Soap Creek Valley · Monograph #4 · 4 of 25

3. Coming to Oregon

3. Coming to Oregon of Edward Sekermestrovich — printed p. 2 — recorded February 6, 1980 at Corvallis, Oregon. Every printed page has its own permanent link.

Jackson, Royal G. and Karen Thomas 1991. Edward Sekermestrovich. Life at CCC Camp Arboretum, Benton County, Oregon, 1935-1940. Soap Creek Valley History Project, Monograph #04. Oregon State University Research Forests and College of Forestry, Corvallis, Oregon: 41 pp.

p. 47 = printed page 47 of the original book; the link on each page number is a permanent address you can send to anyone.

Provenance

From: #4 Edward Sekermestrovich
Narrator: Edward Sekermestrovich
Recorded: February 6, 1980 · Corvallis, Oregon
Interviewer: Royal G. Jackson, Karen Thomas
Printed pages: p. 2
Original: http://www.nwmapsco.com/ZybachB/Oral_Histories/Soap_Creek_Valley/04_Sekermestrovich/Jackson-Thomas_1991.pdf
Accessioned: From Bob Zybach’s upload, 23 August 2026

Single recording session. Stated on p. ii and on p. 1: "Interview conducted February 6, 1980 by Royal Jackson and Karen Thomas." Photo-elicitation passages occur where the narrator points to the 1938 CCC Camp Arboretum group photograph (pp. 6, 12, 19, 27, 31, 35). Tapes are on file with the OSU Horner Museum.

p. 2

Royal G. Jackson: What kind of camp was that one, Camp Fairlawn?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Well, at that time it was just -- what would you call it, like now it would be a great, big park. That's all. And it had buildings. And what we did, we made roads and cleaned out the ponds, creeks, and then put rocks on the sides -- embankments on the sides of rivers. That's what we were doing there. I used to drive a cat and a truck, things like that.

Royal G. Jackson: So your enlistment ended there in Ohio?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Yes.

3. Coming to Oregon

Royal G. Jackson: And then you decided to come out to Oregon?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Well, I loafed around a while and there wasn't any jobs around, so I thought I'd sign up again. Which I did, and I came to Oregon.

Royal G. Jackson: You mean the group you signed up with moved out here?

Edward Sekermestrovich: No. They broke that up right after that; it was all through. I went back there not too long ago and that's just a great big park now.

Royal G. Jackson: I'm not clear why you came to Oregon. How did it happen that Oregon was your destination?

Edward Sekermestrovich: I didn't have anything to say about that. I signed up and I came here.

Royal G. Jackson: They just told you to come to Oregon?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Well, you sign up and they ask you if you want to leave town. And I said, "I don't care." They didn't tell me I was going to Oregon, but I went. I didn't mind it. In fact, it was the best thing that ever happened to me, I thought.

Royal G. Jackson: Were you in the first group then that came to Camp Arboretum?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Well, I can't say yes or no on that, either. I believe there was somebody before me. I don't know when the camp was built, to tell you the truth. I never did find out.

Royal G. Jackson: I think it was around 1935, wasn't it, Karen?

Karen Thomas: [KAREN] Yes, the first group came in around 1935.

Edward Sekermestrovich: All right, then, it must have been the first time they ever signed anybody up. Even in Ohio, in 1935.

Karen Thomas: [KAREN] Do you remember your company number?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Yes, 3503.

Speaker attribution inferred from typography where the printed page prints only Q and A.

How to cite this item

The first line is the citation as it is printed in the original. Use it when you cite the work itself. Use the second when you cite this page.

As printed: Jackson, Royal G. and Karen Thomas 1991. Edward Sekermestrovich. Life at CCC Camp Arboretum, Benton County, Oregon, 1935-1940. Soap Creek Valley History Project, Monograph #04. Oregon State University Research Forests and College of Forestry, Corvallis, Oregon: 41 pp.
This page: Sekermestrovich 1991. 3. Coming to Oregon, p. 2. America's School Trust Library, The Zybach Collection. https://schooltrusts.org/collections/zybach/soap-creek/m04-sekermestrovich/03-coming-to-oregon/ (accessed 2026).
Cite this passage: Sekermestrovich 1991, p. 2 — Monograph #04:2
https://schooltrusts.org/collections/zybach/soap-creek/m04-sekermestrovich/03-coming-to-oregon/#p2 Swap 2 for whichever printed page you are quoting: every page number in the margin is its own address.
Permalink: https://schooltrusts.org/collections/zybach/soap-creek/m04-sekermestrovich/03-coming-to-oregon/
Original PDF: http://www.nwmapsco.com/ZybachB/Oral_Histories/Soap_Creek_Valley/04_Sekermestrovich/Jackson-Thomas_1991.pdf

More on citing this collection: How to cite the Zybach Collection.

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