you want your name on the list to reserve a chair, or if you have any questions, call Cecile Booth at 541–832–210 or Jennene Johns at 541–837–3326. CCHS promises good food, good conversation and a good time! (The only complaint we’ve had about the Teas in the past was that we served too much food!)
PLANNING FOR THE SEPTEMBER 8TH OLD FASHIONED COUNTRY BBQ & CAR SHOW
CCHS members, Don and Sande Silva have taken charge of advanced advertising the BBQ and car show. Being involved with the
Corvette Club, Don & Sande are the perfect couple to “spread the word” to the car buffs. The BBQ is CCHS’s major fund raiser of the year, so please put Sunday, September 8th on your calendar. (1:00 to 4:00 p.m.) The menu remains the same: Tri–tip, chicken, baked potatoes, baked beans, salad, rolls, ice cream & cookies. The cost is $12 for adults, $6 for children (six to twelve years old) Children under the age of six are free. Anyone willing and able to assist with BBQ food preparation and/or serving, please call Marian @ 541–218–0416.
SCHOOL FIELD TRIP
Principal of Glendale Elementary/Junior High School, Patty Fleming, has made arrangements to bring a group of students for a field trip to the Springer–Martin House. The group will have a tour of the old house. Points of interest on the CCHS property include a water wheel from Woods Creek donated by the Diltz Family. Another “artifact” is the partial foundation of the silo, which is located behind the original site of the old “Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco” barn. The silo foundation is well over 100 years old and is the only evidence remaining that two farm structures once stood proudly tall there. (Unless you include an occasional antique nail from the barn found in a lawn mower tire!).
Another point of interest is the approximate location of Smith Fort, which was located on the hill east of the house (known as “Pine Hill” by the Martin Family) Smith Fort was considered a “safe haven” for the early settlers when there were Indian up–risings. It is known that the Redfield Family, who lived in what was later called “the old Garrett Ranch” (on the flat between Cow Creek, Azalea Glen and Junction Roads) on at least one occasion raced for Smith Fort during an up–rising. There was a report that Mrs. Redfield was shot in the knee by an arrow during a dash to safety, but other reports deny that actually happened.
Mrs. Fleming’s group will also take a lengthy hike up the mountain above CCHS property to view a very tall, large Madrone Tree. The tree is past its’ prime of being a healthy tree, but its’ mere size makes it impressive and worth the trip up the steep hill.
UP–COMING ACTIVITIES IN GLENDALE
SATURDAY, MAY 4TH CITY COUNCIL FRIDAY, MAY 10TH AT FRIDAY MARKET
GLENDALE VALLEY ROAD CLEAN–UP DOWN TOWN GLENDALE
STARTS @ 8:00 A.M. SEEDLING SALE
VOLUNTEERS WELCOME!! BY GLENDALE FIREWORKS COMMITTEE
GLENDALE TEACHER WAS FIRED!
Ruth Powell, a Roseburg resident, graduated from the University of Oregon in 1924. After her graduation, Ruth was hired to teach school at Glendale. The young single woman moved in with the Cunningham Family in their home above what is now the Swanson Veneer Plant. Sometime after coming to Glendale, Ruth became acquainted and in time, was “wooed” by a young Glendale swain, Carl Sether. The couple fell in love and on June 14, 1928, the two were married. Not long after the wedding, Ruth was notified by the Glendale School District that she was fired! The reason given was, “Married women can get pregnant.”
Three years and one day after being married (and about three years after being relieved of her teaching duties) Ruth did indeed give birth to twin sons, Carl and Earl. Then in 1937 Carl Sr. and Ruth welcomed a third son, Bill, into the family. Ruth stayed busy being a farmer’s wife and raising her three sons until fate intervened. That fate was World War II.
Most of us have heard of “Rosie, the Riveter” and how the thousands of women did the jobs to build equipment to supply the troops and the war effort, but most haven’t heard the story about “Ruth, the Glendale Teacher”! Not long after the war started, Glendale School had a shortage of teachers. Superintendent of Schools, Ben Huntington, and two other gentleman paid the Carl Sether household a visit. Ben asked Carl, Sr. to ask his wife if she would be willing to come back to teach at the school. Bill Sether’s version of this story is that Mr. Sether made a “flowery comment” and told Ben Huntington to go ask Ruth himself!
After being asked if she’d come back to teach, Ruth asked Mr. Huntington if she would still have a job when the war was over.
She was assured she would have a job, and the rest of the story is history. It’s hard to estimate how many Glendale/Azalea students Ruth Sether taught in her 25 years of teaching, before retiring in 1962.
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GLENDALE JUBILEE
By Jennene Johns
Compiled from articles printed in the News Review in 1929
It was a very hot day on July 11, 1928, when late in the afternoon, a very brisk wind came up and toward evening when everyone was just sitting down to their dinner a shriek of “Fire” was heard. Then, “The butcher shop is on fire,” was heard. The response was immediate but to no avail. It seemed like all at once everything was on fire, even the old school house. In less than an hour the main portion of town was just a burning, smoking ruins. Nearly everything was lost, but the people of Glendale were a strong determined lot, and started the clean up right away.
They also started rebuilding right away, and just ten months later on May 1, 1929, they had a “Lumber Jubilee” in celebration of their newly rebuilt town. Thousands of people came from all over. A special train ran from Roseburg to bring people down to Glendale for the day. Visitors included the Roseburg Municipal band and the American Legion Drum Corps. Roseburg businesses gave financial assistance to help meet the expenses of the trip. They brought down a wonderful float, which showed the general public how closely they were united with each other in activities of community interest.
The American Legion Post of Grants Pass had heard Glendale’s American flag was lost in the 1928 fire, so at the conclusion of the industrial parade, they presented a large new American flag to the Glendale Chamber of Commerce.
One feature intended for the big parade did not show up! Ralph Quine had made arrangements for a team of oxen to take part in the parade. The team was owned by an odd character, who lived about eight miles up Cow Creek. Ralph thought it would be quite an attraction, since lots of people had never seen oxen. The oxen owner’s name was Lee Parks. He had a number of combinations for his teams. Sometimes it was a straight ox team, another time it might be a cow and an ox, another time a cow and a horse, or an ox and a horse that found themselves hitched up together.
Parks was pleased about appearing in public with his ox team, so he thought that two teams would attract more attention than just one. That’s simple, so far, but when one has only one ox team, what to do??? He figured bulls and oxen look alike, and no one would know the difference. Having some bulls on hand, Parks decided to train them to go as good oxen should go, to make a double ox team. While training the bulls, one became hostile and he (the bull, not Parks), attacked and injured a horse, resulting in the horse having to be put down. When Ralph Quine heard about the bulls he notified Parks that oxen was all they wanted, as the committee could furnish all the “bull” necessary! Well, Parks was not happy and if he couldn’t play the way he wanted, he wouldn’t play at all! But Quine had decided he could not afford to take any chances of a bull rampage on the crowded streets of Glendale during the Jubilee. So, that’s why there was no bull about the parade—or any ox teams!
News of the Glendale Jubilee was heard about in distant places. The May 3rd issue of the “Montgomery Messenger” published at Montgomery, Minn. contained the following: “Western city Holds Jubilee. This office is in receipt of a copy of the Roseburg News Review which told of the Jubilee. The entire sixteen pages of the paper deal with the Jubilee of Glendale, which was held May 1st. The city was swept by a disastrous fire in July 1928, and reconstruction work started immediately and the big celebration was held following the completion of the rebuilding of the town.” I don’t believe the city ever had as many businesses after he fire as it had before, but the people of Glendale certainly were to be commended for all their work.