Oregon's Ghosts - An Exploration of History Through Oregon's Lost Communities

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History of several of Oregon's most popular Ghost Towns.

Transcript of Oregon's Ghosts - An Exploration of History Through Oregon's Lost Communities

Oregon's Ghosts - An Exploration of History through Oregon's Lost Communities

Oregon's Ghosts - An Exploration of History through Oregon's Lost Communities/Hamell 28

Rick Hamell 4855 SW Menlo DrBeaverton [email protected]://PNWPhotoBlog.com(Your agent's name)(Your agent's address)5,400 words

Oregon's Ghosts - An Exploration of History through Oregon's Lost Communitiesby Rick HamellForewordI did not start out to explore Oregon's ghost towns or history. While I previously had an interest in history with Oregon as a minor interest, I was more about the big picture. During my explorations of the "lost" and forgotten parts of Oregon, I discovered countless interesting stories about the State that I never knew about before. Many of these stories are buried in seldom checked out books at Libraries, in the old book section of used book stores, or in the minds of a few resident old timers who live nearby. Half the fun of looking for ghost towns and their tales, has been digging for the information. What is a ghost town?

Most people think of ghost towns as a collection of decrepit abandoned buildings in the middle of nowhere. By this definition there are only three such sites in Oregon, and the available inventory of many other states gets drastically slashed. By widening out the definition of what constitutes a ghost town we get back hundreds of interesting sites that would be otherwise overlooked.

A good rule of thumb that I have used is that the population is currently 1/10 of what it was at it's height. This opens up a host of other interesting towns to historic scrutiny and preservation. Two of Oregon's most famous towns, Shaniko in Central Oregon, and Hardman in Eastern Oregon are examples of this. Both are historic towns with small year round resident populations that have a number of abandoned and under utilized buildings. But both towns had hundreds of residents at their height. I do not know who created the Ghost Town Classification system below. But I did find that it did not meet my needs completely so I expanded upon it a bit by adding "Class H," and "Originating Purpose" to the list. Class A: barren site (Examples, Palmer,

HYPERLINK "http://pnwphotoblog.com/2011/07/25/ghost-town-of-granite-oregon/"Kingsley)Class B: rubble and/or roofless building ruinsClass C: standing abandoned buildings (with roofs), no population, except maybe a caretaker. (Examples, Cabell City)Class D: semi/near ghost towns. A small resident population, many abandoned buildings. (Example, Hamilton, Green Horn)Class E: busy historic community, yet still much smaller than in its boom years. (Example, Granite, Sumpter)Class F: Not a stand-alone class, but an addition to any of the above. This class usually designates a restored town, state park, or indicates some other "additional" status. (Example, Golden, Ritter)Class G: the town joined or was absorbed by a neighboring thriving city.Class H: Same as Class D, with no or very few original building. (Example, Idanha)Originating Purpose:1.) Mineral Exploitation (Example, Greenhorn)2.) Agricultural, includes Live Stock, Farming and Fishing (Example, Clifton)3.) Timber, includes Company Built Towns (Example, Bridal Veil)4.) Shipping or Travel Depot, Stage Coach Station, Train Station (Example, Friend)5.) Religious or Ideological 6.) Recreation and Service, includes Saloon Towns, Mining Supplies, Mill Town, Supply Depots. (Example, Whitney)7.) Manufacturing

