Wendling, Oregon
Wendling is an unincorporated community in Lane County, Oregon, United States, located northeast of Marcola.[1] Wendling's post office operated from 1899 to 1952.[2] The town was named for George X. Wendling, a San Francisco investor, who was the largest investor in Booth-Kelly's expansion into the Mohawk.[3] Wendling was created as a company town for the Booth-Kelly Lumber Company.
Wendling, Oregon | |
|---|---|
Wendling Bridge, a covered bridge over Mill Creek | |
Wendling Wendling | |
| Coordinates: 44°11′36″N 122°47′51″W / 44.19333°N 122.79750°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Oregon |
| County | Lane |
| Elevation | 646 ft (197 m) |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (Pacific (PST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (PDT) |
| ZIP code | 97454 |
| Area code(s) | 458 and 541 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1136886 |
History edit
Initially, Booth-Kelly had no intention of building Wendling, The original plan was use the Mohawk River to float logs to a new mill near Coburg. Lane County granted them a 90 year franchise for movement on the river.[4][5] This met with harsh resistance from the other valley mills, loggers and farmers.[6]
Booth-Kelly then decided to build a mill and supporting elements near the timber. To do this they needed to acquire the right-of-way for the Southern Pacific railroad from Springfield to their proposed site on the former homestead of William McCullough.[7] It was secured and Wendling mill and supporting structures were built in the fall of 1899 while railroad construction was underway. [8][9]The railroad was finished and the first train came into Wendling on September 3, 1900.[10]
Fires edit
On the night of August 24-25, 1910 embers falling from a nearby forest fire destroyed all but three homes in the company-owned residential section of Wendling, the church, school, cookhouse and bunkhouse. The mill, store, and company offices were saved.[11] Booth-Kelly rebuilt within two months and kept the mill and camps running during that time.[12]
In the morning hours of September 26, 1917, the planer mill and dry sheds were burned to the ground. The sawmill and other structures were saved.[13]
During the forenoon of July 6, 1922, the saw mill and nearby kilns were destroyed by fire.[14]
Months after the mill was closed at Wendling and nearly all equipment was stripped from its interior, the mill superstructures and the powerhouse burned in a fire on September 29, 1946. No other buildings were lost.[15]
Other edit
Wendling Bridge, a covered bridge, carries Wendling Road over Mill Creek at Wendling.[16] Built in 1938, the bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.[17]
See also edit
- Hayden Bridge (Springfield, Oregon) – bridge that was part of the Marcola line, which would take lumber to and from Wendling[18]
References edit
- ^ "Wendling". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. November 28, 1980. Retrieved August 17, 2011.
- ^ "Lane County". Jim Forte Postal History. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
- ^ "Contract Let". Eugene Daily Guard. September 20, 1899.
- ^ "Valuable Franchise". Daily Eugene Guard. January 11, 1899.
- ^ "The Mohawk Franchise". Daily Eugene Guard. January 14, 1899.
- ^ "Sawmill Men Protest". Morning Oregonian. January 17, 1899.
- ^ "Railroad to Mohawk". Daily Eugene Guard. June 9, 1899.
- ^ "Eugene Will Expand". Eugene City Guard. August 26, 1899.
- ^ "Contract Let". Daily Eugene Guard. September 20, 1899.
- ^ "First Train In". Daily Eugene Guard. September 4, 1900.
- ^ "Graphic Story of Forest Fires". Eugene Daily Guard. August 25, 1910.
- ^ "Wendling is Fast Rebuilding". Eugene Daily Guard. November 5, 1910.
- ^ "Planing Mill and Dry Shed Are Burned". Eugene Daily Guard. September 26, 1917.
- ^ "Wendling Mill Wrecked by Fire". Springfield News. July 6, 1922.
- ^ "Old Wendling Mill Burns to Ground in $90,000 Blaze". Eugene Register-Guard. September 30, 1946.
- ^ "Mill Creek (Wendling) Covered Bridge" (PDF). Oregon Department of Transportation. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
- ^ "Oregon National Register List" (PDF). Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. June 6, 2011. p. 23. Retrieved July 17, 2011.
- ^ Link, Gary (1992). Bennett, Lola (ed.). Hayden Bridge (PDF) (Report). Washington, DC: Historic American Engineering Record. Survey number: OR-19.
Further reading edit
- Polley, Louis E. (1984). A history of the Mohawk Valley and early lumbering. Marcola, Oregon: Polley Pub. ISBN 0916930092.
- Velasco, Dorothy (1985). Lane County: An Illustrated History of the Emerald Empire. Windsor Pubns. ISBN 0897811402.
- Polley, Louis E. (1989). Wendling, Oregon Logging Camps 1898-1945: Polley Pub. ASIN B006YXHNG6
- KRACHT, SHANNON. "Wendling, a Company Town," Lane County Historian 20 (1975): 3-16.
External links edit
- "Booth-Kelly Company Ghost Town – Wendling Oregon".
- "The Wendling Project".
- Warner, George. "Growing up in Wendling Oregon".
- Lost Towns: Wendling by the Lane County History Museum