Bessie Murphy

BESSIE MURPHY Botanizing in Benton County, 1900 - 1991 | Oral History Interviews by Judy Carlson, Marlene Finley, Bob Zybach and Phil Hays | Soap Creek Valley History Project OSU Research Forests Monograph #11 OSU RESEARCH FORESTS COLLEGE OF FORESTRY 1995

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.

Soap Creek Valley, Oregon, Oral History Series Monograph # 1: Lorna Grabe. Family history and story of the Soap Creek Schoolhouse Foundation, Benton County, Oregon. Monograph # 2: Paul M. Dunn. Biographical sketch and story of the Adair Tract, Benton County, Oregon. Monograph # 3: Donald Dickey. Family history and life on Berry Creek, Benton County, Oregon: 1928-1941. Monograph # 4: Edward Sekermestrovich. Life at CCC Camp Arboretum, Benton County, Oregon: 1935-1940. Monograph # 5: John Jacob and Wilma Rohner. Family farming on Coffin Butte between World Wars, Benton County, Oregon: 1919-1941. Monograph # 6: James Hanish. Biographical sketch and a tour of Berry Creek, Benton County, Oregon: 1930-1938. Monograph # 7: Charlie Olson. Biographical sketch and early history of Sulphur Springs, Benton County, Oregon: 1900-1920. Monograph # 8: Neil Vanderburg. Family farming and saw milling on Berry Creek, Benton County, Oregon: 1935-1941. Monograph # 9: Eugene Glender. Growing up on a Tampico family farm, Benton County, Oregon: 1910-1941. Monograph #10: Velma Carter Rawie. A history of the Carter family and the town of Wells, Benton County, Oregon: 1845-1941. Monograph #11: Bessie Murphy. Botanizing in Benton County, 1900-1991. Remaining to be printed Monograph #12: Wanda Marcks Cook Monograph #13: William Davies Monograph #14: Charles Hindes Monograph #15: Marvin Rawley Monograph #16: Index to Monographs #1-#15. Soap Creek Valley, Oregon, Oral History Series. Monograph #17: Documenting Natural and Cultural Resources Research. Soap Creek Valley, Oregon, Oral History Series.

Printed on the second leaf (PDF p. 2), unnumbered, recorded here as [front-2]. This list gives Monograph #03 as "1928-1941" and names Monograph #15 "Marvin Rawley"; both readings are contradicted by the lists in #12, #14 and #15. Recorded as printed. Method: PDF p. 2 rendered with pdftoppm -r 170 (and the "Lorna Grabe" and "1928-19xx" lines re-cropped at 400 dpi) and read as an image; the PDF text layer of this leaf is unreliable ("Loma", "fanning", "Chaxlie", "Rwie", "199 1", "#1415"). Printed line wraps are joined with a single space, one line per printed entry, matching the convention already used in monograph #15.

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, from 1989 until 1993. In 1994, the oral history portion of this project was under the direction of Jeffery Garver, OSU Research Forests Manager; beginning in December of that year, responsibility for the oral histories was given to Ann Rogers, Cultural Resources Manager for OSU Research Forests. Funding for the Soap Creek Valley History Project is provided by the OSU College of Forestry. Lisa Buschman, former OSU Research Forests secretary, initially transcribed most of the recorded interviews 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.

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 location and publications of existing oral histories, recorded with individuals who have had an important influence upon the valley's history. New recordings were also made with individuals who had 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 specific use of these histories is the creation of an accurate and available reference for a planned written history of the area. The history is currently being assembled into a four-part series of monographs that will be completed upon the conclusion of the oral history series. Part I will be the history of Soap Creek Valley between 1826 (at its point of discovery) and 1845; Part II will detail the settlement of Soap Creek Valley between 1846 (when the first land claims were staked out and occupied) and the turn of the century; Parts III and IV will be excerpted from the oral history series and will cover the years 1900-1945 (the end of World War II), and from 1946 until the present. All documentation will be edited from primary sources of information, including oral histories, journals, correspondence, legal filings, government documents, obituaries, newspaper articles, and first hand accounts. One of the primary accomplishments of the Soap Creek Valley History 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, former secretary for the OSU Research Forests, and Holly Behm Losli and Tami Torres, text editors for OSU Research Forests. In 1994, the concordance file was thoroughly tested and redesigned under the direction of Md. Shahidul Islam, currently the publications editor of this project. His refinement of the concordance file now allows for a more efficient and systematic indexing of the monographs in this series. In addition, the system will now be easier for students, staff and others to use, and will provide a better method for cross-referencing other research materials being used in the written history portion of the project. The Soap Creek Valley 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 Bessie Murphy to be systematically searched and organized. The index to 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.