Using this example the town of Golden Oregon, which is now an Oregon State Park, would be a Class F1 town. Before 2009, when Oregon took over the remains of the town as a historical location, the town would have been a Class D1 as there are a number of historic houses within a couple of miles of the main portion of town that historically all would have been part of Golden. GoldenGolden Oregon, the driest Ghost Town in OregonGolden earned it's nickname as "The Driest town in Oregon" due to William Ruble's anti-alcohol ways. He forbid any in town, causing locals to head west to Wolf Creek, or south to Placer to spend their money.Golden is one of the few "true" Ghost Towns in Oregon. At least as most people count them, IE, with actual buildings remaining but no population. Luckily though it's now an Oregon State Park and is being restored and maintained by the state.The area of Coyote Creek was first settled in the 1840s by Gold Miners. Another gold strike in nearby Salmon River saw the local population disappear to take advantage of that. Chinese Gold Miners immediately moved in only to be pushed out again by white miners.In the 1870s the first "hydraulic giant" (essentially a huge water hose,) was introduced to the area. The damage from where this washed down entire hillsides to be searched for gold can still be seen.The mining activity was so intense at this time, that the Oregon-California StageCompany made a detour here from Leland to drop off passengers, mail, and goods.William Ruble ,like so many others, was drawn to this area by the lure of easy to find gold. He soon brought his family to settle along the creek. Like many other miners in the area, they used hydraulic water mining to wash hills away. The remains were then run through sluice boxes to recover the gold.While hydraulic mining was effective, it suffered issues when water levels dropped in the Summer. To solve this issue, the Ruble brothers, Bill and Schuyler, invented the Ruble Elevator. It increased mining efficiency drastically and became an instant success, even winning an award at the famous Lewis and Clark Exhibition in Portland.By the mid 1880s William Ruble had purchased all the claims east and west of the area, and resolved the outstanding legal issues with the last claim. The family then mined the easier claims themselves, while leasing the rest to other miners.A post office was established January 10th, 1896 to serve the area's 150 or more families. Schuyler Ruble was the first Post Master. William Ruble was an teetotaler, leaving the town a dry one. Local miners would frequently head south to Placer for alcohol, and west to dance hall at Wolf Creek.The decline of Golden was as swift as it's rise, and the post office closed March 31, 1920.When entering Golden, be sure to watch on the right side. Two older houses, along with the school house are partially hidden in the woods. All are on private land and obviously serve local families still. Once you've entered town, the old creek is on the right. Coyote Creek is now protected wetlands.On the left the first visible building is one of the town's two original churches. Next to that is a small cemetery. Rumor says it was used a prop in the TV show Gunsmoke. Most of the grave markers are blank wood so this is possible. There is one real grave stone here though, hidden under some bushes. Behind the church and too the right is the old carriage house of the Ruble House. Unfortunately it's not very picturesque, and still has signs of recent repairs with modern materials.A small cart lays dilapidated next to an information kiosk with the following three signs. The remaining two buildings are another ramshackle old barn, and an old general store.Getting to Golden is really easy. Take the Wolf Creek exit off of I-5 (north and south bound.) If you're going south bound, keep driving south along Old State Highway 99S. Just after passing through "town," there will be an underpass on the left. The underpass is unlabeled, but there should be a Oregon State Park sign pointing to this road. Follow Canyon Creek Road about 3.5. The town will all be on the left side.If you're northbound on I-5, just take a right off the exit and you'll be on Canyon Creek Road.AntelopeAntelope, Oregon is most famous for the attempted take over by the Rajneeshpuram in the 1980s. The Big Muddy Ranch which served as their headquarters outside of town still remains but has been taken over by another, less radical religious group. The rest of the town has reverted back to it's sleepy ghost town status since then. Only a few items remain of those times. Most of the town now consists of houses, mobile homes and a couple of older buildings.The original townsite of Antelope was originally established in 1863 as a stagecoach stop by Howard Maupin. This location is just north east of the Antelope Cemetery. The main town was moved South East about half a mile in 1881 so that it was one the newly established Dalles to Canyon City Wagon Road. The remains of this road is highway 218 that runs through the middle of town as Main Street. The town burned down in Winter of 1894, only two buildings remain from this era. On the north side of town, the first building seen is the Antelope School. It no longer serves as a school, but still does duty as a community center. The Rajnessh apparently used as a barracks to house homeless people from California, that they brought in to stack the town council and change the votes.GreenhornGreenhorn is Oregon's smallest incorporated city, and also the highest at 6,300 feet. It has a full time mayor, but no "full time" residents. The town first appeared in the 1860s but does not seem to have been incorporated until 1891. A Post Office was not installed until 1902.Ralph Friedman says that the rock known as Greenhorn got it's name when two "Green Horns" from back east stopped at a local Saloon (perhaps in nearby Robisonville?) to ask where they could find gold. One joker looked out the window and pointed to the rock high up on the hill saying "I reckon that is a good place." The two politely thanked the man and