Valsetz was an unincorporated community and timber company town in Polk County, Oregon, United States, west of Falls City in the Central Oregon Coast Range. [1] It no longer exists.
Valsetz was an unincorporated community and timber company town in Polk County, Oregon, United States, west of Falls City in the Central Oregon Coast Range. [1] It no longer exists.
Oregon Geographic Names says that the William W. Mitchell Company started the town in 1919 and named it as a portmanteau of Valley and Siletz Railroad, whose terminus was at that location. [2] Company town researcher Linda Carlson says the town was founded by the Cobbs & Mitchell company of Cadillac, Michigan during World War I. [3] [4] Valsetz post office was established in 1920. [2]
In 1947, Cobbs & Mitchell sold the town to its sales agent, Herbert Templeton. [3] He operated it as the Valsetz Lumber Company until 1959, when its sawmill and timber stands were sold to the Boise Cascade Corporation. [2] [3]
After the depletion of the old growth timber in the area in the 1970s, the railroad was torn up. [2]
In 1983, Boise Cascade announced that all operations at Valsetz would end early the next year. [2] At that time, the town's population was about 300. [5] In 1984, the town and most of its structures were removed, as everything in the community, property and streets included, was owned by the corporation. The post office closed the same year. [2] The site became part of the Valsetz Tree Farm. [1] [2]
Valsetz Lake, an artificial lake next to the townsite that was formed by damming the South Fork Siletz River, was drained in 1988. [4] [6]
Former residents of Valsetz gather for an annual reunion in Falls City, which is the site of a Valsetz memorial. [7]
The place was nationally known for its record rainfalls and for its newspaper, the Valsetz Star, which was started in the 1930s by 9-year-old Dorothy Anne Hobson. [3] At one time the population of Valsetz was over one thousand, and served by its own elementary and high school, which fielded championship basketball teams. [3]
Near the site of the former community is the "Valley of the Giants", 51 acres (210,000 m2) of Bureau of Land Management-protected old growth Douglas-fir and Western Hemlock forest on the North Fork of the Siletz River. The valley was set aside for protection in 1976. [8]
The Valsetz Dining Hall at Western Oregon University (WOU) in Monmouth, east of Valsetz, was built in 1970 and rededicated in 1991 in tribute to the former community. [9] Between 1926 and 1931, WOU, then known as the Oregon Normal School, sent 16 to 20 student teachers for six-week sessions in the Valsetz elementary school. [9]
This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71.6 °F. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Valsetz has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps. [10]
| Climate data for Valsetz, Oregon (1160 ft) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °F (°C) | 45.3 (7.4) | 49.8 (9.9) | 52.5 (11.4) | 57.9 (14.4) | 65.3 (18.5) | 71.4 (21.9) | 77.6 (25.3) | 77.5 (25.3) | 72.9 (22.7) | 63.5 (17.5) | 52.4 (11.3) | 46.7 (8.2) | 61.1 (16.2) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 38.3 (3.5) | 41.7 (5.4) | 43.2 (6.2) | 46.8 (8.2) | 52.4 (11.3) | 57.9 (14.4) | 62.1 (16.7) | 62.5 (16.9) | 58.6 (14.8) | 51.7 (10.9) | 44.1 (6.7) | 40.1 (4.5) | 50.0 (10.0) |
| Average low °F (°C) | 31.4 (−0.3) | 33.6 (0.9) | 33.9 (1.1) | 35.8 (2.1) | 39.6 (4.2) | 44.5 (6.9) | 46.6 (8.1) | 47.5 (8.6) | 44.4 (6.9) | 40.0 (4.4) | 35.9 (2.2) | 33.6 (0.9) | 38.9 (3.8) |
| Average precipitation inches (mm) | 20.70 (526) | 16.68 (424) | 14.91 (379) | 8.58 (218) | 4.72 (120) | 3.17 (81) | 1.08 (27) | 1.83 (46) | 4.53 (115) | 10.33 (262) | 19.17 (487) | 22.31 (567) | 128.01 (3,252) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) | 8.2 (21) | 2.6 (6.6) | 4.0 (10) | 0.9 (2.3) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.1 (0.25) | 1.3 (3.3) | 4.3 (11) | 21.4 (54.45) |
| Source: DRI | |||||||||||||
Valsetz was served by the Valsetz School which was a public school for 1st through 12th grade students. In 1969 the high school had 31 students, making it one of the smallest high school programs in Oregon. [11] High school graduation for the last class was held May 25, 1984 and Senator Mark Hatfield spoke at the event. [12]
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Coordinates: 44°50′18″N123°39′14″W / 44.83833°N 123.65389°W
Municipalities and communities of Polk County, Oregon, United States | ||
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| Cities |  | |
| CDPs | ||
| Unincorporated communities | ||
| Indian reservation | ||
| Ghost towns | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |