Front matter

JOHN JACOB & WILMA ROHNER Family Farming On Coffin Butte Between World Wars Benton County, Oregon: 1919-41 Oral History Interviews by Bob Zybach Soap Creek Valley History Project OSU Research Forests Monograph #5

Cover Photo: Courtesy of Myra Moore Lauridson and the Soap Creek Schoolhouse Foundation. Pictured is the Moore family farm on Soap Creek, taken about 1899 or 1900 by Mrs. Lauridson's father, Samuel H. Moore.

The Soap Creek Valley History Project was authorized by, and is under the direction of, Dr. William Atkinson, Director of the OSU Research Forests. Funding for the project is provided by the OSU College of Forestry. Lisa Buschman, former OSU Research Forests secretary, transcribed interview recordings to computer files and assisted with draft editing, formatting, and indexing. Holly Behm Losli and Tami Torres, OSU Research Forests text editors, completed final formatting and indexing under the direction of Pam Beebee, OSU Research Forests Office Manager. This project could not have been completed without the help of these people.

The Soap Creek Valley History Project was undertaken by the Oregon State University's Research Forests in 1989 for the purpose of better understanding the history, ecology, and culture of an area that has been impacted by OSU land management practices for nearly seventy years. An important part of the project has been the locating of recorded oral history interviews with individuals who have had an influence upon the valley's history. New recordings have also been made with significant individuals who have not been previously consulted, as well as "follow-up" interviews with people who have continued to contribute to our understanding of the Soap Creek area. The publication of these interviews as a series of cross-referenced and indexed monographs has been undertaken in an effort to make them available to resource managers, researchers and educators. An additional use is accurate and available references for a planned written history of the area. One of the primary accomplishments of the project has been the creation of a computerized concordance file. This was made possible through the assistance and expertise of Bonnie Humphrey,of the Horner Museum staff, Lisa Buschman, former secretary for the OSU Research Forests, and Holly Behm Losli, text editor for OSU Research Forests. The file allows for both the efficient and systematic indexing of the monographs in this series, as well as providing a method for cross-referencing other research materials being used in the construction of a scholarly history of the Soap Creek Valley. Wherever possible, that history is being assembled from the written and spoken words of the people who made it and lived it. The use of the concordance file allows information from the journal entries of botanist David Douglas, the transcribed words of Kalapuyan William Hartless, the memories of pioneer "Grandma" Carter, and the recordings of Depression-era farmers Jake and Willie Rohner--a history spanning over a century and a half--to be systematically searched and organized. The index to this monograph is an example of the applied use of the file.

John Jacob (Jake) Rohner and his sister, Wilma (Willie), are two of the nicest people I have ever met. Willie is also one of the funniest. A shortcoming of oral histories is the loss of timing, emotion, laughter, and other expressions that can't be adequately described in typewritten words. Much of Jake's basic kindness and honest helpfulness still survives the process of being interviewed, recorded and transcribed--but much is lost. The same holds true with Willie's stories and observations. In print they're often hilarious--in real life they're really hilarious! Working with these two people over the course of the past few years has been a genuinely pleasant experience. The Rohners are a close-knit family. Since his wife's death last year, Jake often has meals with his sister Willie and Elsie, who live a short distance down the road. Brother Ed also maintains a farm nearby, and married sisters Sam and Nellie remain in constant touch. People that have known the Rohners through the years invariably say nice things about the family. "Honest," "hard-working," and "good farmers" are terms that are often used. Neil Vanderburg, a retired Corvallis-area farmer (and occasional co-author), probably summed the family up best when I first asked him about Jake and Willie: "Everybody who knew the Rohners respected them. They were honest, hard-working people that knew how to live off a farm. They were nice people, kind of quiet, that you could always trust." I think Neil understood them pretty well. The following story is of an immigrant Swiss family's farming life in Benton County, Oregon during the Great Depression. The story begins with the purchase of a farm on the northern slopes of Coffin Butte near the end of World War I, and ends with the farm's purchase by the U.S. Army for training purposes at the beginning of World War II. Many of the photographs in the appendix were taken with "a cheap Brownie" by 16-year old Willie after she had been specifically instructed to stay away from construction activities. Their printing in this publication provides graphic insights into the effect Camp Adair had upon many local families during the early 1940s. Bob Zybach Corvallis, Oregon August 5, 1993

Map of September 30, 1990 Tour of Coffin Butte neighborhood. Circled letters correspond to chapter headings in Table of Contents.