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Hugo Neighborhood Association & Historical Society

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HUGO AREA HISTORY TIDBITS

(Compiled by the Hugo Neighborhood Association and Historical Society on June 5, 2004 in conjunction with the Hugo History Crossword Puzzle developed for Hugo History Day IV.)

APPLEGATE TRAIL - 1846 - ca 1900 wagon road running through the Hugo and Pleasant Valley areas. Jesse and Lindsay Applegate surveyed this road through our area as a southern route of the Oregon Trail for emigrants headed for the Willamette Valley. First train along this new route was in 1843.

BUMMER CREEK - Local perennial creek in this area.

CAROLINE (NIDAY) SEXTON - Wife of David Sexton granted two(2) acres of land on April 13, 1892 to School District #22 of the Lucky Queen District. The Lucky Queen School operated between 1894 - 1896. Its name was changed to Hugo in 1896 when Hugo got its first post office and it continued to serve the community as a school until 1912. Currently, the one room school is owned by the Hugo Ladies Club located at 6050 Hugo Rd.

CHARLES D. SEXTON - Charles D. Sexton, only son of Caroline and David Sexton, born September 27, 1859. He assumed charge as postmaster of the Lucky Queen Post Office October 25, 1886 and again August 31, 1895.

CORLISS HOTEL - Corliss Hotel in Three Pines located at the corner of Pine St. and 2nd Avenue across from the Three Pines School ball field. (ca. 1910 - 1920’s)

DAVID H. SEXTON - He was originally from New York and crossed the plains in 1847. In the spring of 1852, he joined a company of volunteers under the command of U.S. Army Captain Lamerick to protect settlers against the Indians. He married Caroline Niday in 1857 and they lived on the farm on Donation Land Claim #40 of 320 acres located near today’s Okyoke Rd. and Hugo Rd. He was the first postmaster of the Lucky Queen Post Office December 13, 1876.

DAVIS GENERAL STORE - Owned by Will and Clara Davis in Hugo between the 1940’s and the 1960’s. Building was located on the corner of Tunnel Loop Rd. and Bummer Creek Lane. In the 1930’s, they owned the Merlin Trading Post in Merlin. Clara Davis worked at the Grants Pass Daily Courier for 17 years between 1918 - 1935.

FRED DINGLER - In 1910, the Dingler family moved to the Southern Pacific Railroad’s Section House in Hugo. The family move after Fred Dingler was promoted to Section Foreman. The Section House was located at Tunnel No. 9 and very close to the tunnel itself. The Tunnel No. 9/Hugo Section Crew covered the rails from just north of the northern entrance to Tunnel No. 9 almost to Merlin where the rails crossed Jump Off Joe Creek.

DONATION LAND ACT - An act to create the Office of Surveyor General of the Public Lands in Oregon and to provide for the survey, and to make donations to settlers of said Public Lands. (1850-1855)

FALCONS MASCOT - Mascot of Hugo School from 1957 - 1967. The basketball gym proudly displays the Falcons’ sign.

WOODEN FLUME - There was an 11.5 mile wooden flume from Mountain at the upper reaches of Jump-Off Joe Creek to Three Pines Timber Company’s’ planing mill in Three Pines. (1910 - ca. 1917). Its highest point was measured at 125 feet.

FRUIT INDUSTRY - Hugo was known for its famous orchards, vineyards and patches: cherries, pears, peaches, apples, grapes, walnuts, strawberries and figs between 1900 - 1950. Arrival of the O & C Railroad (Oregon and California Railroad became the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1884) in 1883 increased distribution. There were over two (2) dozen commercial orchards in the area.

GRAVEL PIT STATION - Hugo was known as Gravel Pit Station from 1883 - 1896. There is an abundance of granite in this area and it was used by the O & C Railroad (Oregon and California Railroad became the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1884) in construction of the railroad bed.

HUGO COMMUNITY CHURCH - Caroline Sexton donated the land in 1910, stipulating that a Baptist Church be built. The First Baptist Church was established on May 14, 1913. The historic building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of Interior on September 15, 1990.

HUGO GARBER - Long time farmer in the area for approximately 30 years and namesake of Hugo. He homesteaded 80 acres in the area (Patent No. 725233). Hugo was born in Hamburg, Germany. He was instrumental in initiating the Hugo Post Office in 1895.

