Near the unassuming town of Shedd in the central Willamette Valley stands a group of bright white siloes and an attached mill. This peaceful spot is one of the valley's best kept secrets: a slice of Oregon's history that looks like the workers have just stepped out for a quick break. The old buildings wait for history buffs of all ages to come take a free tour and imagine a time when the mill was the gathering spot for neighbors from miles around.
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| Millrace |
This historic site is also a tribute to the owners' careful planning, hard work, and ingenuity. In 1858, before Oregon was even a state, R.C. Finley and his partners built a flour mill to serve the local farmers and named it Boston Mill. The structure was not built on the nearby Calapooia River, as one would expect; instead, the machinery was powered by a millrace diverted from the river and directed through a flume and turbines. The water rights, still valid today, were purchased for the grand sum of $75. By 1861 the town of Boston had been platted, and in time, visiting farmers would find a post office, a blacksmith shop, two general stores, a stagecoach stop, and a saloon. The town prospered, and by 1869 about 80 people lived in the area.
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Building in Boston Shedd's Station |
Then Boston faced the classic old west story: the railroad came through, but not through Boston. Instead, it ran a mile and a half to the west, with a stop at Shedd's Station. The town of Boston moved to Shedd's Station, including some of the buildings. Today there is nothing to be found of Boston, Oregon.
But the mill still stood, and now its flour could be hauled over to the railroad and easily shipped to the Portland market. Processing expanded to include oats, corn, and barley. In the 1890s, German immigrants Martin and Sofia Thompson acquired the mill. Martin updated the mill equipment and made many improvements, and in 1904 the current mill keeper's house was constructed. When Martin died in 1910, Sofia and their sons took over running the mill, which stayed in the Thompson family until 1974 under the name of Thompson's Flouring Mills. During World War I, the mill operated 24 hours a day to produce flour for famine relief in Europe. The family continued making updates and improvements over the years, and by 1940 they had completely switched from milling flour to producing animal feed. In 1986, the new owners installed a generator and began selling the power the mill produced to Pacific Power and Light. In 2004 the property was sold to Oregon State Parks.
Today the 6-floor mill stands in a 6-acre park alongside the mill keeper's house, a carriage house, and a shop building. Picnic tables stand beside the millrace, where friendly ducks paddle about. The grounds and mill are open to the public for self-guided tours most days of the year;
click here for a visitor's guide. Explore room after room of sturdy old mill equipment, made less mysterious by the booklets provided and explanatory signage. Volunteers are often on hand to fill visitors in with even more information, and if you are lucky enough to arrive when they have sufficient staff, you may be offered the chance to go downstairs into the guts of the enormous machine that is the mill (please note that, while the main floor is accessible, the lower level is reached by very steep stairs).
And then it happens. A volunteer opens the flume, and suddenly it is evident what makes this structure so special: the old mill is still functional. First you hear the sound of water rushing through and then under the mill. Then, slowly, the mechanism begins to turn. Those lucky enough to be downstairs will witness a huge axle coming to life, turning to drive a whole collection of long belts that reach upward through the ceiling. This runs the entire mill; this is water power. Those on the floor above will see the belts running smoothly to power the machinery of the mill, machinery that once ran on multiple floors, decade after decade, until local crops transitioned from an emphasis on grain to other products such as grass seed and nursery stock.
To find the mill, take I-5 to the Highway 34 exit and turn toward Lebanon. Turn right on Seven Mile Lane, then swing right onto Boston Mill Road. Take a right turn into the park immediately after the bridge over the mill race.
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| Methodist Church |
A mile and a half to the west of the mill lies the tiny town now known as Shedd, an assemblage of buildings that includes a Methodist church built in 1873. Highway 99E and the railroad tracks both run straight as an arrow through town. From time to time, a wail and rumble announce that the railroad still runs through here, the railroad that sealed Boston's doom but provided a lifeline for its mill.
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| Looking down the millrace |
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The four silos were a gamble for the Thompsons, but they paid off when the mill was called upon
for famine relief during WWI. These two logos were used before the mill switched to animal feed. |
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The truck bay. Winches tipped the trucks up on end to dump grain into
the chutes below. |
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| Chutes from above deposited the milled grain back into the trucks. |
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Footprints from "Bud", who stood here bagging
grain for 40 years. |
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| Technology marches on |
Spanning bucolic waters in peaceful rural areas, covered bridges bring a touch of the past to modern roadways. These simple, practical structures were originally built to solve a problem: wooden bridges were easily built with inexpensive local materials, but their lifespans were woefully short, especially in western Oregon's famously moist climate. A wooden bridge protected from the weather, however, would last many times longer, thus justifying the extra work and expense of building a covering. Many of these charming structures have succumbed over the years, but Oregon still boasts over 50 covered bridges, many of them located in the Willamette Valley.
