Mary McDonald Acquisitions

PART II - THE SCHOOL FORESTS (1927-1956)

Interview conducted by Royal Jackson and Jennifer Lee at Peavy Hall on the Oregon State University Campus, November 2, 1978.

Royal Jackson / Jennifer Lee: Perhaps you can start by talking about the period from 1942 to 1955 when you came to Oregon State University as Dean, particularly anything you can remember about the McDonald Forest and the Paul M. Dunn Forest, and the acquisition of the Adair Tract?

Paul M. Dunn: During the period of 1942 to 1955, when I was Dean of the School of Forestry at Oregon State University, one area of activity was the continuation of the forest land acquisitions for the benefit of the School of Forestry in its teaching and research programs. When I arrived the program, started by Dean Peavy, had been in effect since 1927. As a result of grants from Mrs. Mary J.L. McDonald, the wife of a lumberman from California, Dean Peavy had been given authorization to investigate certain pieces of land that might be for sale. Then he would report to Mrs. McDonald, and she would approve and give him authority to buy the land.

Royal Jackson / Jennifer Lee: What can you tell us about Mrs. McDonald? Why was she interested in giving something to Oregon State University?

Paul M. Dunn: Well, as I remember, her husband was a lumberman. They lived in Berkeley, California. Some of the land her husband had acquired was in Northern California and Southern Oregon. His original plan was to provide land or money for the University of California. After his death, she didn't receive, let's say, adequate attention from that area, so she became interested in Oregon State University and got acquainted with Dean Peavy. He, with his affable enthusiasm, sold her on the idea that OSU would be a good area for her support and suggested that the primary objective of her help would be to provide a forest area for teaching and research in timber management for the School of Forestry. Mrs. McDonald liked the idea. After her husband's death, she carried on and made several substantial grants, both while she was living and subsequently in her will. During the period of 1927 through 1939, which was the end of the period of Dean Peavy's activities as Dean, a total of 4,800 acres was acquired, all in the McDonald Forest area and very accessible to the School

Paul M. Dunn: of Forestry. If you are acquainted with the OSU Library, you may recall that there is a McDonald room that is dedicated to Mrs. McDonald. She made bequests to other areas in addition to the Forestry School.

Royal Jackson / Jennifer Lee: How many acres did she give to the School?

Paul M. Dunn: Forty-eight hundred. She provided the money.

Royal Jackson / Jennifer Lee: She didn't actually own any land there, but provided the money for the land?

Paul M. Dunn: Her estate owned some land in Lake County in Southern Oregon, and also in Jackson County. These parcels of land were deeded to the Forestry School, later sold, and the money was used to buy land in the McDonald Forest area.

Royal Jackson / Jennifer Lee: Was one of those the Spaulding Tract?

Paul M. Dunn: No, the Spaulding Tract is 160 acres on this side of Mary's Peak which was given to the Forestry School by the Spaulding Lumber Company. There is another tract, the Blodgett Tract of 2,400 acres, in Columbia County, which was given by the Blodgett Lumber Company to the Forestry School.

Royal Jackson / Jennifer Lee: Who made the decision on what lands would be bought with the money that she gave to the School?

Paul M. Dunn: Dean Peavy. He selected the tracts on the foothills of the Coast Range. It is seven miles from one end of the McDonald Forest and twelve miles from the other end to the Forestry Building on campus. You may know where it is. It's this area on the map. These tracts of land eventually became the McDonald Forest. I was acquainted with it before I came to OSU. I continued with the program as money was still available. I was able to add 1,980 acres to the McDonald Forest by purchase and trade of some timber for some other parcels of land. There is now a total of 6,780 acres in the McDonald Forest.

Royal Jackson / Jennifer Lee: Was the President of the University throughout these various periods from Dean Peavy to your period; was he pretty supportive of this idea of acquiring more land?

Paul M. Dunn: Yes. While I was Dean, Dr. Strand was the President of OSU the entire time and also after I left. Dr. Strand and I came here the same year, in fact, within a month of each other. He was very supportive. In the main, all that I needed to do was to provide him with specific information and he would approve it. The State Board of

Paul M. Dunn: Forestry would then give final approval, and so additions were made to the McDonald Forest.

Royal Jackson / Jennifer Lee: Did you have to do that discretely to keep people from raising the prices? I mean, was there any feeling, well, let's raise the price because the School of Forestry will buy it?

Paul M. Dunn: No. Keep in mind that Dean Peavy functioned during the period of 1927 through 1939. My period as Dean was from 1942 to 1955. Land values were not high and there was no particular competitive interest. In fact, owners in the main were anxious to sell. I would say their feeling towards Oregon State was one that they found mutually advantageous and they were pleased to sell their land, which frankly wasn't worth very much at that time. We paid normal competitive prices for it.

Royal Jackson / Jennifer Lee: Like, for example, five to ten dollars an acre?

Paul M. Dunn: Roughly in that area. Yes, some of it even for two dollars. Some for five dollars. I've never analyzed it. I guess all the data are in the files. I don't think it got to any more than that because when we got to talking about the Adair Tract, the highest value on that tract was five dollars an acre.

Royal Jackson / Jennifer Lee: What do you estimate it's worth today?

Paul M. Dunn: Several million.

Royal Jackson / Jennifer Lee: Most of the people that sold land during this earlier period of consolidating the forest, were they homesteaders; or what kind of individuals were they; and why did they sell it?

Paul M. Dunn: I became acquainted with many of the former owners. Several were homesteaders and others were timber people who had cut over the land and considered it as being worthless, in a sense, and they were anxious to sell it. The area that we are talking about had been cut over and logged in the late teens through to World War II. The Spaulding Tract, for example, that we still have, was cut over around 1919. The Blodgett Tract was cut off earlier than that.

Royal Jackson / Jennifer Lee: That was in Columbia County?

Paul M. Dunn: Yes, in Columbia County. The owners of these two tracts had utilized the land's values, and they were anxious to give them away because of the tax situation. You will recall that during this period the tax situation was acute. Many timber land owners just walked away and gave their land to the counties.

Royal Jackson / Jennifer Lee: Like during the Depression years?