Hoggum, Sodaville, and the Road to Sweet Home

Jeffrey Butts

It was one of those unusual astrological windows. The planets were aligned, we had our first sunny day after 33 consecutive days of rain (tying the record set in 1953), and Stephanie's sister was in town for the holidays. Translation? The sisters caught up on old times and I went out motoring. With the sun shining and the temperature in the mid-40's, I wasn't ready to take the top off, but a brisk drive with the windows down and the heater on full blast was just what the doctor ordered.

I headed for a favorite haunt, the mid-Willamette Valley. South, down the I-5 corridor, until I got to Salem, and then I took Highway 22 to the east. My first stop was Aumsville. This wide spot off of the main highway was once known as Hoggum in deference to the large number of pigs raised there during the late 1800's. It was renamed briefly in 1862 as Condit, apparently by a prognosticator in honor of a 21st century pig from California. Finally, in 1868, the name Aumsville stuck. It was in honor of a local citizen (and probable pig farmer) by the name of Amos Davis. The residents thereabouts pronounced his name Aw-mus. Honest.

From the swine trough, it is a short trek south from Hwy 22 to Stayton, Oregon. Stayton is similar to many towns in Oregon in that it was anchored by a thriving sawmill. There were two other factories in town. A chair factory was one of several businesses supported by the local timber industry. Also in town was (and is) the Paris Woolen Mills. One of my resource books says the mill was built in 1876, just four years after the town was platted, but there is a sign on the door of the mill that says it was built in 1905 and now on the National Register of Historic Places. WhatEVER! My guess is that the original mill was located on the site and this particular building was put up in 1905. The mill building itself is off a dead end street and is a part of an overall mill complex that has several other buildings that were probably constructed in the same era. The mill is obviously not operational now. There is a sign on the building that advertises "Mill Graphix" but on this afternoon all of the buildings were closed. The mill building had some broken windows, allowing a look inside. The construction is heavy timber, with a full second floor and a windowed cockloft for the third.

I headed south on Stayton-Scio Road (Highway 226) to Lebanon. The most famous resident of Scio was a Hellfire and Brimstone preacher named Joab Powell. His moment of glory came when he opened a session of the Oregon legislature by quoting the following scripture, "Lord forgive them for they know not what they do." Maybe he knew of Condit too. With a clean conscience, I barely slowed down for Scio. I may have lingered on another day but I was getting hungry and I knew that Lebanon would have a homey place to eat. To be sure, there would be burger joints, but I was looking for a place with a little more local color, fitting with the history of the town's past life as a wagon train outfitter.

South from Scio on the Stayton-Scio road, I took the left turn onto Brewster Road, a great little road into Lebanon. Be careful here as I am confident that you could easily find yourself with a speeding ticket. The road is well paved and the curves are all pretty fast. I caught myself doing about 85 MPH with no excuse had I been stopped by the local law. Lebanon, like Stayton, became better known for its' mills. According to local history documents, it once boasted the largest plywood mill in the US of A. The downtown is set up with split one-way streets. The buildings are of the standard style for this size of small town. They are primarily two-story masonry with an occasional three-story building. On the side of one of these I saw an advertisement for Big Jim's Cafe. You'll find it at 40 W. Sherman Avenue. It has a counter, and some tables and booths. I chose a booth by the window and struck up a conversation with the waitress and the cook. I was the last customer of the day, they closed at 3PM. The menu said Lorene's Cafe‚ and I asked, "What happened to Big Jim?" Based on the fishing decor, I should have been able to guess. Big Jim sold the restaurant to Lorene a year ago and moved to Baja to fish out the rest of his life. Lorene, who was not in attendance this day, had worked there once but had spent the last six years as a waitress in a nearby town. When the opportunity to buy the business arose, she grabbed the brass ring and now has her own place. Hard working residents in an Oregon pioneer town. One makes it to the golden age of retirement and heads off to warmer climes and the good life. The other steps up and keeps a local business active instead of moving to the big city. Good story.

I continued out of town on Hwy 20 towards Sweet Home and turned south off of the main highway a few miles later and headed into Sodaville. This tiny community used to be home for natural soda springs, which were heavily visited around the turn of the last century. There was a college here too (predictably named Mineral Springs College), but when the springs dried up, so did the college and, consequently, the town. Fresh water was the one thing not in abundance. In the summers, the wells and creeks dried up and made the town a tad parched. Combine with this the wood construction of the day and when they had a structure fire, it was a doozy. L.M. Wheeler, writing in the "History of Linn County" said, "...The town's main business block...(has) burned three hotels, two halls with stores on the first floor, a small store, and five or six houses. Throughout the village, houses have burned by the dozens." Well, I'm tellin' ya, it was all pretty damp when I drove through town. I looked for, but did not see, the original springs, now on property owned and managed by the State Parks Department. Most of the city streets are gravel and very hilly. The photo at right was taken on the Sodaville-Waterloo Road. Before Hwy 20 opened in 1915 the road from Lebanon to Sweet Home passed through Sodaville to Waterloo, and so I chose to drive this older route. The road climbs up a fairly substantial hill out of Sodaville and, to remind me that it was December, there was still some ice in the shady spots. Down the other side and across Hwy 20 you will encounter the village of Waterloo. The main draw of the town is a park featuring campsites along the Santiam River. On this day the Santiam was flowing fast and deep. The water was brown from all the recent rain runoff and the twist in the river right before the bridge was punctuated with whitecaps.

I continued past Waterloo until I ran into Berlin Road, which is part of the old Sweet Home road. It is another fine sports car road with turns a little sharper than Brewster Road as it climbs up Marks Ridge and then drops into town. If you start the trip early enough you can save your dining for Sweet Home. The A&W is right on the north side of the highway in the middle of town. Perfect stop for motorheads. I cruised through town going east to catch the murals painted on the sides of the local businesses. At the east end of town I turned and headed back towards home. If I had started earlier, I would have continued south and west on Hwy 228 to Brownsville and Halsey. Brownsville is a great town for local business and residential architecture and has extensive historical attractions. I would recommend the stop. It can also be accessed by driving east from I-5 at exit 216.

So that was it for me. I boogied back to I-5 along Hwy 20. Back through Lebanon and on out to the freeway at Albany. For those of you who remember my story of driving my truck to Albany from Beaverton in an hour and a half, I made the trip back today in under an hour, including slowing for the usual traffic bolus at Salem and Wilsonville. This was a fun drive. If I had to pick a place to go back to in the summer it would be Waterloo. Maybe next time I'll drive all the way south to Brownsville and work my way back up from there.