HUGO SUPPLY COMPANY - General store owned originally by William and Agnes MacKenzie established in 1910. This store, later named The Hugo Hitching Post in 1966, is located on Hugo Road across from the Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad Company tracks (was Southern Pacific Railroad). This store had the first red Chevron gas pump in Josephine County, Oregon. Current local residents, Blake and Jacque Hardwick, owned The Hitching Post between May 1967 - May 1968. The Hitching Post building burned to the ground in 1971 but was rebuilt.

LUCKY QUEEN SCHOOL/HUGO SCHOOL - First school in Hugo area, built on the two (2) acres donated by Caroline Sexton on April 13, 1892. Lucky Queen (name changed to Hugo in 1896) served as local school between 1894 - 1912. In 1912, the school was renamed the Hugo School and currently is occupied and owned by the Hugo Ladies Club. Historic building located at 6050 Hugo Rd.

MACKENZIE - William and Agnes MacKenzie were the original owners of the Hugo Supply Company established in 1910. It’s located on Hugo Rd. across from the Southern Pacific Railroad. In 1966, it was renamed the Hugo Hitching Post.

MILITARY WARRANT - Military Bounty Land Act of March 3, 1855, Roseburg, Oregon. On May 9, 1861 Military Warrant #92568 in the name of Rice Benson was located by Anson Turner. Rice Benson was a private in Captain Miller’s Company Oregon Militia Rogue River War. The warrant was signed by Abraham Lincoln for 160 acres in the NW ¼ of the NW ¼ of section 2, and the E ½ of the NE ¼, and the NE ¼ of the SE ¼ of section 3, T. 35. S., R. 6 W., W.M. Forty acres of the original 160 acres is today know locally as Dickerson’s Corner.

HIRAM NIDAY - Hiram Niday was born 1822 in Lawrence County, Ohio. He married Caroline Stumbo on March 5, 1844 in Mahaska, Iowa. After crossing the plains and arriving September 15, 1852, they took up donation land claim #40 (320 acres) in the spring of 1853 in the Hugo area near today’s Okyoke Rd. and Hugo Rd.

OXYOKE GAS STATION - The Kolkow’s Oxyoke Gas Station was built in 1929 on U.S. 99. The building is located on the corner of Three Pines Rd. and Oxyoke Rd.

PACIFIC HIGHWAY - Pacific Highway through Hugo and over Sexton Pass: 1913 - 1926. You can still find the switch-back on the mountain. When the U.S. Highway System was implemented in 1926, the Pacific Highway #1 was given the U.S. Highway 99 designation.

PETROLEUM WILDCAT COMPANY - In 1932 - 1933 a real 1,000 foot deep wildcat oil well was drilled on the Ludwick’s place in Three Pines, Oregon. Petroleum placers were filed on all the public land around the drill site.

RAILROAD INFLUENCE - The Oregon & California Railroad completed section through Hugo in 1883. This was to be very important to the local fruit industry between 1900 - 1950.

CAROLINE STUMBO - Caroline Stumbo was born May 1, 1826 in Lwrne, Ohio to John and Lucretia Stumbo(Wilson). She married her first husband, Hiram Niday, on March 5, 1844 in Mahaska, Iowa. Following her first husband’s death, she married David Sexton after the Rogue Indian Wars in 1857.

TAKELMA INDIANS - The Takelma Indians date back 10,000 years in this area. The 1855 U.S. General Surveyor Office’s map documents an Indian trail running along from Sexton Mountain Pass southwest along Bummer Creek and west to the mouth of Jump Off Joe Creek with the Rogue River. They were fishermen, hunters and gatherers. They were removed from the area in 1857 and sent to reservations.

TOWN OF THREE PINES - The town was platted in 1909 near the intersection of today’s Three Pines Rd. and Russell Rd. The town included the Three Pines Planing Mill, Corliss Hotel, a brick factory, an oil drilling well, Three Pines Elementary School, post office, orchards, restaurant and Southern Pacific Railroad and depot: (ca. 1907 - 1917)

TUNNEL 9 - Grave Creek Tunnel, better known as Tunnel No. 9, was completed July 4, 1883. The tunnel built for the railroad measured 2,112 feet long and went through the Grave Creek hills north of Hugo.

WALKER BROTHERS - Walker brothers, Augustus and Weseley, located Donation Land Claims #861 & #778 both 160 acres respectively in the late 1850’s. Location of claims are in the Red Mountain Dr. area and north to near Jump Off Joe Creek Falls.

 

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