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OXYOKE SERVICE STATION The Kolkow family built and ran the station from 1924 - 1934. In 1924, the Kolkows acquired some property at the junction of the Pacific Highway and Jump-off Joe Creek Road. Ethel Kolkow with the help of her elder son build a one-room shelter. This was the family's home until the husband and father, Edwin Kolkow, sold his garage/service station in Little Lake, California that same year. The shelter, with additions, became home for the family, which grew to include four more children: Clarence, Charles, Ralph and Mary. In 2001, it was located at what is now the junction on Monument Drive, Three Pines Road, and Oxyoke Road. In 1925, Edwin Kolkow went into the same business he had in Little Lake and their home became known as the Oxyoke Service Station, Shell Station. The family also sold pop there and eventually the iceman would deliver big blocks of ice. The service station has the functional box with overhanging canopy. Edwin Kolkow had work experience in many areas and was kind of a "Jack-of-all-trades." He was a timber faller, a mechanic, he could run equipment, and drove truck. He did a little bit of everything. During the summer of 1934, Edwin and Ethel Kolkow traded the Oxyoke Service Station for a 15-acre place, part of which Charles and Virginia Kolkow lived at in 2001. They traded it with a professional cook who decided he could not make a living in Josephine County and needed to move back to California and go to work again. The cook wanted the trade because the station was on U.S. 99 and had a higher visibility that he thought would help sell it quicker. Article written by Mike Walker. (Photos courtesy of the Kolkow family)
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