left. They returned the next day having struck gold and kicked off yet another gold rush in the area.CopperfieldIn some ways parts of Oregon are still very much the Wild West. The independent spirit is far from dead as ranchers still attempt to eek out a living on land their ancestors first homesteaded on. There are still places where horses tied up in front of stores in the "downtown" is not even commented upon. Doctors double as Veterinarians and make house calls. Cults of crazy religions create communes, and neighbors just say "Someone should do something 'bout that.First incorporated in 1908, the town of Copperfield was hands down Oregon's rowdiest town. The first Copperfield was established about 75 miles north east of Baker City on July 26th, 1899 with the opening of the post office. This location is now known as Oxbow and sits on the Snake River near Oxbow Reservoir.In the late 1800s the town served as a supply depot for local miners. The town had several saloons and a couple of bordellos.By 1913 between workers from E.H. Harriman's rail road project and the more workers at dam being built nearby on the Snake River, the town had become the most lawless location in Oregon. Over 1000 citizens live in the town. But the Mayor and City Council owned the local Saloons. Of Law Enforcement, there was none. It was said that the local Marshall was ordered by the Mayor to allow the wild Saturday night to dawn parties.Daily fights that lasted an hour each were common between the railroad workers and the dam workers. The could use rocks, knives and bottles, but guns and rattlesnakes were forbidden. Roulette wheels and gambling were common in every tavern and hotel.But the town was already dying a slow death by 1913 as the mining business had dried up long ago. Both the dam and railroad projects had finished and with them the exodus of hundreds of workers. The population dropped from 1200 to 84 in the space of a few months. This simply increased the problems as the saloon owners attempted to attract every last drinking man possible into their establishments. Four saloons were burned down in obvious arson attempts. Mayor A.H. Stewart and one of the other city council members conspired against Martin Knezevich to close his competing saloon down.Worse yet, in an attempt to make money the saloon owners even served minors. This outraged local mothers and rancher women. Martin Knezevich, who had been reduced to selling soda pop due to problems in "following the liquor laws" goaded these women into petitioning Governor Oswald West to do something about the town. Nearly half the town folk wrote him, including some of the young boys who had been served alcohol in the other saloons.An ardent Prohibitionist himself, Governor West was outraged. He first pleaded with Ed Rand who was the Baker County Sheriff to clean up the town. Sheriff Rand declined stating that he did not have the power to close down the saloons without a proper trial and to do so would be Unconstitutional. District Attorney C. T. Godwin supported Sheriff Rand in his decision. Both men had already tried to clean up the town but failed due to a lack of evidence.Next he telegramed the city Mayor and ordered him to close the saloons by Christmas Day, 1913. Or else he might go to Copperfield himself "to shoot a bartender," and fulfill a long time desire. The town ignored him.By the end of the year, Governor West was most likely exasperated with the situation and called upon his secret weapon.Miss Fern Hobbs moved to Hillsboro Oregon and put her younger brother and sister through school while she worked. She worked as private secretary to the president of the Title Guarantee and Trust Company. While she was employed there, the bank failed. Secretary of State Ben Olcott who worked with the failing bank to protect the State's assets, noted Miss Hobbs' loyalty and efficiency.After the failure of the bank, she worked for J. Wesley Ladd (who's brother William S. Ladd created Ladd's addition in Portland) as a Governess. On the side she continued to work as a secretary and even studied law. She was able to graduate in 1913 from the Willamette University College of Law and became the first female lawyer in Oregon.Some time after loosing her job at the bank and before she got her degree, Ben Olcott recommended her services as a stenographer to Governor Oswald. He was so impressed with her abilities that he hired her as his private secretary. At $3000 a year, she became the highest paid woman in public services in the United States.Oswald soon put her in charge of his anti-vice movement. During 1912 she interviewed a variety of underworld characters and worked to further the Governor's visions. By the time the Copperfield incident had come up, Miss Hobbs had just returned from Washington D.C. where she had successfully negotiated a land dispute between Oregon State and the Federal Government.Oswald sent her to Copperfield to resolve his problem there. Along with some of the "bravest and toughest militiamen in Oregon" who were dressed in civilian clothes, Miss Hobbs boarded the train for Burns Oregon, then to Copperfield. All the National Guardsmen were veterans from the Philippines, and their leader Lieutenant Colonel Berton K. Lawson, was warden of the State's prison. Their presence was kept a secret by everyone involved.Mayor Stewart of Copperfield, who had been alerted of her coming, declared that the town would give her a grand reception so that she would find nothing wrong. They decorated the town with ribbons and flowers and awaited her arrival.On the afternoon of January 3rd, 1914 Miss Fern Hobbs stepped down from the Baker-Copperfield train. Her arrival was greeted by the town toughs and assorted gamblers who had come to laugh at her. Unfortunately for them, the six National Guardsmen disembarked directly after her. Dressed in their uniforms, and with loaded weapons.The no doubt perturbed Mayor Stewart invited her up the hill to a dance hall. Everyone present followed where she stepped up to the bandstand, pulled out a paper and began to read the proclamation of Martial Law.

