Tolo is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Jackson 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, located north of

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels thro ...

, between Central Point and Gold Hill, south of Sams Valley. Platted near the site of the Willow Springs mining camp, the town was envisioned to be one of the biggest cities of

Southern Oregon Southern Oregon is a region of the U.S. state of Oregon south of Lane County and generally west of the Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia thr ...

. Tolo was platted in 1888, but was virtually abandoned by the year 1918. In 1986, the Jackson County Commission returned the plat to public ownership.

History

Prior to the arrival of settlers in mid-19th century, Shasta,

Takelma The Takelma (also Dagelma) are a Native American people who originally lived in the Rogue Valley of interior southwestern Oregon. Most of their villages were sited along the Rogue River. The name ''Takelma'' means "(Those) Along the River". H ...

, Latgawa, and

Athabaskan Athabaskan ( ; also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large branch of the Na-Dene language family of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, ...

Indians lived in the Rogue River valley. Early

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

hunters and trappers, following the

Siskiyou Trail The Siskiyou Trail stretched from California's Central Valley to the Columbia River in Washington State; modern-day Interstate 5 follows this pioneer path. Originally based on existing Native American foot trails winding their way through ri ...

, passed through the area in the 1820s. In the late 1840s, settlers (mostly American) following the

Applegate Trail The Applegate Trail was an emigrant trail through the present-day U.S. states of Idaho, Nevada, California, and Oregon used in the mid-19th century by emigrants on the American frontier. It was originally intended as a less dangerous alternati ...

began passing through the area. By the early 1850s, the Donation Land Act brought many white settlers into the

Rogue Valley The Rogue Valley is a valley region in southwestern Oregon in the United States. Located along the middle Rogue River and its tributaries in Josephine and Jackson counties, the valley forms the cultural and economic heart of Southern Oregon n ...

and in conflict with its Native people. These often violent clashes prompted the signing of the Table Rock Treaty on September 10, 1853.

Table Rock Treaty and Fort Lane

The Table Rock Treaty established the first reservation in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

, the

Table Rock Indian Reservation Table Rock Reservation was a short-lived Indian reservation north of the Rogue River in Oregon, United States. It was established by treaty with the Rogue River Indians in 1853. Following the conclusion of the Rogue River Wars in 1856, the Nat ...

, which encompassed

Upper and Lower Table Rock Upper Table Rock and Lower Table Rock are two prominent volcanic plateaus located just north of the Rogue River (Oregon), Rogue River in Jackson County, Oregon, U.S. Created by an andesite, andesitic lava, lava flow approximately seven million ...

, Sams Valley, and the Evans Creek and Sardine Creek watersheds. The treaty also called for a fort to protect the Indians from the ambitions of the white settlers. Fort Lane was constructed in 1853 in what was to become Willow Springs, and later, Tolo. It was occupied by two companies of the U.S. Army's 1st Dragoons under the command of Captain Andrew Jackson Smith. The fort was used to maintain the peace between the pioneers and native peoples. However, tensions and violence continued to mount, leading to the

Rogue River Wars The Rogue River Wars were an armed conflict in 1855–1856 between the U.S. Army, local militias and volunteers, and the Native American tribes commonly grouped under the designation of Rogue River Indians, in the Rogue Valley area of wha ...

of 1855-1856. Joel Palmer, Oregon Superintendent of Indian Affairs, ordered the removal of the Indians of southwest Oregon to the Coastal Indian Reservation of northern Oregon. Fort Lane became the Army headquarters for the removal.

Growth of the community

After the removal of the Indians, Willow Springs continued to grow. The Willow Springs post office was opened in 1864. Mines, quarries, and mills sprang up in the area. In 1871, the

Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal lands and natural resources. It also administers programs relatin ...

relinquished Fort Lane, which was subsequently purchased by investors. In 1886, the name Willow Springs was officially changed to Tolo. Popular belief is that the intended name was to be ''Yolo'' in tribute to

Yolo County, California Yolo County (; Wintuan languages, Wintun: ''Yo-loy''), officially the County of Yolo, is a County (United States), county located in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Yolo County was one of the original counties of Californi ...

, but that the postal authorities misread the "Y", mistaking it for a "T", thus naming the Post Office "Tolo". Examination of the 1886 application to the Post Office Department reveals, however, that the first name selected was "Table Rock," apparently rejected because at the time two-word names for new post offices were not being accepted. "Table Rock" was then crossed off on the 1886 form and replaced with a very clearly written "Tolo." Tolo is a word from the

Chinook Jargon Chinook Jargon (' or ', also known simply as ''Chinook'' or ''Jargon'') is a language originating as a pidgin language, pidgin trade language in the Pacific Northwest. It spread during the 19th century from the lower Columbia River, first to othe ...

, and means a "windfall" or "payday", possibly reinforcing the hopes of its founders that Tolo would become one of the larger cities in Southern Oregon, with prosperity for all. In 1888, Tolo was platted by lawyer and former

Oregon Supreme Court The Oregon Supreme Court (OSC) is the highest State court (United States), state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States.

Chief Justice

Paine Page Prim Paine (Payne) Page Prim (May 2, 1822 – August 8, 1899) was an American attorney and judge in the state of Oregon. He was the 6th Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court serving in that role three times between 1864 and 1878. Prim served on Ore ...

. Tolo began to dwindle around the turn of the 20th century. Tolo post office closed in 1897. Around that time, two brothers from New York, Colonel Frank H. Ray, and Doctor Charles R. Ray began developments in Tolo. The post office re-opened in 1898. The Ray brothers opened a rock quarry, which led to Tolo's nickname of "Construction City". From 1902 to 1904, the Ray brothers constructed the Gold Ray Dam, the first

hydro-electric plant Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

in Southern Oregon, bringing electricity to the region.

Demise

By 1915, it appeared that Tolo was not going to become the large city envisioned by its founders. The population remained at 150, and the momentum for growth was lacking, despite the city having a

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

plant,

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 ...

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 ...

, and

gold mines Gold mining is the extraction of gold by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. The expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface has led to more complex ...

. In 1918, the post office closed permanently, along with the railroad depot. In 1986, the Jackson County Commission returned the plat, which contained 474 building lots, along with public streets, to public ownership.

Future

The Tolo area is designated by Jackson County Commissioners for future industrial development, along with the Medford Industrial Park in White City.

References