16. Poison Oak

Bob Zybach: It is an interesting event. Can you remember any snow storms or ice storms in particular?

Velma Carter Rawie: I don't remember anything.

Bob Zybach: How about floods? Can you remember the flood in 1941?

Velma Carter Rawie: Oh, I can remember floods that we had here in town before the dams went in.

Bob Zybach: Wells wouldn't be effected by those?

Velma Carter Rawie: No, we never had any high water out there. Surface water over the roads but no. . But see, there was no rivers out there to flood! We were too far away from the Luckiamute. The Luckiamute flooded, but that didn't effect us. There was a little creek that ran through, but it dried up in the summer time. I mean, there just wasn't any...

Bob Zybach: How did people get their water was it all... ?

Velma Carter Rawie: They had wells, drilled wells. A lot of them had dug wells.

Bob Zybach: Would that be how the town got it's name? .. . Mill Creek, Fossil...

Velma Carter Rawie: I don't know. I don't know where Wells got it's name.

Bob Zybach: Do you remember any wind storms at all? Anything like the Columbus Day storm?

Velma Carter Rawie: Well, the Columbus Day storm I remember well, but we were living here at the time. But that is the only thing like that and that was really something.

16. Poison Oak

Bob Zybach: Of course, we've got a good history on that with newspapers and everything else. I've got two more questions here, actually I can think of a third one, and then before I get into them I'd like you to think of something that we haven't covered that you think. . . about your family or the Wells community or some of the events... We haven't talked to much about Holidays. . . . something that maybe you've done or your family has obseived or something that occurred that we haven't touched on or brought up. Does anything come to mind immediately?

Velma Carter Rawie: No.

Bob Zybach: Okay, the questions... One is do you remember any pine trees out there? Any trees at all?

Velma Carter Rawie: Well, we had an oak grove on our farm which would probably be the equivalent of about an acre. It's still out there. I could never understand why the Camp didn't bulldoze it out but it didn't. There was maple trees around the school

Velma Carter Rawie: house. Up on the Butte, that's what we called it, there used to be a few fir trees but no, there wasn't. . . As a forest goes, there wasn't anything like that. It was farm ground.

Bob Zybach: Do you remember any camas out there?

Velma Carter Rawie: Any what?

Bob Zybach: Camas. A blue plant with bulbs that the Indians used to eat. ... or wild onions or anything like that?

Velma Carter Rawie: No.

Bob Zybach: It was all cultivated pretty much?

Velma Carter Rawie: Uh huh.

Bob Zybach: When Camp Adair came out there there were...?

Velma Carter Rawie: lots of poison oak when Camp Adair came.

Bob Zybach: Was there poison oak before that?

Velma Carter Rawie: Oh yes! And that's what all the soldier boys got, poison oak. It was terrible. And they sprayed, and they sprayed, and they sprayed for poison oak but it is all coming back. It was up around Rohner's place and whatnot out there. [Inaudible] still getting pretty bad poison oak.

Bob Zybach: Would you kids get poison oak?

Velma Carter Rawie: Not from that, but they would get poison oak.

Bob Zybach: Is there more poison oak now than there used to be?

Velma Carter Rawie: No, I don't think that there is anymore but my kids are both woodcutters. I mean, they love to go out and cut their own wood so they usually come home with a good batch of poison oak. [Laughter]

Bob Zybach: Uh huh. The ridge where Peavy Arboretum was, that used to be called Tampico Ridge, Beals Hills was a pair of it, do you recall those names?

Velma Carter Rawie: Well of course I knew where the Beals lived. They lived right across the street from the Glenders. I don't know what's in there know. Does the college own it?

Bob Zybach: All the Glenders side and the other side is private.

Velma Carter Rawie: Oh, okay.

Bob Zybach: Do you remember... Was that hill called Beals Hill?

Velma Carter Rawie: No, the Beals were down on the low side. I don't remember it called Beals Hill.