Readers of this series will notice a number of changes in this monograph. There are few photographs, no maps, and only a rudimentary table of contents. These changes were not meant to lessen the impact of Bessie Murphy's story, only to strengthen it. Bessie's story deserves to be read as she told it: full of good humor, common sense, sparkling intelligence, outrageous comments, and meticulous observations; and not overly restricted by deadlines, organized questions, or formal outlines. For those readers with limited time or needing more structure, please refer to the monograph's index for a comprehensive summary and organization of this history. For those who would rather capture the full humor and wisdom of Bessie's observations, then it is necessary to listen to the original recordings of these transcripts; the light, Scottish lilt to her voice, the full, merry laughter, and the sly observations that convey her very spirit and essence are impossible to fully realize through written words: Who else but Bessie Murphy could introduce a picture of her grandfather's family as "grandpa. his brother and two sisters, and the old devil" and make her listeners burst into laughter? When questioned about this apparently uncomplimentary description of her own great- grandmother (did she really say "devil"?), Bessie quickly reassures her audience that it was, indeed, "the devil herself!" When read, these words sound harsh or even cruel; when listening to them, one catches the timing and shares the humor. And maybe even the recordings are not enough. How else to capture the firmly set jaw, the grim look, and the wildly twinkling eyes when she says these things? Or the wonderful smile and sideways glance when she catches her listeners off-guard? Who could help but laugh along with this tiny little woman, 90 years of age and more, relishing her own assessment of an ancestor that had died nearly 100 years before? Bessie's great-grandmother may have been a devil (and probably was), but Bessie could laugh about it then, she can laugh about it now, and she can make her listeners laugh along with her. Yet her description, repeated and immodifled, will be the historical one, and she knows that. This is probably a good place for a word of caution. Despite her humor and whimsy, Bessie is a college graduate; an educated botanist who made a living for several years by quickly and expertly noting minuscule differences in species and varieties of grass and weed seeds. There is detail (as well as judgement) in her observations that shouldn't be overlooked. When she tells the reader that she named two Crescent Valley creeks "Cave-In" and "Periwinkle" as a young girl, she is purposefully relating something about the local soils and wildlife of the area, as well as describing the childish pursuits of a Benton County farm girl at the turn of the century. There is humor in what she says and how she says it, but there is also truth and also information that can't be gotten from any other source. And that is the true power of this oral history. Bessie Murphy looked for, found, and even named, wildflowers in Benton County for most of the years of this century. Her powers of observation were equalled and complemented by her memory for details; as a result we have one of the only listings of local native plants that became rare or extinct during the early 1900s. Almost as an afterthought we hear of changes associated with the coming of the automobile and of telephones; visualize Corvallis during the era of horse and buggies; or learn of encounters with Indians along the Oregon Trail in the mid-1800s. Bessie died in 1991, during the course of the final editing of this oral history. Her mind was sharp and playful until the last, and she seemed to feel no particular urgency to complete this project. Although she took it very seriously and tried to make certain that the details were accurate and clearly presented and as always, she appeared to be taking great joy in the things that she did, whether for work or for play (with Bessie the difference was not always apparent). I think that she would like this result: short, accurate, irreverent, fun, and not quite finished; still something left to do for another day. Bob Zybach Corvallis, Oregon May 2, 1995

Printed page ii carries the standard series locator map, headed 'SOAP CREEK VALLEY MAP' and marked 'NOT TO SCALE'; it shows the State of Oregon with Portland and Eugene, and Benton County with Soap Creek Valley and Crescent Valley. No monograph-specific maps were printed: the introduction states 'There are few photographs, no maps, and only a rudimentary table of contents.'