The townspeople stood stunned at such a thing. The ever polite Miss Hobbs asked the city council to resign. Mayor Stewart calmly arose from his seat and declared that he would not do so. The rest of the city council followed and declared that they would not close their saloons. This was on the advice of James Nichols, a law partner of District Attorney GodwinWith his no doubt years of practice at whipping recruits into shape, and his stint in the Oregon Prison system, Lieutenant Colonel Lawson immediately ordered the men to unbuckle the holsters of their guns. He strode to the front of the room and tacked a copy of the Proclamation of Martial Law on the wall.The townsmen quietly relinquished their weapons at the door. Miss Hobbs returned on the 4:00 PM train to Baker, spent the night in the Geiser Grand Hotel and returned to Portland the next day. In the meantime Lawson and his men locked up the saloons (no word if they locked up Martin Knezevich's too,) and posted guards all around.The next morning Attorney Nicolas obtained an injunction against the Governor's actions. Col. Lawson received the telegram informing him of such. It ordered himself, Miss Hobbs and Governor West to appear in the Baker County Court to explain what right they had to close the saloons.In anger Lawson ripped the telegram into shreds and seized the town depot to censor telephone and telegraph messages. He then wired for more troops based on an erroneous report by the Oregonian that Sheriff Rand was putting together a posse. Sheriff Rand later disavowed the news saying he would not risk any lives over this matter. But Governor West requested a hearing to remove him from office and appointed Miss Hobbs to represent the State as special counsel.The next day, ten (or twenty depending on the source) more soldiers arrived in the town. They immediately began packing up all the liquor in town, including all the gambling equipment and even two "obscene" paintings that had been patriotically draped with American flags in one of the saloons. It was all loaded into a boxcar and sent to the Baker City dump where it was later burned. Over 10,000 pounds of alcohol were confiscated.On January 8th 1914, Sheriff Rand and a Portland attorney representing Governor West met in nearby Huntington. They reached an agreement to reduce the number of National Guardsmen to 4. Circuit Judge Anderson ruled on the 19th of the same month that the courts could not interfere with the Governor's right to declare Martial Law.The saloon owners later filed against the Governor to recover $8000 for lost liquor but the Baker County Circuit Court and the Oregon Supreme court both ruled that Governor West was within his rights. Soon afterwards the remaining saloons were burned down (no word if it was accidental or on purpose,) and the town continued to die it's slow death.The Post Office finally closed July 15th, 1927.CurrinsvilleCurrinsville is located about two miles south of Eagle Creek, Oregon and four miles North of Estacada. It was an overnight spot on the Barlow Road portion of the Oregon Trail. The earliest mention of the location of Currinsville is in "History of the Columbia River Valley, From The Dalles to the Sea" by Fred Lockley. In a short biography of Erwin Charles Hackett, county recorder of Clackamas County and three term mayor of Oregon City, Hackett mentions having a picture of a barn located on the site of a fort built in 1855 on Joseph Young's land claim to protect against hostile natives who had been killing Pioneers and burning houses along the Barlow Road. This would have been during the Rogue River Indian Wars that took place mostly in southern Oregon but spread around the entire territory.Located near the Phillip Foster Farm (currently a living history Museum,) around which the town of Eagle Creek was built at the end of the Barlow Trail, the area had enough population to get a post office on Jun 24, 1874. The original Post Office name was Zion and William H. H. Wade was the first postmaster. The name of the post office (and town) was changed to Currinsville on January 24, 1884 with George J. Currin as the first post master. (Source; Oregon Geographic Names) Before the Zion Post Office was opened, the area was known as Young's Prairie.By July 1888 a stage coach left Portland three times a week from Lent's Post Office (in the Lent's Neighborhood in Portland,) and stopped at Damascus, Eagle Creek and Currinsville.From Church History, Clackamas Oregon: "Dr. Swander reports the Currinsville Church was launched in 1891. The town was located on Highway 224 four miles north of Estacada. The 1892 Disciples Year Book shows there were eight members and the contact person was Frank Lemon. Since the group was so small and no property value is listed, it is doubtful if they had a building of their own. It is thought that the group was later absorbed by the Estacada Church."Located in what was at the time heavy forest, fires were not unknown. One local farmer lost his house and barn to fire in September 1893, and another lost his barn with cattle still inside.In 1902 Currinsville became one of the stops on the Oregon Water and Power Railroad to