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 |
| Mean daily maximum °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) |
| Mean daily minimum °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]
