Front matter

VELMA CARTER RAWIE A History of the Carter Family and the Town of Wells Benton County, Oregon: 1845 - 1941 Oral History Interviews by Bob Zybach Soap Creek Valley History Project OSU Research Forests Monograph # 10 1994

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, former 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 recordings to computer files and assisted with draft editing, formatting, and indexing. Holly Behm Losli, Tami Torres and Md. Shahidul Islam, 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. 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. Title Page Photo: Velma Carter Rawie and her two granddaughters, Tonya Rawie and Traci Rawie. Mrs. Rawie's oral history outlines the story of six generations of this Benton County pioneer family, between 1846 and 1994.

THE SOAP CREEK VALLEY HISTORY PROJECT 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 directly impacted by OSU land management practices for nearly seventy years. An important part of the project has been the location and publication of existing 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 a few 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 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, currently on IBM Word Perfect 5.1. This was made possible through the assistance and expertise of Bonnie Humphrey, of the former Homer Museum staff, Lisa Buschman, secretary for the OSU Research Forests, and Holly Behm Losli and Tami Torres, text editors 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. The Soap Creek 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 her great granddaughter, Velma Rawie, to be systematically searched and organized. The index of this monograph is an example of the applied use of the file. Citations should mention both the OSU College of Forestry and OSU Research Forests.

Velma Rawie is a third-generation descendent of an interesting and influential Benton County pioneer family. She is also one of the few remaining former residents of Wells, Oregon. Wells was a Coffin Butte-area farming community in northern Benton County that became a ghost town almost overnight, in 1941. Mrs. Rawie's story--which details the circumstances surrounding the arrival and settlement of the Tolbert Carter family near the future site of Wells, beginning in 1846, and the demise of the town at the beginning of World War II-- were recorded and partially indexed and edited in the comfort of her attractive Corvallis home. Her current house is just a short distance from where she and her husband, Ralph Rawie, operated a dairy farm and raised their two sons in the years that followed the war. Mrs. Rawie is an extremely personable and cooperative person, and displayed an admirable amount of patience during the three and a half years it took to complete this project. As one of the few remaining members of the Carters and of Wells,. she often expressed her interest in keeping the memories of these important facets of Benton County (and Oregon) history "alive" and making certain that the recorded details were "as accurate as possible." I believe that readers of this oral history will agree that she has accomplished both objectives very well. This document provides a solid foundation for others to build upon, whether five years from now, or 50 years. Her family's story is an important one, and spans the entire time of Benton County's existence, beginning with its creation in 1847. Of particular interest to students of pioneer Oregon history is Tolbert Carter's tale of the hardships endured during the 1846 construction of the southern route of the Oregon Trail (also known as the "South Road" and as the "Applegate Trail"). Appendix B is a reprinting of his account as it first appeared over 90 years ago in the "Transactions of the Oregon Pioneer Association." Appendix C is the final portion of Carter's memoir which--so far as known--is printed here for the first time. Apparently this conclusion to Carter's original document was lost or misplaced after his death in 1899, and was subsequently left out of the Oregon Pioneer Association publication. Its printing here adds an important chapter to our understanding of local history. Finally, no history of early 1900s Benton County should be considered complete without mention of Martha Angeline Bileui "Grandma" Carter, the Wells matriarch (and wife of Tolbert Carter) whose fame grew to a statewide level during the latter years of her life. A newspaper accounting of her 100th birthday party in 1934 is included as the last appendix to this document. This history is an accurate (at least as accurate as human memory and newspaper accountings will allow) attempt to keep the legacy of the pioneer Carter family and the story of Wells, Oregon "alive" and well. Whatever success is achieved in these endeavors can be credited to Mrs. Velma Carter Rawie. It has been a pleasure to work with her, and I think it will be almost as pleasant--and as informative--for future readers and researchers to listen to what she has to say. Bob Zybach Corvallis, Oregon September 18, 1994

This map of Wells, Oregon was printed on February 1, 1942 by the U.S. Army Engineers War Department, shortly after the town had been occupied by the U.S. Army. The map shows the names of the town's landowners immediately prior to the federal government acquisition and subsequent civilian evacuation of the area.