What Polk County Oberver had to say about the 2011 reunion
VALSETZ -- The only visible marker of the former Coast Range logging town of Valsetz is a concrete slab foundation of what was a machine shop.
What used to be roads have been blanketed over with grass, scrubs and trees. Instead of homes lining Main Street, there's what looks like a young forest.
Look closer, though, and there are reminders -- plants and flowers that don't belong -- ghostly remnants of lives lived on that ground quickly being taken back by forest.
Driving or walking down the gravel road that used to cross town it just enough of a reminder for former residents to point out what used to be Valsetz landmarks. Given a little time, most can tell you where their homes stood, the route they walked to school, and the location of their favorite fishing and hunting spots. Dig a little deeper and they can tell you what it felt like to live in a place that is alive only in memories now.
Former resident Ralph Thompson, who moved to Valsetz in 1946, lived there until 1962, and was one of the workers who helped tear down the mill, may have described it best.
"You never had to lock your door," he said. "Everybody knew everybody. It was like a big family."
For three days from June 24-26, more than 300 members of that family took a journey back to their hometown together at a reunion on the land formerly know as Valsetz.
Oddly, the plans for the reunion began in part with the film project of a man that hadn't heard of Valsetz until two years ago.
Filmmaker Ronan Feely was searching for something to make a documentary about. A topic emerged in a most unusual way. Feely, who was living in Independence two years ago, was searching for a spot to fish.
Google Maps showed a large lake in a secluded corner of Polk County. He thought that would be perfect, but when he tried to use Google Earth to find it, it was gone.
"I thought `Where on Earth does a lake go?'" Feely said.
Turns out the lake he was looking at was the old log pond that was drained when the mill in Valsetz and the rest of the town was torn down.
Former resident Ralph Thompson, who moved to Valsetz in 1946, lived there until 1962, and was one of the workers who helped tear down the mill, may have described it best.
"You never had to lock your door," he said. "Everybody knew everybody. It was like a big family."
For three days from June 24-26, more than 300 members of that family took a journey back to their hometown together at a reunion on the land formerly know as Valsetz.
Oddly, the plans for the reunion began in part with the film project of a man that hadn't heard of Valsetz until two years ago.
Filmmaker Ronan Feely was searching for something to make a documentary about. A topic emerged in a most unusual way. Feely, who was living in Independence two years ago, was searching for a spot to fish.
Google Maps showed a large lake in a secluded corner of Polk County. He thought that would be perfect, but when he tried to use Google Earth to find it, it was gone.
"I thought `Where on Earth does a lake go?'" Feely said.
Turns out the lake he was looking at was the old log pond that was drained when the mill in Valsetz and the rest of the town was torn down.
Feely started looking into the history of Valsetz, and there he found a story he knew he had to tell.
As he made contact with former residents, he found they were more than happy to help him piece together a film of what has been described by many as the perfect hometown.
"People couldn't have been more responsive," Feely said.
He was invited into their homes, was given old photographs and, most importantly, a chance to document their memories of Valsetz.
Former resident Ken Jeske met Feely on Facebook. Jeske was one of nine members of the Class of 1984 -- the last to graduate from Valsetz High School. Feely's documentary project gave Jeske more momentum behind an idea to give people a chance to go back to the townsite.
Feely rushed to finish his documentary "Home: The Story of Valsetz" in time to premier it at last weekend's reunion camp out.
Feely said he hopes his documentary will help keep the memory of Valsetz alive for the people whose lives were shaped by it.
"People's lives and futures were here," Feely said Saturday at the reunion. "These people are still from Valsetz."