Valley Visitor

 

The town which last November voted to incorporate is financially in a state of suspended animation but physically in a state of feverish activity.

Members of the new city council meet once and often twice a week to shape the form of the future city.

Budget discussions will begin next month. A report of the total assessed valuation of $120,000 will form the tax base from which city revenues will be derived.

On the main street which cuts a 120 foot wide swath through the tiny half-mile town the citizenry in shirtsleeves are building the Cave Junction of the future, brick by brick with their own hands.

Larry Musil, joins his partner W. P. Roberts to pour concrete for the floor of the new Quonset theatre they are building to replace the theatre destroyed by fire in October.

Candy Store

Next door Tony Boucher builds a concrete brick building which soon will be a confectionary store.

E. C. Richardson is completing what will be the Do-Drop-inn hamburger palace; Mr. and Mrs. B. L. Baden bake pasteries and pies and put the finishing touches on their new bakery and fountain, and in the Valley Cleaners next door, Luther Sherrier who has been in the Valley since 1931 as a mechanic and logger operates his recently completed cleaning establishment. “It’s not finished yet,” he explains, “But folks needed the service so bad I had to move in and start operating.”

J. S. Whitehead, one of the council members, operates the dry goods store. Whitehead came to Cave Junction 10 years ago and worked in the restaurant across the street for many years. George Wattles runs the state liquor store and has just completed a fountain restaurant which he will open in an adjoining section of the building. In addition he handles the agency for the George Chalker Real Estate company. street for many years. George Wattles runs the state liquor store and has just completed a fountain restaurant which he will open in an adjoining section of the building. In addition he handles the agency for the George Chalker Real Estate company.

Cold Storage

L. Goff, Dale Ehler, and V. Cady have been working on the new G. C. and E. garage. Across the street E. Y. York is completing a new concrete block garage and grease shop. With two cold storage locker plants already filled to capacity a third, still larger plant is being constructed on the Caves highway by Fred Sawyer. George Logan whose grandfather was county auditor in 1857, is working his recently completed saw-mill only a block from the main highway. Next to the theatre the Illinois Valley News operated by M. C. and Ted Athey is getting ready to celebrate its eleventh year in business. George Freeman, city councilman, operates a garage; Art Drews who dug the first well in the town is still in business; Howard Davis, owner of the coffee shop and Bill’s Café is beginning to feel like an old settler after a year and a half in the community, and Mr. and Mrs. K. C. Hamilton who have had the Illinois Valley Hardware for the same length of time owned ranch property in the valley for many years.

A Drug Store

The new feed store has just been completed and a combination drug store and office building is being erected next to Freeman’s by Paul Johnson. Auto courts are going up on the edge of town, plans have been made to install a radio repair shop.

Yes, there is building in Cave Junction today.

The new city is faced with three immediate problems, first water supply, second, sewage disposal, and third adequate fire and police protection.

Supported as it is solely by contributions from citizens the city government is accomplishing miracles by the simple process of asking people to help do something and then seeing that it is done. A new water tower and
 storage tank over the existing well has been started and will be erected without cost to the community.

Applications to Washington

Application has been made to Washington for money to employ engineers to lay out sewer and water lines and to plan an adequate disposal plant for the area which has been dependent on cesspools and septic tanks. An improved street lighting system has been discussed and will be budgeted as soon as possible.

City officials consisting of the mayor, Elwood Hussey and a four man council work without pay. Even expenses of trips to confer with League of Oregon Cities officials are defrayed by each councilman. With no treasury balance the city has appointed Mrs. Isabelle Small city recorder and police judge, duties which she combines with those of Justice of the Peace, a position which Ted Athey recently resigned because of ill health. The town has a marshal, Wilson B. Welsh; a deputy, William B. Small; a fire chief, Earl Sherrier; a treasurer, George Logan; and a building and electrical inspector. In its brief weeks of existence the council has adopted eight ordinances creating the above offices, adopting a building code, a traffic code, and a municipal crime code. William Johnson was named to fill the office of city attorney and as other city officers his contract reads that his salary shall be in such amount as is mutually agreed upon if and when the city begins to draw revenue from taxes and other sources.

Still Needed

In addition to the purely physical improvement of the streets, the water systems and the sewer system, the citizens are concerned about getting a doctor and a dentist in the community. Many said they thought a bank was urgently needed; some asked that a hospital and city schools be established. Everybody in town is talking about the proposed development of Crescent City harbor and what it will mean to their town. They are not just hoping for the highway to be improved, they are working for it. Men are studying the lumber business booming in and around the little city.

When and how will it “play out”?

How can waste products be utilized?

Mining is being revived and new methods are being used that some people believe will insure profitable operations for many years.

The old timers say, “Sure this is farm country, the best in the country! Wait till we get the timber off. We’ll get water in here if we have to go to Crater Lake for it and then watch our farms and dairy herds!

Elwood Hussey, mayor and one of the first settlers in the city area attended the first hearing on the Crescent City project in 1927 and from the day forward has worked to build a city to serve that harbor. “It is a good town we have here now,” Hussey said. “It will be a good city tomorrow if we maintain the same type of citizens as we are starting with.”

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(Editor’s Note: The preceding article was provided through the courtesy of Grayce Hudron.)