Cazadero. Other stops included Boring, Barton, and Estacada. The Post Office was closed on February 16, 1906. The residents were split between the Eagle Creek Post Office and the Estacada Post Office. But the story of Currinsville doesn't quite end there. The Oregonian of March 23, 1912 talks about a secessionist movement of East Clackamas County with Estacada as the County Seat over high taxes imposed by Oregon City. The article talks about speakers being sent to Currinsville. While nothing much seems to have come of the movement, the subject of high county taxes in Eastern Clackamas County refuses to die for several more years.The East Clackamas County Fair of September 13, 1914 in Estacada featured community bands from Currinsville, and another nearby community called Garfield.Secessionism seems to be in the news again on March 24, 1916. County Judge H.S. Anderson spoke to a crowd of 75-80 people at Ely's Hall (maybe John Ely's house, who seemed to be on of the organizers) during the Eastern Clackamas Taxpayer's League. The League meets again on July 20, 1916 (in the evening due to farm work it is noted,) in Barton to again discuss the matter of high taxes. This time with County Assessor Jack (no last name.)Concerns over "The Great War," or WWI as we know it today quickly overshadowed Tax issues. Many local residents joined the military. Some did not come back. Among them James A. Linn, son of James O. Linn and Mary L. Cater. James A. Linn was in the 37th Engineer Battalion and died at Walter Reed Hospital March 29th, 1918. The unit was mobilized in January 1918 in Virginia, and didn't see battle until September 1918 so it's most likely that James died of disease or accident. The obituary makes no mention of cause of death, but does say he was a member of the Modern Woodmen of America which is a fraternal life insurance organization that still exists today.Another local, Newton Moak, who apparently attended the Currinsville Schools died from blood poisoning on December 2 1918 after being shot with shrapnel. Most likely the original wound came in November during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. The funeral was being held on October 9th, 1920 in Oregon City. Moak was a member of the 363rd Infantry of the 91st Division and had been originally buried near Paris France. Tragically, WWI officially ended a month before his death on November 10th, 1918. He lived to see the end of the Great War, but didn't make it home.But Currinsville's patriotism didn't stop at sending it's population to war. The district was one of several to exceed it's quota in war bonds in July 1918.On May 30th, 1925 George Currin (the guy the town was ultimately named after) and his wife celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in their home in Gresham. But the final blow for Currinsville must be the consolidation of election districts on July 31st, 1933. The number of districts was reduced from 104 to 60, with a savings of $2000 per a district. Currinsville was merged with Barlow, North Molalla, Meadowbrook, Dodge, South Estacada, George and Garfield.Only a few years later Currinsville is in the news again. This time locals are reporting that horses are being spooked and taking off. And not just young animals, but hardened veterans that know their job well. There was no further word of what was causing the problems with the horses.Further news stories wander into the mundane from here on out. Death notices, land for sale, advertisements for groceries in the 1960s, and car accidents. These days Currinsville is hardly a bump in the road. A few dilapidated barns, older farm houses and Portland Crafstman style homes along with a cemetery (located on private property at the corner of Duus Road and SE Eagle Creek Road,) all point towards a once vibrant community. A simple street sign says "Currinsville," and a few maps still remember the name. But Currinsville has joined many other Oregon Cities in the annuals of history to become a Ghost Town.CliftonClifton is on the Columbia River about seventeen miles up stream of Astoria. It's generally accepted that Stephen G. Spear named his farm Clifton after the cliffs in the area. The first post office was opened on January 6th 1874. Up until 1890 when the first cannery was built by J. W. and V. Cook, it was mostly occupied by gill netters.Salmon fishing and canning was a huge business for the entire mouth of the Columbia. Salmon canneries lined the shores of this portion of the river. Unfortunately most of those buildings are gone now, but a few can still be seen here and there. Clifton is the opposite extreme of Astoria, very little of it exists any more although it was a quite a large city at one time.Italian, Yugoslavian and Greek immigrants fished the heavy salmon runs in the Columbia. Chinese immigrants worked in the cannery and lived in bunkhouses above the town. The cannery closed in 1906 and the Chinese moved on. The rest stayed and the city quietly split up among ethnic lines. Italians in the lower part, Greeks at the top, and the Yugoslavians occupied the middle part.Logging operations took over and were enough to sustain the town population. There