Ellendale is a

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * ''Ghost Town'' (1956 film), an American Western film by All ...

Polk County Polk County is the name of twelve counties in the United States, all except two named after president of the United States James Knox Polk: * Polk County, Arkansas * Polk County, Florida * Polk County, Georgia * Polk County, Iowa * Polk Count ...

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, about two and a half miles west of

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

. 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 James A. O’Neil (January 26, 1800 – September 1, 1874) was an American businessman and politician in the Oregon Country and later Oregon Territory. A New York native, he took part in the Champoeg Meetings and helped form the Provisional G ...

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 middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

at the confluence of La Creole Creek (now

Rickreall Creek Rickreall Creek is a stream in Polk County, Oregon, United States rising on Laurel Mountain in the Central Oregon Coast Range and draining into the Willamette River west of Salem at Eola. The creek passes through the city of Dallas and the unin ...

) and O'Neils Creek over the winter of 1844–1845. The site was chosen for its proximity to

water power Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, 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 kinetic energy of a ...

for the mill, timber and a rock

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envir ...

that could provide millstones. The most important factor for siting the mill at this location, however, was its proximity to the

Siskiyou Trail The Siskiyou Trail stretched from California's Central Valley to Oregon's Willamette Valley; modern-day Interstate 5 follows this pioneer path. Originally based on existing Native American foot trails winding their way through river valleys, t ...

. 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 b ...

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

Yamhill County Yamhill County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 107,722. The county seat is McMinnville. Yamhill County was named after the Yamhelas, members of the Kalapuya Tribe. Yamhill Cou ...

and south as far as

Linn Linn may refer to: People * Linn (surname) * Linn (given name) * Linn da Quebrada, stage name of Brazilian singer, actress, screenwriter and television personality Lina Pereira dos Santos (born 1990) Places Germany * Linn (Gangkofen), a part ...

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 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 James Willis Nesmith (July 23, 1820 – June 17, 1885) was an American politician and lawyer from Oregon. Born in New Brunswick to American parents, he grew up in New Hampshire and Maine. A Democrat, he moved to Oregon Country in 1843 where he ...

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 Reuben Patrick Boise (June 9, 1819 – April 10, 1907) was an American attorney, judge and politician in the Oregon Territory and the early years of the state of Oregon. A native of Massachusetts, he immigrated to Oregon in 1850, where he woul ...

, whose

donation land claim The Donation Land Claim Act of 1850, sometimes known as the Donation Land Act, was a statute enacted by the United States Congress in late 1850, intended to promote homestead settlements in the Oregon Territory. It followed the Distribution-Preem ...

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 ...

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 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 (dimensi ...

that had been built upstream from the gristmill in 1854. The sawmill had the only

planer The term planer may refer to several types of carpentry tools, woodworking machines or metalworking machine tools. *Plane (tool), a hand tool used to produce flat surfaces by shaving the surface of the wood * Thickness planer (North America) or thi ...

in that part of Oregon, most boards still being hand-dressed at the time. In 1870 Boise's mill burned down. Nothing is left at the site today. 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 United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

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