Coveys Great Adventure: #58 – Coveys Great Adventure - July, 2019

We experimented with lighting

July, 2019 – Shedd, OR

Running the mill without Don and Penny turned out to be as much work as we feared. Bill, the other, single host worked hard to hold up his end and Tom put in extra hours, but we sure did miss the extra, experienced hands. Luckily the school group tours ended in June, and a new seasonal ranger was hired in mid-month, so the real strain only lasted a couple of weeks.

Yes, it really did rain hay

One breezy day I looked outside and it was raining hay. Literally, hay was falling everywhere. As far as you could see in any direction, including up, the sky was full of hay. It was a bit of a “Wizard-of-Oz” moment. It turns out that after the grass seed is harvested, the straw is left in the fields to dry before it is baled. In the right weather, dust devils will suck the straw thousands of feet up where it is dispersed over wide areas. It’s really weird to see.

Despite the increased workload, we found time to do more exploring. Kayeanne’s birthday warranted a fine dinner and Castor in Corvallis looked good on the web. We weren’t disappointed, especially with the farro succotash. I’m not usually a fan of exotic vegetarian dishes, but it was outstanding. The owner suggested a local Pinot Noir from Lumous and she wasn’t mistaken, it was delicious.

You can’t visit this area without going to some of the hundreds of vineyards that have helped establish the Northwest as one of the leading wine producing areas of the country, especially of Pinot Noir, and lately Pinot Gris, too. Channel surfing on PBS one night, we ran across a documentary about the history of wine making in Oregon, with the focus on Pinot and the almost fanatical drive for quality shared by the vineyards growing it. Interesting factoid: Oregon has the most stringent labeling standard in the country, maybe the world.

We don’t have the endurance for wine tasting we once had, but we found two local wineries that sounded worth visiting. Emerson Vineyards in Monmouth OR is small and gaining recognition. We both liked their Pinot Noir. The setting is also worth a visit. They offer a full calendar of events throughout the summer featuring local musicians that sounded like a great way to spend an evening.

Bluebird Hill

We picked Bluebird Hill Cellars because we liked the area around Monroe and the pictures on their website looked lovely. We weren’t disappointed with the wine or the setting. Located on (ahem) Bluebird Hill, the very comfortable patio has expansive views down the valley that compliment the wines and the local cheese. We managed to drag out a tasting, a little cheese and a bottle of Pinot Gris for the better part of an afternoon. Founded in 2014, they are just beginning to compete and have already had some success. The 2016 Shiraz is pretty tasty, too.

NOT a pulp wood mill!

Monroe is also home to one of the most interesting places we have visited in quite awhile, the Hull-Oakes Lumber Company. For 4 months we’ve been demonstrating the technology and telling the story of commerce in Oregon during the 19^th and 20^th centuries, but Hull-Oakes is actually still doing it. The mill converted from steam to electric power in 2008, and they only did that because they couldn’t get parts for the steam engine! The steam plant is still there, ready to go if the electric grid dies.

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As the guide emphasized at least three times, Hull-Oakes is not a museum, it’s a family business in it’s fourth generation of management. It employs about 50 people and operates much like it did when it was founded in the 1930’s.

It is also Disneyland for machinery junkies like moi. These guys cut BIG trees into serious lumber. They can make beams up to 85’ long, and 3’ square, the longest and largest in Oregon. They were milling 24’ long

This is the sharpening shop. The saw blades are
30' long and changed every two hours.

2’x2’ beams when we toured and that was impressive. 3’x3’ is almost incomprehensible; remember they start with a tree and cut away what isn’t a beam! Tours require reservations so call ahead if you’d like to visit.

Dinner time

Tending the ducks and chickens does have a downside; you bond with them. We had two flocks of ducks, four older ones that were raised in 2018, and another flock born this spring. The older ducks refused to spend the night in the pen with the youngsters because last winter a skunk managed to reach under the pen wall and take an egg. The ducks refused to stay in the pen from that point on. One morning only three of them came for breakfast, a few days later just one showed up. We found one of the carcasses on the shore of the millrace, but only found feathers of one of the others. The sole survivor finally joined the young ducks in the pen at night. I reinforced the pen and the chicken coop to eliminate any chance that varmints can get even a paw in.

One morning Schroeder hopped up to his usual perch on the dashboard and went nuts. The river was apparently no longer a barrier to the neighbor’s livestock. Two sheep took up residence at the mill and on the day we left, they were still mowing the grass. Since they also graze cattle, I’m sure it won’t be long before the cows come to visit, too.

We were sorry to leave the mill. We really enjoyed working here, and at Cape Blanco. Camp hosting is fun, too, but learning about new places and old times, and talking to people all day is much more interesting than cleaning yurts and fire pits. We will still camp host, in fact we are looking forward to doing just that during September and October back at Nehalem Bay State Park for the sixth time. Next year, though, we’ll focus on finding more docent work.

We are taking August off and visiting northwest Washington. More on that next time.

Bob

PS: A few more pictures of the mill: