Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Catherine Bonnett Butts Grave on the Oregon Trail




Catherine Butts Grave near Tygh Ridge, in Tygh Valley Oregon
We visited her grave this week.  It took some doing but we got the combination to the lock.   The family that owns the land was having their harvest festival this week and they invited us to the party.  A good time was had by all.

My Grandma Catherine Butts died on the Oregon trail on the Meek cut off route.  Meek led a huge party of wagons and cattle over a trail that was only suitable for horses and he did it during a dry year.  There was not enough water for all those people and cattle to drink and the route was very hard on the wagons.





Marker is a bit confusing, She died while going down to the Dechustes via
Hollinbeck hill, but she is buried on the other side of the Dechutes when
the party was going  up tygh ridge


Many people died on the journey, including my Grandma Butts.  I learned of this grave when I was doing my genealogy.

The GPS coordinate for the grave are:
N 45*27803
W 121*.05732

Or
N 45* 16.682
W 121* 03.439

Use Exit 87 off I-84 two miles east of The Dalles, Oregon, to reach US 197. Drive south on 197 about 32 miles to Oregon 216 at Tygh Valley. Turn east (left) and drive about 4 miles and turn left on  Conroy Road, it is a good dirt road, shortly after passing a sign for white river State Park. Drive north for a half mile to a locked gate and farmhouse.  Ignore the farmhouse, you need to talk to one of the Harvey folks to get the combination. We never met Robert P. Head or Ben Ward as listed on the OCTA page for this grave.

There was a fire last year (2010) and one of the fence posts has been damaged.  The marker was put in by the OCTA but the fence was put in by a local rancher.  The land used to belong to a man by the last name of Head.   The Head family married into the Harvey family and I think the Harvey family owns the land now.  To get permission to see the grave call  Jo Harvey (541) 483-2241, she is 71 years old in 2011, her husband Rick aged 72, has the combination but he is often out in the field.  Rick is a rancher and I think you have to get up at 4am if you want to reach Rick. Rick and Jo live in the Gray A frame house on the way out to the grave, with huge open sheds filled with hay.

Their son Zach lives down the street with his wife Lindsey, in a white house with a huge new shop behind it and he has the combination too, but is also hard to reach during the day. Jo Harvey's grandpa built their house.   Everyone knows everyone in this small community and they are all helpful but it may still take a lot of asking around to get the combination to the lock.  Be prepared to stay for a few days.   We camped at the Wasco county fairgrounds.  (N 45* 15.217 W 121*12.517)  The fair grounds are pleasant enough with full hook-ups, flush toilets and showers, but there is not much to do at the fair grounds.  We camp at the fair grounds because they are near the grave and the price is right.





Wasco County Fairgrounds Camping

  A man named Sid runs the fair ground and he hooked us up with Jo Harvey.  A lot of folks out there think the land is owned by the Connolly family and they may direct you to the Connollys but it is acutally on Harvey/Head owned lands.  Our book "The Terrible Trail" says the grave is on "Conway" land.  We talked to Kerry Connolly and he said he did not have the combination and he directed us to Rick Harvey but he was not home when we stopped by and we were not sure what door to knock on as they go in and out the back door.  The front door had cobwebs on it giving us the impression that no one lived there.

The gate is kept locked to keep out idiots who believe a  little too much in their GPS and think they can somehow cross the Dechutes river from Conway road.  A guy just got his car stuck out there last week by following his GPS into a gulley.   The consensus is that his car may be stuck there forever with it's oilpan ripped out.   The road the the grave looks rough in the area near the gate, but we were able to carefully drive to the grave in a VERY low passenger car.  If your rig is as low as ours, don't park it on top of the grass in the summer, you might start a fire.  We were careful to park on the gravel near the burnt down buildings.  There is a solar panel not far from the grave.   Watch out for rattle snakes, we did not see any snakes at the grave but we saw a huge one in our campsite.

It turned out that the we arrived on the last day of the harvest so everyone was super busy.  That same night they had their annual harvest festival called Harveystock and they invited us to join them for music, dancing and drinks.





lifted up the burnt post to find a deer bone under it
There are also a lot of bones near the grave, probably deer bones.  There are said to be 4 graves in the area, we found two of them.  We are not sure how they know what pile of rocks is what.  Is that really my grandma's grave or is it the grave of one of the other three people who were buried out there that day?

My relationship to Catherine Bonnett Butts is through her son Jacob Butts who was five years old during the crossing.



Nearby Unmarked Grave at  N45* 16.798 W121*03.591



Some more pictures from this trip, including the Wasco County Fairgrounds Camp:



Wasco County Fairgrounds Campsite




Jo Harvey on the left at Harveystock






Forestfire inspired sun set at the Harvey Ranch




Harveystock




Wasco County Fair Building




Wasco County Fair Building




Wasco County Fair Camphost "Sid"






Wasco County Fair Campsite at Night




Harveystock





Harveystock




Harveystock





Utility post





Harveyfest

Maryhill State Park in Washington

I prefer Oregon State parks but Oregon does not honor our disabled pass so we sometimes subject ourselves to Washington State parks.  I much prefer Forest Service campgrounds but we need electricity to camp with an oxygen condenser so we are car camping this summer.



