ISH #3 “Henryville & Utter City”
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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NEW CONTAINER - New Hide spot. Quick P&G just a few steps off roadway. BYOP
Sometimes things are not what they seem. So many people today drive through this area seeing a quiet rural area of scattered homes amongst the trees, and fret over “development and growth”. In truth, from the late 1800s into the World War 2 era Coal mining was a major industry up and down the Slough, and many of them hosted small communities. Two of those communities were Henryville and Utter City. A group of Californian investors, led by Dr Henry, formed the Northern Pacific Coal Company to develop a 1,000 acres of coal fields on Isthmus Slough in 1873. Millions of dollars (somewhere between two to five) were spent at Henryville building tunnels, docks, bunkers and other buildings, which included a blacksmith, warehouse, store, a two story boarding house, and 14 houses for the miners. A quarter mile long railroad trestle ran from the mine portal to the wharf. A Post Office was established in 1875, which lasted for only 14 months, as did Henryville. A couple of other times, 1877 and 1885, other groups tried to mine the site unsuccessfully. A watch keeper remained at the site until about 1913, when Henryville was finally abandoned. Nearby on the opposite (Western) bank William Utter and A Ojeda in the early 1870s founded Utter City at the head of deep water navigation, the farthest ocean-going vessels bound for San Francisco could reach. From here the men planned to ship the coal they produced from their mine at Carbondale (another small hamlet near what is now Coaledo), 5 rail miles south across the divide. Utter City grew to include a hotel, stores, about 30 houses, and its own Post Office (first as Isthmus in 1871, then changed to Utter City in 1875). This Post Office closed in 1880. Extract from “Coos Bay News” in Feb 1876: Three steamboats left daily, running in connection with the cars of the I.T.R.R. There were quite a number of fine buildings here. The Railway Co.’s store, the Centennial hotel, one of the best conducted establishments of the kind in Southern Oregon, and the Occidental brewery. The later place was in successful operation, and produced beer of a quality equal to that of San Francisco. The only survivor of Utter City was the hotel, which was sold and barged to Empire to replace the original Pioneer Hotel (destroyed by fire). Sometimes the maps are wrong. While your map or GPS may say this cache is just across the gulch from Henryville, historical records describe it as being on the other, Eastern, bank of Isthmus Slough. My wife and I (as can you) even studied an old photo (CCHMM 992-8-0695) and matched it to the site just Southeast of here, where you can still see lots of old pilings and the remains of a couple of old barges. Utter City was directly across the slough from Henryville, but has been erased by the growth of the Highway and time. For more info see “Stars in the Dark”, By Dow Beckham, and “A Century of Coos and Curry” by E. Petereson and A. Powers. Cache contains a small sample of the black gold – Coal – that was such a big part of the economic growth of early Coos County. Please leave for others to experience. (Sorry, temporarily out of coal, but Christmas is coming :-) ).
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
TEP