Ellendale is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

in Polk County,

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, about two and a half miles west of

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. It was the first settlement in present-day Polk County by non-

Kalapuya The Kalapuya are a Native American people, which had eight independent groups speaking three mutually intelligible dialects. The Kalapuya tribes' traditional homelands were the Willamette Valley of present-day western Oregon in the United Sta ...

ns. The community's name changed over the years, with the first post office in Polk County being opened in this locality as "O'Neils Mills" in 1850. The post office was renamed "Nesmiths" (Or "Nesmiths Mills") in 1850 and discontinued in 1852. The community was eventually renamed Ellendale.

History

James A. O'Neil built the county's first

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

at the confluence of La Creole Creek (now Rickreall Creek) and O'Neils Creek over the winter of 1844–1845. The site was chosen for its proximity to

water power Hydropower (from Ancient Greek -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kin ...

for the mill, timber and a rock

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...

that could provide

millstone Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, used for triturating, crushing or, more specifically, grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones. Millstones come in pairs: a s ...

s. A community formed around the mill as it was one of only two gristmills on the west side of the

Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward ...

at the time and it served settlers from as far away as northern Yamhill County and south as far as

Linn Linn may refer to: People * Linn (surname) * Linn (given name) * Carl Linnaeus, abbreviated as Linn. * Linn da Quebrada, stage name of Brazilian singer, actress, screenwriter and television personality Lina Pereira dos Santos (born 1990) Place ...

and Benton counties. O'Neil offered lodging and a store for people who had made the long trip to his mill. Miners on their way to the

California Gold Rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...

would also stop at the community for flour for the journey. In 1849, a flood destroyed the mill and O'Neil sold his interest to James W. Nesmith and Henry Owen, who rebuilt it as "Nesmith's Mill". In 1856 the mill was sold again to Hudson & Company but in November 1857 it was closed because more mills had been built in the area and it was no longer needed. In 1863, the mill site, water power and land were sold to judge Reuben P. Boise, whose donation land claim adjoined the property. La Creole Creek was renamed "Ellen's Dale" after Boise's wife, and soon both the creek and the community were renamed "Ellendale". In 1860, one of Oregon's earliest

woolen mill Textile manufacturing or textile engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods ...

s was started in Ellendale by Boise and several others, who had bought and converted a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

that had been built upstream from the gristmill in 1854. The sawmill had the only planer in that part of Oregon, most boards still being hand-dressed at the time. In 1870 Boise's mill burned down. The Pumping Station Bridge in the Ellendale area was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1979, however, it collapsed in 1987 and was removed from the list.Salem Public Library Oregon Historic Photograph Collections

References

External links

Historic images of Ellendale
from Salem Public Library
Historic images of Pumping Station Bridge
from Salem Public Library {{Polk County, Oregon Ghost towns in Oregon Former populated places in Polk County, Oregon 1850 establishments in Oregon Territory

History

See also

References

External links