[or-roots] Jeremiah Shea's orchard

[Cecil Houk]

Jeremia Shea's Orchard

Mr. Shea came to Oregon some time in the 1860's, and took a homestead of 147.08 acres in Linn County.  In 1943 my father bought a house on 20 acres of land 1 mile east of Foster, between HWY 20 and the Santiam River.  This was what was left of that 147.08 acre homestead, most of which is now under Foster Lake.

I don't know when Mr. Shea built the house, but I was told it was 75 years old when we moved into it.  This would date the house to about 1868.  The house was located on the western end of the property (about where Riggs Hill Road joins HWY 20), and about 50-100 feet from the highway.  This end of the property was in 3 levels to the river, but the eastern end dropped to the river in one slope.

As was the custom, Mr. Shea planted fruit trees on the land.  There were 4 cherry trees near the house; a Royal Ann, a Bing, and 2 Tart cherry trees.  I have vivid memories of climbing those cherry trees and stuffing myself.  I took a wash basin up into the tart cherry trees to pick cherries so that my mother would make pies.  YUM!!  I think I ate more cherries than I put in that basin!

A little east of the house was a barn (we won't talk about the day I set it on fire), and behind the barn Mr. Shea had planted a great number of apple trees; many varieties that I have not seen in years.  There were no delicious or crab apples, but there were many different kinds.  I can remember picking my fill many times, and we had fried apples for dinner quite often.  Yum again!!

It is my understanding that people were quite eager to share the fruit of their trees with others in the 19 century.  I'm sure that my paternal grandmother and her father picked some apples from these trees when they stopped at this house to buy onions on their way back to Central Oregon.  Great grandfather Montgomery operated a frieght wagon across the Cascades to the Willamette Valley.

Some time about 1947 my father sold the eastern half of that 20 acres to a man who came in with a bull dozer and knocked down the apple trees.  To this day I don't know why this was done.  He never set foot on that propery again!

The barn was knocked down circa 1946/7, and the house was torn down shortly after we moved out in 1948.  I don't know why, but every picture my mother took of the front of the Shea house wa a double exposure.  :-(
see: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~cchouk/rulaford/3/foster-house0.jpg  This is the best photo I have of the Shea house.

see: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~cchouk/rulaford/3/shea_point.jpg  This is about where the apple trees were.

I love apples, but there are only a couple of varieties that will bare fruit in this location.  Oranges, lemmons and grapefruit do well here, but they don't hold a candle to Mr. Shea's apple orchard.

Cecil


Cecil Houk, ET1 USN Ret.
PO Box 530833
San Diego CA 92153
FAX 619-428-6434
mailto:cchouk at cox.net
ANDERSON - BLAKELY - FORD - HOUK - KIMSEY - MOE - RULAFORD - SIMPSON
Searchable GEDCOM: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/~cchouk
My web page MENU: http://members.cox.net/~cchouk/
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