Stories about Sunken Grade -

One of my hobbies is writing and I have created a fictional community, Sunken Grade, as a focual point of my writing.

Native American Woman Lake. (Nov)

An article in the Sunday Oregonian about the name changes for certain geographical features with less than desirable names reminded me of the renaming of Squaw Lake, outside of Sunken Grade, several years ago.

No one remembers how or why the oversized pond became known as Squaw Lake. For many years J. D. Walks owned the lake and a surrounding 750 acres of timber and meadows.

When J.D. died in 1915, title passed to daughter Helen, the wife of an attorney in Portland. The farm became a weekend retreat and summer home for Helen, family, friends and business associates.

Helen died in 1949 and ownership passed to a son, Congressman Jonathan Bigalow. His wife preferred life in Washington. Jon used the place for parties, most of which never made the society page of the Oregonian and only rarely came to the attention of the county sheriff. There was a rumor that a lady friend of the senator ran a bordello at the farm.

Jon and his wife died a few months apart-and they had no children. The farm went to Horace Greenleaf, a grandson of Helen and nephew of Jon.

Horace (actually goes by Ace) had a dream. There were several things that Sunken Grade lacked, including an airport, a country club, hot tub rentals, RV Park and golf course. His dream was to offer all these services and more.

Congressman Jon had put in a runway with help of the Naval Reserve units from Portland and Salem. It is the only field in the area. Jon allowed friends and neighbors to use it

The boathouse his grandfather had built became the Slip Inn. The inn became a hangout for many. Of course having the hot tubs nearby made it a favorite for lovers. Ace had spent a week in San Luis Obispo, California, with a cousin and she had introduced him to the hot tubs at the Sycamore Hot Springs. The tubs were scattered on an oak covered hill. Ace was able to copy that at Squaw Lake.

The large barn on the upper pasture became the clubhouse for the Sunken Grade Golf Course. The course started with a driving range and three holes. Every Spring Ace would add another hole and another campsite in the Squaw Lake RY Park.

The SG Country Club building was built new. Now realize, it is just a larger version of the Slip Inn. There is no steep initiation fee; all it costs is $10 for a lifetime membership. Everyone is welcome

Oh, the name change. When the government started remaining geographical sites Ace decided to go along. After much discussion at the Slip Inn and the Country club a new man was picked for the small lake. Someone had mentioned that a squaw was just a native American woman. Ace liked that and soon the sign on the highway pointed the way to Native American Woman Lake. The name of the RV park was also changed.

Everything else remained the same, including the name of the lake on county and state maps. Ace never got around to asking the state to change the name. Some of us still call it Squaw Lake.