GREETING FROM COW CREEK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
JULY 2013
How did Cow Creek get its’ name? According to Walling’s History of Southern Oregon, an immigrant recovered his cattle after they had been taken by Indians in the valley, from which fact the creek derived its’ name. Another source, Vira Cordano in “Levi Scott, Oregon Trailblazer” says Levi Scott and Jesse Applegate with the 1846 party locating the Southern Route, came upon a Mr. Hess, an emigrant from California with his wife and family. He had been attacked by Indians in the valley and one of his cows had been killed. Scott and Applegate found the animal’s carcass and named the creek. Its’ possible both versions may be referring to the same incident.
Here is a saying that has been around the Glendale/Azalea area for a very long time...”If you get your feet wet in Cow Creek, you’ll always return to the Cow Creek Valley”. Its’ unknown who came up with this...and there’s no easy way to prove or dis–prove that statement, but it raises a question as to just how many feet have gotten wet in Cow Creek! How many people ... young and old alike...have gone wading, swimming, rafting, inner–tubing on a hot day and how many have spent hours fishing or just simply skipping rocks into Cow Creek waters! How many young campers have pitched a tent... or slept under the stars on the rocks...or on a sand bar... and how many camp fires have been built to roast hot dogs and marshmallows on the banks of Cow Creek...or in days of yore...to fry a fish and heat a pot of beans?
However, our creek and its’ tributaries have not been just streams of enjoyment and fun. The history includes irrigation for many gardens and hay fields, gold mining, floating logs and lumber from other locations in the valleys to mills or the railroad in Glendale. The history also includes some tragedies.
Jennene Johns submitted the following story
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The story about Fred Tice in the book, Knights of the Whip by Gary & Gloria Meier is such an interesting story, it should not be forgotten. It is about an incident that occurred in our Cow Creek Valley in 1879
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Fred Tice was a stage coach driver, born in Jacksonville, OR in 1857. Fred was married to his partner for life, Martha Dodge. He became a driver for the C&O Stage Company. Fred’s salary as a “Knight of the Whip” was $55 a month plus board and lodging. He transported passengers and carried U.S. Mail to and from Levens Station (now Skinner Hardy’s property) seven days a week.
On March 24, 1879 Southern Oregon had a big rain storm causing all the creeks to be swollen from melting snow and heavy rain. The Rogue and Umpqua Rivers had bridges, but Wolf Creek and Cow Creek did not, so the streams had to be forded by the stage coach and team of horses. Fred was alone on the stage that night with a heavy load of mail. He made it through the crossing at Wolf Creek, but when he got to Cow Creek about eleven that night, it was raining hard and the coach lamps shone dimly on the raging torrent before him. He studied it and decided his six strong horses could take him to the other side. Half way across the creek, his lead team lost their footing and were pulled down in the raging water. The other teams followed and were all struggling in twenty feet of water. Had they not encountered a long fir tree that had fallen into the creek, they would have reached the bank, but the lead team climbed over the tree, making them all caught in the deep water and helpless.
Tice was still on the coach holding on for dear life as the coach had turned partially over. He grabbed the Wells Fargo box and carried it along the downed fir tree to shore. He then returned and took two mail bags to shore as his panic–stricken horses tried to keep their heads above water. Tice then ran the quarter–mile to the Levens Station place for help. When he returned with Levens and some others, they found all the horses had drowned. The next morning they dragged the stage ashore and retrieved the remaining mail. This was an incident Fred Tice never forgot...even after he changed his route.
Roseburg News Review March 25, 1932
HUNT ON FOR EDWIN SHAW, AGED 4 YEARS
Youth Disappears While at Play in Home Yard:
Cap is Later Found at Raging Stream. Edwin Shaw, four–year–old son of Mrs. Esther Damewood Shaw of Cow Creek, is believed to have been drowned near the J.R. Pickett home, 12 miles east of Glendale, yesterday. Nearly 100 men from Glendale and vicinity are engaged today in an effort to locate the body, which is thought to have been washed downstream in the swollen current.
The search, which began yesterday noon for the missing lad, was drawn to Cow Creek late yesterday evening, when the little red cap which the youngster had been wearing, was found lodged in the brush along the bank of the stream, about a half mile below the house
Darkness halted the search last night, but at daybreak today searchers from Glendale and the Cow Creek district began dragging the creek and setting off blasts in an effort to locate the body, while boats and dragging equipment were called into use. All mining along the stream has been discontinued in order to give the waters an opportunity to clear, as the stream is now so muddy that dragging efforts are greatly handicapped.
Mrs. Shaw and the boy, her only son, have been making their home for the past few years with Mrs. Shaw’s mother, Mrs. J.R. Pickett, who resides on the banks of Cow Creek near Azalea. The boy was playing out in the yard yesterday morning and was not missed until he failed to return at the noon hour. It was believed that he had gone to the home of neighbors, and little anxiety was felt until later in the afternoon when inquiry failed to locate him at neighboring homes. Shortly before dusk his cap was found caught in branches which trailed in the swollen waters and boats were immediately put to use in dragging the stream.