Sweet Home welcomed the Atlas of Drowned Towns (AODT) team to its corner of the world during the last weekend in March where they researched the history of the drowned part of Foster.
Bob Reinhardt, an associate professor at Boise State University, and his AODT students hosted a “History Jamboree” on March 28-29 at the Sweet Home Evangelical Church gym, offering information and workshops while also asking for more information from the community itself.
The AODT database is intended to be a one-stop resource of historical records about towns that have been displaced by the construction of dams, and the stories of how those displacements affected families.
At the jamboree, the AODT team and local volunteers manned stations where people could have documents, photographs and artifacts scanned. Booths lining the perimeter of the room showcased information from the U.S. Forest Service, Sweet Home Public Library, Sweet Home Genealogical Society and a 1993 time capsule from Sweet Home Junior High. Local historian Lana Holden also shared history about the Sweet Home area.
Reinhardt’s goal is not so much to gather information about the dams themselves, but rather to document and share the stories of the towns, buildings and families that were displaced by the construction of dams, and how residents reacted to the change.
Several residents and former residents shared their memories through recorded interviews.
Nicole Cleland, an intern with the US Army Corps of Engineers, helped record those oral histories and recounted some of the things she heard.
“The biggest thing that everyone talked about was the boom and then bust of just people coming in during the construction,” she said. “That is what affected them the most, it seemed like.”
Some people whose homes were moved to make room for the dams said they looked forward to the recreation the reservoirs would offer, as well as the flood control they would provide, Cleland said. As she heard it, there were at least 20 to 30 homes, as well as a mill, school and some cafes in the area that was inundated by the dams. The government bought the land from the families in the affected areas, then sold them back for $1; that way, the families could sell and move their houses.
“There was one family or company that was buying and relocating all the houses further up out of Foster,” Cleland said.
Some of those houses are still being lived in today.
One such house is the Reeser home on Wiley Creek Road. Norma and Harvey Reeser built their dream home on four acres in 1954, only to learn a few years later the Corps of Engineers would be building a reservoir right where they lived.
According to their daughter Mary Lou Merrill, the government bought the property for $27,000, and the family auctioned off their 200 sheep, 40 cattle and farm equipment. They then moved the brick house uphill to Wiley Creek Road, where it still stands today.
According to Cleland, one man shared about his time living in the area. Although he was not directly affected by the dam construction, he knew people who were.
“He didn’t like how the government came in and said ‘you have to leave,’ even though he said he thought the dams were a good thing,” she said. “He just thought that it wasn’t right how there was no negotiation.”
Still, her overall impression from the interviews she conducted was that the community seemed to be “very resilient and saw it as a positive.”
At the event, activity stations for kids and refreshments were made available to visitors, and poster boards asked for feedback on how one would feel if they were removed from their home, how one defines “home” when it’s no longer a physical place, and what makes a place feel like home.
Workshops were also provided, which included an introduction to genealogy research, recording oral history interviews, preserving artifacts and geolocating historic photographs. On Friday, a group of people scoured several decades of archived New Era newspaper articles.
“I really loved the community newspaper research activity, where we had people all over the activity center looking through issues of The New Era between 1947-1968,” Reinhardt said. “What a great way to get people involved in the work of history.”
He was particularly interested in a 1954 article he found about Foster residents who protested the building of a dam in their town.
“That’s a relatively rare thing to see during that time period,” he said.
Reinhardt said he believes the “history jamboree” in Sweet Home went well, estimating about 150 people attended the event. He doesn’t currently have plans to host another event in Sweet Home, but is looking at doing it in other areas, such as Lowell, Ore., to expand his project.
“I was pleased to see people from different backgrounds and different perspectives at the event — from “old-timers” in their 90s who were there when the dams went in, to younger folks and families who more recently moved to the area and were curious about that history.”