22. The Sign Shop

22. The Sign Shop

Royal G. Jackson: What kinds of organizations came out to camp? Did churches come out?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Oh, yes. We had churches come out and we had firemen come out, and we had first aid classes.

Royal G. Jackson: So you had classes at the camp?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Yes. They didn't force you to go to some of them. Like the first aid class, if you wanted to go to first aid class, you went to first aid class; there was no forcing. It was real neat, I'd say. And like, a fire chief from Corvallis comes out there and he'd show you different ways to fight fires. That's campfire I'm talking about; I'm not talking about the fires out in the woods; he didn't have anything to do with that. The Forest Service was in charge of classes on fighting forest fires, so the ones that fought forest fires, they went to them classes.

Royal G. Jackson: What other organizations came out to camp?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Oh, we had a tall fellow come in to run the woodwork class. And we made signs for everybody around Oregon, for gateways I mean. Those signs they put up like they say Marys Peak, 20 miles away, or 5 miles away, whatever it is.

Royal G. Jackson: Mounted signs?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Mounted signs. We made the big signs, entry signs.

Royal G. Jackson: These are wood, routed out?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Routed out just like the one that is up there. That's one I made there. They rout out big ones.

Royal G. Jackson: They call this a rustic sign?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Rustic signs shop, yes, ma'am.

Royal G. Jackson: What about the Salmon River Guard Station? Do you remember anything about that?

Edward Sekermestrovich: I've heard about it, yes, but I never went there.

Royal G. Jackson: Didn't work on that one?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Never worked on it. I never knew who went that far from camp, unless they had a fire. The farthest I know we ever went was Cottage Grove, what they call the Smith River fire; that was the farthest we went that way. And the farthest we ever went towards Portland I know of would be Dallas; they called that the Gooseneck fire. And that was the only one that I know of.

Royal G. Jackson: What color were the buildings painted in the camp? Do you remember?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Dark brown. Every building.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: I asked Mr. Sekermestrovich in August, 1990, if it was possible that the buildings were green. His wife said that she remembered them as green, and he agreed that they may have been that color.]

Royal G. Jackson: What was it trimmed in?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Lighter brown, I'd say. It was kind of more rustic looking.

Royal G. Jackson: By then they'd already begun the Arboretum and they had quite a few trees planted. Did you ever go over there and look at the different varieties?

Edward Sekermestrovich: No, never did. And I told you that when they get so big they sell them, or they ship them out, because that's what Pochurek was doing. He used to bunch them by the thousands, or by the half thousands, I don't know what the bunches were. They got a freezer out there and everything to keep them in.

Royal G. Jackson: Cold storage you mean?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Cold storage, yes.

Royal G. Jackson: There's a building out there they still call Cold Storage. Was that building there when you were there?

Edward Sekermestrovich: That must have been it then. That was about the biggest part of the camp. You can see right there in this little picture. That's about the best picture I've got. I've got a friend out here at Lewisburg. I called him up this morning and maybe I can get some pictures from him. He's got pictures of the buildings.