Yamhill County

Jeffrey Butts

The way it looked in my schedule, the upcoming Monday was going to be a slow day. Perhaps I should have said a “comparatively” slow day because, as you know, retirement can be so busy and all. At any moment I might be asked to fly to the United Nations and present a plan for peace in the Middle East. Or at least sweep the garage. But since it looked like there would be no demands on my time until at least mid-afternoon, I called fellow GTS’er Russ Lindborg to see if he wanted to go for a ride. Now Russ, you’ve got to understand, has a job and would only be able to get away for a couple of hours, three tops if you counted lunch. So that’s exactly what we did count on and we set off late in the morning on our motorcycles for a bite to eat.

Russ has had a nice collection of cars and motorcycles migrate through his garage. Mostly they arrive there in dilapidated condition and leave after significant cosmetic and mechanical attention. His most recent acquisition is a 1983 BMW R80 RT. Although he has two other bikes in his garage (one being my old ’66 Bonneville street-tracker) the Beemer is the only one currently running. The Triumph is too busy leaking. It’s soooo British. It’s been four years since Russ has had a bike on the street for anything more than a short ride so this would be a shakedown run in more ways than one. With those constraints (2-3 hours round trip, enjoyable roads, good food) in mind, the only thing left to do was to decide where to go.

Since it was my turn to pick the destination it was easy to choose the route and the restaurant. The twin cities of Yamhill and Carlton, in the heart of Yamhill County, provide all the answers including multiple alternatives to and from either town.

It’s not far from my neighborhood to Scholls’ Ferry Road (Oregon 210). From there, we headed west to Groner’s Corners, turning south at the blinking light. The highway crosses the lazy Tualatin River at the site where Peter Scholls had his original ferry crossing. Peter was a grand-nephew of Daniel Boone and quite the entrepreneur in this area in the mid-1800’s, building both a sawmill and the ferry landing. Now a nice bridge crosses the river where Peter’s hand-powered ferry was once on the main route between Portland and the farms to the south.

The road continues past the Scholls’ store and intersects with Oregon 219. At this point Oregon 210 ends and the route up and over Chehalem Pass (elev 1272 ft) is identified as Oregon 219. This is a wonderful road for both cars and motorcycles. The highway on the north side of the mountain winds up through filbert orchards, alpaca ranches, and trophy homes. The turns on this side of the summit are fairly quick and the road is well banked and smoothly paved. Right near the top, the road tightens up and the pavement quality becomes, uh, “less impacted by tax dollars” as you head into Yamhill County. The southern slope is characterized by much tighter turns and more than a few pavement patches. As the road winds down the mountain, we hang a right turn (west) at the bottom onto North Valley Road. This farm road parallels the base leg of the “L” shaped Chehalem Mountain which separates the Tualatin and Chehalem Valleys.

Yamhill County has a rich history in farming and logging that dates to the period before Oregon statehood. Ewing Young, a friend and contemporary of Kit Carson, was one of the first to settle here in the 1830’s. He had a huge ranch occupying most of this area south of the mountain. At the corner of Dopp Road and North Valley, we turned left at the stop sign. About half a mile on the left is the Chehalem Airport. Originally opened as a private grass strip in 1962, the 2400 foot runway was paved in 1990 and opened to the public in 1995. Continuing south to the next stop sign we made a quick turn left onto Oregon 240, the Newberg-Yamhill highway. Just west of the intersection with Stone Road you will see two large oak trees and a barn on the north side of the highway. These trees are located roughly in the middle of Young’s pioneer ranch. The “Young Oak” is the one on the left and was planted at his gravesite in 1846, five years after his untimely death from pneumonia. For state history buffs, his demise was a significant event. When he died, Young left no will and there were no known heirs. The local heavyweights met and resolved to appoint executors for Young’s estate and also took the first steps for to establish rule of administrative law. These preliminaries eventually evolved into actions that resulted in territorial government. We made a U-turn at Stone Road and headed back west again on Oregon 240. At Kuehne Road, bear left off of Oregon 240 and follow the signs to Carlton.

Yamhill County is awash in wineries. Although grapes have been grown in this valley since the mid 1800’s, the burst of boutique wineries is a recent phenomenon. Oregon wines were a $1.4 billion industry in 2005, with Yamhill County’s 16,000 acres of grapes representing a third of the state’s total tonnage. Originally a farmer’s railroad stop known as Carl Town, Carlton was named after local resident Wilson Carl who persuaded the railroad to establish a station here. This enabled local farm growers to have a closer shipping point for their alfalfa, hops, prunes, and walnuts. Carlton also was the terminus for the Carlton and Coast Railroad which brought timber from the coast range to the mills. The town was big into the logging industry until the 1933 Tillamook Burn devastated the coastal forest and the local lumber economy. The last mill closed in 1957 and most of the other farm crops dropped by the wayside over the years. Grass seed and hazelnuts are still produced but generate minor revenues compared to the mighty grape. With all of the wine tasting rooms throughout the area it was nice to discover a local eatery that focuses on informal family dining and dessert.

Jane Vitek opened the Penguin’s Café ‘n Ice Cream Shoppe in 2002. Penguin’s, as it is known locally, is located on Main Street. Jane originally specialized in custards but the cost of manufacturing was very high and the clientele seemed to enjoy hard ice cream just as well so she made a change in her business plan. Offering a menu variety sure to suit all tastes, she has found a niche for “family friendly” dining in an area surrounded by wine tasting rooms and upscale euro-restaurants. The décor is cheerful and the business is spotlessly clean. Russ and I enjoyed a relaxing lunch amongst local labor and business folks. Driving the full length of Oregon 47, from McMinnville to Clatskanie, you will be hard pressed to find an establishment that is its’ equal.

With a full stomach and warmed by the afternoon sun, we left Carlton and headed North on Oregon 47 and cruised into Yamhill just three miles up the road. Yamhill is emerging from hibernation. In the late 1800’s and the first 30 years of the twentieth century, Yamhill was a bustling farm community and, until the railroad punched through the coast range from Hillsboro to Tillamook in 1911, was the gateway to the only land route to Oregon Coast. In fact, Gordon Zimmerman, in his wonderful book “A Song of Yamhill” says that, in addition to a daily passenger stage coach (which made an overnight stop at Trask Mountain), teamsters drove up to five freight wagons each day on the road to the coast. After 1929, the railroad stopped passenger service into Yamhill and the town slipped back into an agrarian role. When the winery boom hit the county, Yamhill began its current transformation into “trendy.” To be sure, both Carlton and Yamhill retain a rural, small town feel but it is fading before our very eyes. Populations in both towns are growing and tract homes are beginning to appear.

We continued north towards Gaston, taking the turn onto Flett Road, just after the community of Cove Orchard. As the road T’s, bear to the right and begin a trip on one of the finest short stretches of touring road in the area. Spring Hill Road is well paved and runs along a quiet valley with easy curves and mild undulations. In the spring and late fall, the creek in the meadows to the south makes a beautiful lake out of low lying farmland. This road intersects with North Valley Road, where you want to continue to the east, reversing the route you traveled earlier through the former Ewing Young land grant. Continue until you reach Oregon 219 and then pop back up and over the Chehalem summit to Scholls and, eventually, the Beaverton/Tigard area.

This exploration can be done in a relatively short time. Russ and I didn’t even get indigestion from the standard workday “eat and run” timetable. Of course, in my case, the vibration of the Harley served to aid my digestion much as the tumble cycle of your Maytag aids clothes washing. If you have a few hours, go out and explore roads through areas rich in history and commerce.