Soap Creek Schoolhouse Foundation Annual Newsletter May 2014 MARK YOUR CALENDARS

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1 Soap Creek Schoolhouse Foundation Annual Newsletter May 2014 Hello to all the neighbors, friends, and former students of the Soap Creek Schoolhouse. MARK YOUR CALENDARS GARAGE SALE Donation Drop-Off. at schoolhouse Garage Sale at schoolhouse Saturday June 14, 9am-4pm Saturday June 21, 9am-4pm Please no TVs or big appliances. If you need help transporting any large donations or if you d like to help with the garage sale, please contact Nancy Hyde. NEIGHBORHOOD PICNIC Sunday, July 27th 2:00-5:00 pm Location: Writsman Creek Dr., The home of Brett Reistad and Sarah Uebel. Bring a salad, dessert, or side dish, and any beer or wine you desire. All else is provided! Everyone is welcome; foundation membership not required. SOAP CREEK ARTISANS SHOW & SALE Saturday, Sept. 6th, 9am-5pm Highlighting the unique blend of artistry in the Soap Creek Valley, the Soap Creek Artisans Show & Sale will offer an enjoyable mix of art, wine tasting, and music in the country atmosphere of the beautiful Soap Creek Valley, at the historic Soap Creek Schoolhouse. See for further details.

2 MT. VIEW STUDENTS VISIT THE SCHOOLHOUSE On June 6, 2013 the 3rd grade students of Mt. View Elementary school visited the Soap Creek Schoolhouse. Around 50 students arrived on a school bus and took part in several activities. Before the visit students learned about pioneer times in the classroom. The students were encouraged to dress in Pioneer clothing and to bring lunches with items from the pioneer era. Mt. View teachers Cece DeMeo and Lori Tubbs led sessions inside the school house, showing the students the furnishings from the era and leading a spelling bee. Dodie Wilson led the students on a nature hike identifying plants and birds. Glen Canning worked with the students showing them how to split wood for roofing shingles. Sarah Uebel worked with the students doing nature sketching. The day was clear and warm, perfect for eating lunch outside, playing games in the tall grass and searching for insects, snakes and other living things. Some of the boys found and caught a racer snake and another student found a whole snake skin that had been shed. It was a wonderful visit on a beautiful day. They ll be back again this June! 2 HISTORICAL SCHOOLBOOKS A large barrister s bookcase has been purchased to display the over 400 books owned by the Soap Creek Schoolhouse Foundation. Many of these books are original textbooks and readers used at the schoolhouse. Others were donated by collectors, or by students at nearby schools of the same timeframe. The books have been in storage for many years but are now available to be used under the direct supervision of a Foundation Board member, for research or entertainment. Copies of the modern Bob Zybach oral history books may be checked out, with a $50 security deposit Picnic Photos, by Lucy Honig

3 3 NEW NOVEL & MUSIC FEATURING SOAP CREEK HISTORY Sunday, September 14, from 1:00-3:30 PM, come to the Soap Creek Schoolhouse for an afternoon of local history brought to life with music and story by three very different experts: award-winning author Jane Kirkpatrick will be reading from her new novel, about Soap Creek African-American pioneer settler, Letitia Carson; fiddler and musical scholar Truman Price will perform authentic Oregon Trail and Willamette Valley pioneer songs; and Soap Creek Valley historian Dr. Bob Zybach will discuss the people and families that first settled here during the same time period. Soap Creek Valley is the setting for a significant portion of Kirkpatrick s latest novel, A Light in the Wilderness. This story is based on the life of Letitia Carson, who traveled the Oregon Trail by wagon train in 1845, gave birth to daughter Martha along the way, and settled with her common-law husband David Carson and their children on his 640-acre Soap Creek land claim. We know about some of the special adversities this woman faced because of two successful lawsuits she was compelled to bring against another Soap Creek resident, Greenberry Smith, following David s death in Kirkpatrick's book, her 27th, is based on research by Zybach and by former OSU graduate student Janet Meranda, who are currently writing a scholarly biography of Letitia s life. Jane's books have been on New York Times Bestsellers Lists, finalists for the Oregon Book Award, and have won the WILLA Literary Award and Carol Award. Her reading at Soap Creek School will follow the previous day s official September 13 launch of her novel at Benton County Historical Society in Philomath at 11:00 AM. Here is a detailed press release: Price is Oregon's leading scholar and performer of music of the Oregon Trail era. An excellent fiddle player, he holds the instrument in a minstrel-fiddler style that allows him to sing fully or call dances while playing. Truman has given more than 100 successful live performances, typically framed in relevant bits of Oregon and song history. His earlier CD is titled Songs of the Oregon Trail, and he is expecting to have his latest album of historical early Oregon music completed this summer. Examples of Truman's fiddling are found on his You- Tube channel: Zybach will be presenting the story of the appraisal and public auction of the Carson family s possessions following David s death in This story is currently being written as a scholarly article, also co-authored by Meranda. Bob's OSU Master s research focused on the history of Soap Creek Valley and has produced a detailed thesis, an automobile tour guide (two printings), 15 oral histories, and several popular articles: Jane s books and Truman s CDs will be available to purchase at this event, which promises to be interesting and entertaining to people of all ages.

