Twin Oaks School
Myrtle Point, Coos County, Oregon

Unknown School, written to Florence Hansen in Myrtle Point about 1910 The letter reads: Dear Flo, I am sending you a picture of our neighborhood. Mr. Heller took them. Just look at Ernest and Tom. They broke the camera and F. Moser did too. If you would of been there it would of made it so nice would it. How are you. Miss Pimm? is a beauty isn't she but I am the prettiest of all. Ha Ha.

Known Teachers

Years Taught	Teacher's Name	Source
1870	Mrs. Hortense Applegate	Oregon Folklore Studies
1928	Miss Verna Myrtle Hart	Obituary for Albert Davenport (1905-2003)

From the Oregon Folklore Studies program, The Work Project Administration. Interview with Mrs. Hortense Applegate, February 21, 1939      "My next school was in Coos County, at Myrtle Point, in 1870....Coos County was my first and only school out of Douglas County. Coos County seemed a long way off and quite an adventure. The roads we had were bad....I recall many recollections as a little girl of the old stage coach, when I lived at my sister's home on the main county road. This was a stopping place, the post office being at this point, in the small town of Wilbur. I remember watching the big stage come in, its four horses plunging under the driver's lash, as they pulled the coach through mud and slush sometimes up to the hubs in winter. The stage driver would snatch a bite to eat and a cup of hot coffee, and then on to the next stop, ten miles distant, where horses and drivers changed....      "In the spring of 1870 I started on horseback with my brother Dwight, to Myrtle Point, in Coos County. Leaving the village of Wilbur early in the morning, we travelled as far as Camas Prairie, where we stopped for the night. This was the end of what could be called a road, and thence we took the mountain trail to the coast. My brother was in the lead. The trail was narrow, and in places rocky and steep. I kept my saddle, though at times it seemed straight up and down. A more tired girl could hardly be found when we arrived at Myrtle Point the next forenoon. Why the name Myrtle Point I soon learned. We approached through a grove of dark green trees, so dense the way grew dark. Such magnificent trees and sweet odors from the heavy, leafy foliage I can never forget.      "The next business was to prepare for the opening of school. First I had to take my examination, and to do that I was obliged to go to Empire City, down the Coquille River and across Coos Bay. My brother Oscar's farm was on the river. He had his own boat, as he frequently made trips for trading purposes. Arriving at Coos Bay Landing, which took most all day, we boarded the steamer and went across to Empire City. There I had the examination, received my certificate, and returned to my work.      "The schoolhouse stood on a raise in wooded surroundings. The many beautiful shrubs and flowers presenting a rural attractiveness. Monday morning found me at my post of duty, with almost every pupil of school age in the district, promptly an hand....[After?] two weeks of school I came down with the measles... I had taught two days, feeling badly and not knowing the trouble. It was customary in those times for the teachers to board with the scholars. As I kept getting worse I sent for my brother, Oscar. He took a good look at me and remarked, "Why, Tensa, you have the measles." The eruptions were plain to be seen on my chest, but I could not be convinced that was what I had. My brother asked if I could ride, proposing to take me home with him. "But what about you and the family, taking me there with measles?" I asked. "We'll have to take our chances," he replied, as he wrapped me in a big overcoat, after I'd put on my warmest outfit. Then he put me on a horse, while he took the lead on another. In many places of the narrow trail the overhanging limbs had to be dodged. My back and neck ached with pain, when I went to bed at his home. In a week or ten days I was back at school, and nothing further interrupted....

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Transcribed by Robyn Greenlund unless otherwise noted

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