<><> <><> <><>
Sunset behind Mount Hood from Maryhill State Park Beach on the Columbia River



Maryhill State park is pretty and the rangers are very nice.  The one ranger bent over backwards to get us a good camp spot when I told him that my husband was ill.  I don't think I've seen such kind rangers before.
Like many people, we will go back to Maryhill state park, but we hope that the camp host retires before we go back.  We met a lot of folks who camp there every year and each of them had problems with the host.



The camp host was Ray Lenzen and his wife Judy.  We never met Judy, she might be  a really nice person, but her husband  Ray Lenzen is the campground host from hell.   Constantly circling the campground shining his flash light, waking up all the the dogs and campers, watering the tents and enforcing the rules.  Ray made it clear that dogs are not allowed to bark, sleepers are not allowed to sleep and campers are not allowed to camp.  Give it a rest Ray, people go to Maryhill to relax, not to be chastised by  you.   Hosts like Ray are the reason that when given a choice, we always pick the campsites furthest away from the host.



He only tried it on with us one time and he never came back, so it's not like we had a huge problem with him, we just got sick to death of looking at him.  We spent 5 nights there and his dour face was the first thing we saw when we woke up each morning.   He picked a bad time to try it on with us, we were sleep deprived from the damn sprinklers turning on a 2am to water our tents, I was suffering from rather severe PMS and my family had been arguing, then along came Ray to complain about my dog.  I had dropped my guard and allowed my dog to do a little barking because the grounds keepers were mowing the lawn with a huge loud riding lawn mower.  I figured no one would mind a barking dog with all the lawn mower noise.  But Ray came around to complain.  Poor Ray  I gave him to him with both barrels.. He never saw it coming..  But I'm glad that I said a few things that in my husband's words "needed to be said" because it kept Ray from bothering us any more.






But  we were still constantly subjected to Ray creeping around the campground  at all hours while satisfying his OCD like fascination with keeping the grass wet.



<><> <><> <><>
Here Ray and Judy at least provided an interesting view while blocking the view.





<><> <><> <><>
Sunset behind Mount Hood from Maryhill State Park Beach on the Columbia River



<><> <><> <><>
Ray Lenzen Blocking the View



<><> <><> <><>
Mantis make a nice shadow on our tent



<><> <><> <><>
Ray Lenzen Fouling the View while watering a pic nic table
<><> <><> <><>
Naughty Squirrel invades a neighbors camp
<><> <><> <><>
Ray Lenzen messing with our faucet yet again
<><> <><> <><>
Nearby Peach Orchard
<><> <><> <><>
Ray Lenzen annoying the neighbors



<><> <><> <><>
Nearby Sam Hill's life sized Stonehenge at Maryhill



<><> <><> <><>
Ray Lenzen makes another circle
<><> <><> <><>
Looking at Ray Lenzen is a bit like chewing on a Walnut Husk
<><> <><> <><>
Ray Lenzen accidentally makes a rainbow while watering the sign post


<><> <><> <><>
Nearby art museum is loaded with all kinds of stuff
including original works by Auguest Rodin!!

 



<><> <><> <><>
It says nothing on here about a 2AM watering but Ray Lenzen
 defended watering our tent and soaking  our dog at 2AM, by
claiming that it was on the schedule.


<><> <><> <><>
Basketful of Wiener dogs at Maryhill State Park




<><> <><> <><>
This camphost at a different campground was a bit more
friendly and much more interesting than Ray Lenzen.
Poor old Ray, he is probably watering the lawn right now..


Friday, August 19, 2011

Wanapum State Park

Well I did not get my ankle surgery after all, after thousands of dollars worth of tests the doctors found nothing wrong with my ankle, so there will be no ankle treatment.   For now I'm car camping and gaining lots of weight.  My knee still hurts so I saw a doctor about it and he had no idea what was wrong with it.   Now I've got two bad joints that can not be diagnosed or treated.  I still intend to keep hiking but I don't know when I will start again.

Here are some pictures from Wanapum State Park on the Columbia River in Vantage Washington:

<><> <><> <><>
Campsites

<><> <><> <><>
Sunrise over the Columbia River

<><> <><> <><>
Moonrise Over the Columbia River

<><> <><> <><>
Campsites

<><> <><> <><>
Campsite

<><> <><> <><>
Moonset (?) over the campsite

<><> <><> <><>
Fire on the other side of the Columbia

<><> <><> <><>
Tent Site

<><> <><> <><>
I-90 Bridge over the Columbia River in Vantage

<><> <><> <><>
View from Wanapum Campground

<><> <><> <><>
Keeping the bathrooms Green

<><> <><> <><>
Keeping the Dumpster Green (they also kept my car green)