4 4 FINANCES Dues and Donations received in 2013 = $637, plus Garage Sale Income = $1198. THANK YOU! This year we re expecting an enthusiastic turnout for the June 21st garage sale (drop off items on June 14th). We d also like to ask everyone who enjoys the presence of the Schoolhouse to send in $10 for membership dues. Anyone can be a member! Print the last page of this newsletter for the donation form. THANKS! A HEAT PUMP? WHAT FOR? It may sound funny, but we re going to install a ductless heat pump in the schoolhouse, along with insulation under the floor and in the attic. Right now we have a small wall heater which is very expensive to run, and so most of the time the schoolhouse is unheated. A heat pump plus insulation would allow us to maintain a minimum temperature of about 50 degrees all winter long for a low monthly charge. Why bother? To reduce the condensation-caused degradation of our wooden building and our collection of antique books and maps. This whole project began with the offer of a FREE demo heat pump from The Heat Pump Store, valued at over $2,000. We applied for and recently were GRANTED $2,000 more from Consumers Power s Charitable Trust towards this project! We will need to spend about another $1,500, plus use volunteer labor for carpentry and excavation to complete the job. The heat pump equipment will be installed in an unobtrusive fashion to maintain the historical appearance of the schoolhouse, inside and out. NEIGHBORHOOD NEWSLETTER A Soap Creek neighborhood newsletter via has been up and running for three years now. It comes out a few times each month and contains information submitted by the neighbors themselves. There are stories of local interest, details of meetings that people might like to attend, notices of lost dogs (very successful!), and advertisements of local produce and services. If you d like to make sure you receive the weekly neighborhood newsletter, send your own address(es) to Nancy Hyde, NHyde@peak.org. She ll put you on the list! SAVE PAPER and POSTAGE If you re receiving this Schoolhouse Newsletter on paper, that means we don t have an address for you. To receive future Schoolhouse Newsletters via contact NHyde@peak.org.

5 5 HISTORY BUFFS LOOK HERE! Historian Bob Zybach has provided us with links to his fascinating oral histories and research of the Soap Creek area, and to his very interesting tour book of the valley: Thanks so much, Bob! We are all indebted to you for recording the history of our area, and for making these books free to read online in pdf form. Physical copies of Bob Zybach s Soap Creek histories are available to check out from the Soap Creek Schoolhouse with a $50 security deposit to ensure return. HISTORICAL TIDBITS, many from Bob Zybach s books: Did you know.? The earliest-known deliberately-planted Douglas Fir trees in Benton County are located on Tampico Road, just uphill from the junction with Soap Creek Road, on what used to be the Glenders property. Younger trees are mingled in with them now, but if you look closely you ll see these old-timers, reputed to have been planted in 1858 along what was then the main road to the California gold mines. Speaking of the Glender brothers, their scenic barn, built in approx. 1927, is seriously disintegrating. For years it served as a quaint subject for art classes. If you need to finish up your sketches, you d better hurry. (The property is now part of OSU s beef ranch.) There are two Writsman properties in the history of the Soap Creek Valley: Frances Writsman settled on what is now Tampico Road, west of Coffin Butte, in 1846 or His property was later owned by the Dobrinin family, and locals pronounced his name rites-mun. Alfred Writsman (his brother?) settled in 1848 near what is now Writsman Creek Drive. Locals pronounce his name ritz-mun. The Govier family had the longest-running attendance at various incarnations of the Soap Creek Schoolhouse. John Govier s sons Elmer and Alva started attending in the 1902 school year. When they each married, their total of 9 children attended for many more years. There was at least one Govier attending the school for 33 years! The Alva Govier house currently belongs to the Woodcock family, and Elmer Govier s house is now the OSU Beef Ranch manager s house on Soap Creek Road. There didn t used to be a road connecting Coffin Butte with the Tampico/Soap Creek Road junction. That was added during the Camp Adair years. At the same time, the eastern end of Tampico Road was shifted northward. It used to run straight to Highway 99W along what is now Earl Lane and Blake Drive. The baseball field at the Soap Creek School was just a flat patch, where the current parking lot is located. It was always too small for a real game. In the record book of 1905, school clerk J.S. Govier wrote, The teacher and all the children played ball at school and agreed to settle all damages resulting therefrom. Whoops!

6 6 BUILDING USE The Soap Creek Schoolhouse is available for use throughout the year for small meetings of local interest. Please obtain permission and a key by contacting either Bart Spiller at , or Nancy Hyde at A $20 key deposit is required. Rental fees: schools and community groups, no charge. Small private groups, $15. Profit-making groups, up to $100, to be negotiated in advance. All groups must leave the premises tidy. No running water is available. A permanent modern outhouse facility is onsite. Electricity (2 outlets) and heat are available. Please note: the Schoolhouse Foundation does not endorse any political or religious group but does allow its facilities to be used by such groups. CONTACTS Nancy Hyde, or nhyde@peak.org, Bart Spiller, or bartspiller@gmail.com Joe Crockett (website) or jcrockett@earthlink.net WEBSITE: Please provide your address to reduce printing and mailing costs, and to receive the neighborhood newsletter. Thanks! ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP DUES and DONATIONS Name (s) Address Phone $10 Annual Membership Dues $ Any Additional Donations $ Total $ Please make checks to Soap Creek Schoolhouse and mail to: Nancy Hyde, Treasurer, Soap Creek Road, Corvallis, OR 97330