One popular driving route visits 5 or 6 covered bridges in a 54-mile loop through fertile farmland and lush Oregon forest. Some of these bridges are the original structures, some have been replaced over the years, and one is a relatively new replica. Click here for a map of our route.
To find the bridge, head south on Cascade Highway/First Street and take a left on Marion Street to Pioneer Park. The Stayton-Jordan Covered Bridge has a rather different history from the other five bridges on this tour. Originally built in 1936, it crossed Thomas Creek near Scio but was moved to Stayton in 1988. Unfortunately, it was set on fire by Christmas decorations in 1994, but the community came together to construct a replica of their beloved landmark. Since 1998, visitors to this lovely city park have crossed this section of the Salem Power Canal on the rebuilt bridge, which is the only bridge on this tour that can no longer be driven through. Standing inside the bridge with the waterway rushing underneath, looking up into the Howe trusses and standing on the wide wooden planks, it's hard to imagine that this is not the 1936 structure.
Stay on Kingston-Jordan Road, keeping left at the "Y" with Sandner Road and dropping south on Highway 226 to Camp Morrison Road, where Hannah Bridge crosses Thomas Creek. Built in 1936, this pretty, 105-foot bridge is known for the large openings along its sides, which allow for plenty of natural light inside. The bridge is named for John Joseph Hannah, an 1853 pioneer who built one of the area's first sawmills. There is a small park here with a vault toilet and picnicking, as well as a popular swimming hole.
Return to Highway 226 and turn left (west), then turn right on Shimanek Bridge Drive, a narrow country route that ends at Richardson Gap Road and Shimanek Bridge (which is on your left, not your right as shown on the map). John Shimanek homesteaded this area and built the first bridge at this site, which is reputed to have included a two-hole toilet (for reasons this writer has been unable to discover). This is the newest bridge on our route, built in 1966, but it is the fifth bridge that has stood at this crossing; the first was built in 1861. Oregon's weather has destroyed four bridges here, with the last one being damaged by the Columbus Day Storm of 1962. Shimanek is the longest covered bridge in the county, and it sports louvered openings and squared-off portals. Painted a picturesque barn red, this 130-foot-long bridge invites photography; unfortunately, there is no safe parking nearby, so enjoy driving through it on Richardson Gap Road.
Continue south through hayfields and gentle hills and turn east (left) onto onto Larwood Drive; pull over just before Fish Hatchery Road to explore Larwood Bridge. The current 1939 bridge is near the confluence of Crabtree Creek and Roaring River, and a shady, 6-acre park offers swimming and picnicking. An interesting construction on the opposite side of the creek is said to be the remains of a water wheel, originally part of an old mill. William Larwood settled this area in 1888, building a blacksmith shop and a store, both long gone.
Return to Larwood Bridge and drive west (through the bridge) along Fish Hatchery Drive and Highway 226 into the community of Crabtree, named for John Crabtree who settled here in 1845. Take a right turn onto Hungry Hill Drive to where Hoffman Bridge crosses Crabtree Creek. The creek here is deep and wide, lying between steep banks at the foot of forested hills. A rope swing advertises the very popular swimming hole at this spot; please respect the surrounding private property if you decide to take a dip. There is a convenient pullout for those who want to stop and take photographs. Lee Hoffman built the 90-foot bridge in 1936 using hand tools; it rests on timbers cut on nearby Hungry Hill.
Turn around and head back to Crabtree, continue on Crabtree Drive, and turn right on Gilkey Road, which becomes Gore Road (also noted as Goar Road). Drive between wide farm fields to find Gilkey Bridge, the last bridge on this tour. A modest sign seems to be about all that's left of Gilkey Station, founded in 1880, but the railroad that served it remains, running over Thomas Creek alongside the 1939 covered bridge. A gravel pullout allows for photography.
Drive through Gilkey Bridge and turn right at the T with Robinson Drive which leads to the town of Scio, settled in the mid-1800s. Several lovely old homes still stand, and a railroad depot building houses a history museum. Thomas creek, which we have crossed a few times during this tour, flows right through town.
