Fo` ,o SHP° Inventory No.: OREGON INVENTORY OF HISTORIC

OREGON INVENTORY OF HISTORIC PROPERTIES
HISTORIC RESOURCE SURVEY FORM
POLK COUNTY
Historic Name of Townsite: VALSETZ
Common Name: VALSETZ
ABOUT 10 MILES WEST OF FALLS CITY IN THE COAST RANGE NEAR THE HEADWATERS
Location:
OF THE LUCKIAMUTE RIVER
Date Established: 1894
Founder(s): ANDREW AND PHILISTA PORTER, COBBS AND MITCHEL TIMBER COMPANY
T/R/S: 8/8/34
Quadrangle: VALSETZ, OREGON (7.5')
Resource Type:
[] Bldg. [] Structure [] District [X] Site [] Object
Setting: THE HISTORIC VALSETZ TOWNSITE WAS SITUATED ALONG THE EAST OF SIDE OF VALSETZ
LAKE IN THE COAST RANGE MOUNTAINS. THE AREA IS HEAVILY WOODED AND MOUNTAINOUS AND
IS USED FOR TIMBER PRODUCTION.
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Fo'
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ge Disposal
Ponds
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Noteworthy Landscape Features: SITE IS ENTIRELY REPLANTED TO DOUGLAS FIR; FORESTED
MOUNTAINS SURROUND FORMER TOVVNSITE
SHP° Inventory No.:
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OREGON INVENTORY OF HISTORIC PROPERTIES
HISTORIC RESOURCE SURVEY FORM
POLK COUNTY
Name: VALSETZ
Location: 10 MI. W. OF FALLS CITY AT FORMER VALSETZ LAKE
Quadrangle: VALSETZ, OREGON (7.5')
T/R/S: 8/8/34
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Statement of Significance (Historical and/or architectural importance, dates, events, person, contexts), use
additional sheets if necessary:
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Common Name: Valsetz
Historic Name: Valsetz
T/R/S: T8S, R8W, NW 1/4 S34
Quadrangle: Valsetz
Inventory Number: 84
Valsetz is located approximately 15 miles west of Falls City on the west slope of the Coast Range. The
site was first settled by Andrew and Philista Porter in 1894 who established a 160 acre timber claim. The
town was originally named Sugar Loaf after the Sugar Loaf Mountain.
The Sugar Loaf post office was opened on April 16, 1895, with John Wright as the first postmaster. It
closed on April 30, 1904.
The Cobbs & Mitchel timber company purchased large tracts of timber in the area in 1903, but it wasn't
until the construction of the Valley & Siletz Railroad between 1912-1919, that the area witnessed its first
significant growth.
In 1910 a fire destroyed a large amount of timber owned by Cobbs & Mitchel near Hoskins. Attempting
to salvage as much timber as possible, the firm began construction of a railroad in 1912, from
Independence to Hoskins. This line was completed to Hoskins in 1916, and due to its economic success,
extended to the company's timber holdings near the Valsetz site in 1919. The Valsetz post office opened
November 6, 1920, with John Wright as postmaster.
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During the 1920s Valsetz grew to include a general store, theatre, train depot, recreation hall, one-room
hospital, dentist, barber, schoolhouse, the Cobb & Mitchell Lumber Mill--completed in 1922--and a
company-owned dairy ranch. With the mills closure during the depression the town declined. A fire in
1936 destroyed the town's business section. In 1945, Cobbs & Mitchel sold to Herbert Templeton of
Portland. The original mill was dismantled in 1958 and converted into a plywood mill.
Bibliography: Corning, Oregon History, 1956.
MacArthur, Oregon Geographic Names, 1973.
PCHS, History of Polk County Oregon, Taylor 1987.
Polk County Record Books
SHPO Inventory No.
<SM>TOWNSITE.#84
REV. 8/11/91