Camp Sherman is full of history

The Camp Sherman Historical Society has begun its work with the production of a video, "If Trees Could Speak," a 10-minute oral history of Camp Sherman.

Begun three years ago, the effort will culminate in an expanded version covering the area.

In the early days, the owner of the Camp Sherman Store automatically became the postmaster. Later, the USPS established official postal carriers. From 1926 to 1934 Raymond Henrichs, son of Judge Henrichs, carried the mail in canvas sacks stacked on a trailer. He kept a Luger pistol on the steering wheel, loaded by law, with instructions to shoot to kill if held up. He never was.

In Sisters, the post office was in the Aitken family's Sisters Drug Store building, which is still in use today as The Palace.

Longtime resident Katherine Livingston recalls visiting the Madsen Dairy as a child, a property she later purchased as an adult.

In the 1920s they travelled to Camp Sherman frequently to get away from people and just relax. Her mother's brother, Erskin Wood, owned a mile stretch of river below Allen Springs. The Lake Creek and Metolius River Lodges were very simple then, she recalls. There was also the Circle M, way down river, kind of a dude ranch, comfortable, but simple.

She first thought about buying in the 1950s. She heard Eleanor Beckin had 40 acres plus 10 for sale. When Beckin walked her around the property she suddenly had a flash.

"This reminds me of the old dairy," she told Beckin.

"It is," Beckin replied.

She had bought it from Barney Madsen years ago and was going to develop it and call it Thorn Apple Acres after all the thorn apple trees. As Beckin was making her plans an authority of the Fish Commission approached her about damming Spring Creek because of an experiment they were doing with the salmon.

The Commission owned an adjacent 12 acres. Beckin would have none of it. She did not want a dam so the Commission took it by right of eminent domain. Beckin abandoned her plans for the property and instead bought the House of the Metolius.

One of Livingston's fond memories of the area's past was of the roads. At one time all the roads were red cinder asphalt. Now, of course, they are all black asphalt.

Kitty Warner, another long -time resident and a Bend Realtor, grew up in Camp Sherman. Her father was Ranch Foreman on the Corbett Ranch. Her mother came here to teach school. Warner went to the log school when she was in grades one to seven. The one-room schoolhouse had two outhouses, a potbelly stove, five-gallon milk cans for water and a lean-to shed for the horses. She later went to Sisters High School, but had to board out during the week because the roads were impassable.

There were few businesses in Camp Sherman. Warner remembers the gypo (gypo is a term for a small time operator) portable sawmill at the edge of Tamarack Lane. They only used two or three trucks in those days.

Madsen's Dairy delivered milk throughout the area. There was a church camp where Barney Madsen also delivered milk. She remembers her dad and Madsen cutting ice blocks in winter and loading it in the wagon wrapped in burlap and hauling it to the icehouse to use in the summer months.

In the fall, the Warm Springs Indians would come through with baskets of huckleberries picked near Mt. Jefferson.

Herds of cattle were brought in to graze in the area. The federal government disallowed the practice in 1931, but sheep could still come. Sheepherders lived in very primitive tents and had cook shacks. They moved the sheep all summer, from mid May to Labor Day. The sheep took care of all the underbrush.

She reminisces that a lot has changed.

"We knew our neighbors well in those days, visited and supported each other," she said.

More than just a chronicler of history, the Historical Society has done its share of charitable activities. This past year they restored the shelters and put up interpretive signs at Camp Sherman campsites originally put up by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps).

The CSHS also helped with the Community Hall restoration, the hall being the central hub of many activities in Camp Sherman. CSHS members Lorie Hancock and Tonye Phillips got the hall on the National Historical Registry.