were once five different camps within three miles of the town.At it's height, the town had two stores, one of which housed both the school and post office. It had two saloons, one of which had a skating rink and dance hall upstairs. The town never had a fire department, jail or city hall. The dance hall burned to the ground in 1921. Reports differ as to if it was rebuilt or not.By 1930 the logging camps had all closed, having exhausted the old growth trees in the area. US Highway 30 came through the town in 1937. Before that people hopped one of the four daily trains between Astoria and Portland, or took a boat to the city of Cathlamet on the Washington side of the river.By 1950 the town was pretty much gone. One of the two stores and church closed. Houses were dismantled and used for lumber. The second store closed in the 1960s and became the office of the town's caretaker, who was employed by Bumble Bee.Now days the town isn't even on the main road any more and little remains of this once busy town. In 2005 the Lewis and Clark Explorer was the last train to pass through town, it didn't stop.WendlingWendling, Oregon was a company Mill Town built by the Booth-Kelly Lumber Company in the Mohawk Valley about 20 miles Northeast of Eugene Oregon. At it's height it had a population of about 1000 people, half of which worked at Booth-Kelly's Wendling Mill. The hills around the area were populated by hundreds more men living in logging camps that fed the Wendling Mill and Springfield Mill.The first mill in the area was owned by a man named Holcomb who built it at the junction of Mill and Wolf Creeks. In 1885 Whitbeck and Sterns purchased the mill, operated it for a short time before selling to Johnson and George Wendling. They operating it for a few years before selling to George Kelly, Tom Kelly, and Robert Booth in 1898. These men had formed the Booth-Kelly Lumber Company and immediately set about "modernizing" the mill.The town grew so fast that an Post Office was established in 1899. In October of 1900, the Springfield-Wendling branch of the Southern Pacific Railroad was built to Wendling. This allowed timber and lumber to be shipped by train instead of wagon and allowed output to be increased even further. It is reported that the line was extended another 25 miles up the valley where trains brought timber to the mill from remote logging camps.In 1903 the Southern Pacific Railroad announced that they would no longer sell land grants to individuals after realizing how much potential profit timber profit there was in the lands they owned. This was in conflict of the Pacific Railroad Acts enacted by Congress in 1862 and 1863. The Federal Government filed suit against the Southern Pacific Railroad, causing operations to cease. Because of this Booth-Kelly was shut down in 1904 as they could no longer transport logs or lumber. The mill was able to open again two years later after the lawsuit was resolved and by 1908 had grown yet again.In August 1910 most of the town was destroyed by fire. The mill itself was saved, but most everything else had to be rebuild. Less then a year later the town featured larger houses with indoor plumbing. Before that the town consisted of a bunk-house with 46 rooms and electricity, a company store, cottages for married men and their families, an church, a school, a resident doctor, locomotive barn, machine shop, blacksmith shop, train depot, bowling alley, barber shop, and an skating rink.The roads in Wendling were interesting, they were covered with left over sawdust from the mill. Later they were replaced with discarded and left over planks from the mill, along with wood-slat sidewalks.The mill saw another fire in 1922, but was able to stay in business until 1946. The closing was prompted by a labor dispute, before a third and final fire that destroyed the building. This signed the death warrant for Wendling as any remaining timber was too far away to be financially viable. The Post Office closed in 1952, and the land sold to the Georgia Pacific Corporation in 1959.One of Wendling's most engaging residents was Opal Whiteley, who as a child had kept a diary of her adventures in a fantasyland composed of the trees, beasts, and wild flowers populated by fairies. Opal claimed to be an illegitimate child of French aristocracy who was either purchased or adopted as a replacement by her mother who had "lost" the original Opal.The book of her life, complied by Opal herself, and launched as a serial in the Atlantic Monthly Press in 1920 ended up selling three editions and 15,000 copies in less then a year. By 1921, the Story of Opal was pulled from shelves due to the controversy surrounding Opal's life.Not much is left of Modern Wendling. A few older houses, the covered bridge, and the memories of residents lay among the ghosts of the mill. Concrete remains mark the final location of the mill, the general store, and the third spillway dam. There are rumors of the remains of a playground, and the children's cemetery on the hill. But the road up is closed to traffic other then logging trucks. Other then these remains, the forest is slowly taking over the town again.Endnotes