Coos County OR Archives News.....EARLY FAIRVIEW SETTLERS WRESTLE THE LAND 1976
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Donell Scheirman d_frazier40@yahoo.com October 10, 2010, 12:00 am

Coquille Valley Sentinel 1976
Early Fairview Settlers Wrestle the Land
By Clara Deadmond
July 22, 1976 Historical Reveiw Issue 

  They came by wagon train, they came by boat, they came on horseback over old 
indian trails, and one by one they settled on the North Fork of the Coquille 
River, commonly called Fairview today.
  Wilson, Whitley, Neely, Moon, Johnson, Barker, Cotton, Hutson, Steinnon, 
Norris, Hatcher, Hollenbeak, and later Boone, Deadmond, Crump. There were 
Harry, Haskins, Woodward, and many of them left their names on creeks, roads, 
or other well-known local markers. From Roseburg to Coos Bay, then known as 
Marshfield; from Coquille to the head waters, it was all fir timber.
  These early settlers first cleared enough ground to set in their orchards, 
raise a bit of shelter, and plant a small garden. They raised their own food, 
livestock, and traded for those things they couldn't raise or make themselves. 
A trip to town might be accomplished in one day or it might take two. Those 
from the upper river would start at day break and make it to Cunningham by 
nightfall. After shopping, they would camp for the night and return home the 
following day.
  The first school at Fairview was a log cabin near where the bridge crosses 
Evans Creek. Later a second one was built about where the present gym building 
is. The present building is reasonably new, having been built in the late 
20's. Another school district, Riverside, farther up the river, had a hewn 
plank building at first. Knot holes almost large enough for a cat to crawl 
through brought plenty of fresh air. The children were barefoot, for the most 
part, by necessity. Today's children are barefoot by choice.
  Every farmer had his own team of horses to do his farm work and his 
logging.. And the size of his herds of livestock was dependent on the size of 
the hay crop he could cut.
  Electricity didn't come to the valley until the late 30's when the REA 
strung wire on poles the farmers cleared right-of-way for. Even most of the 
roads were built by local labor, working together for each other's benefit. 
Can you visualize driving over corduroy logs laid cross wise across the mud so 
the horses could get through? And the telephone line even into the 40's was 
the old  crank phones with one party line from the four corners to the upper 
end of the river, as many as twenty three subscribers on one line.
  Trapping was a means to earn cash, either from pelts for the fur market, or 
for the bounty on predators. Cascara bark was also peeled for cash. One camp 
known was made at LaVerne Park, and huge sacks of dried and finely broken bark 
were gotten there.
  There still remain some of the older homes, remodeled, modernized, but still 
retaining a good share of the original. One is the home now occupied by the 
Gordon Cooke family, built by Vernie Hatcher's father before 1890, and at one 
time owned by Ivyl and Roxie Frye.
  Another is the one the Pulvemachers live in, built by a Hollenbeak on the 
hill behind its present site, and moved. The center of the old house is still 
there but additions have been made. Others living in old houses built before 
or shortly after the turn of the century are Charles and Wesa Meyer, Claude 
Beauchamp, The McKeowns, DeMains, Ross, Bud Boone, and the old Barker house 
just below the park.

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