By Ron Brown
June 24, 2011
ROGUE RIVER, Ore. -- Many towns have come and gone across our region since the first settlers arrived about 160 years ago. Some are still around but have changed their names, like Klamath Falls. It was first known as "Linkville", for it's location on Link River, but another town in our area has had three names.
Rogue River. A quiet town on the river for which it's named, known mostly for it's spectacular bridge, friendly people, and a festival the last Saturday of every June that is something to crow about. But it was not always known as Rogue River. Before that it was known as Woodville. That was the first post office and was most likely named after John Woods, in 1878.
Before that...before it was much of a town...it was known as "Tailholt". Without a bridge, early miners, farmers and others who wanted to cross the river could either pay Davis 'Coyote" Evans' fees for his ferry, or swim. And when the water was high, it was safer to hold onto one's horse's tail and be pulled across...hence the name "Tailholt"! A small park along the river pays tribute to "Coyote" Evans and his legacy. By the time the railroad arrived in the mid-1880's, it was "Woodville", and it had it's own little depot and several shops and businesses. The first school was built in 1883.
Some 25 years later a grand two-story brick school building was built near where the present elementary school is, and housed all grades. Roland Prefontaine, who grew up in the area recalls the big bell. Prefontaine recalls that very few streets were paved when he was growing up in the 40's and early 50's.
It was a group of far sighted, and creative business leaders in 1953 who took a cue from a town in England where roosters competed in a crowing contest to launch the first Rogue River rooster crow contest. It's been tradition every fourth Saturday in June since 1953. The idea is to see how many times a rooster can crow in half an hour. Some people keep their roosters secluded for weeks ahead of time. Some bribe them with food. Some mimic crowing to stimulate the real thing. Maybe that's where the human contest developed a few years ago, and now there's a quilt show, boat races, parade and other activities all weekend long.
There were actually two rooster crow contests that first year. In the second one in September a rooster named "Beetle Baum" crowed 109 times in 30 minutes, a record that stood for 15 years until "White Lightening" belted out 112 'cock-a-doodle-doo's' in 1978 for the all time record.The lowest number of winning crows was in 2003 when "Stew M. Wright" managed to take the title with 25 crows!
The coming of the freeway had a big impact on this sleepy little town on the Rogue River. For many years, this was a town for families of loggers and mill workers. Today it's probably better known as a retirement community. The train station is gone, and the streets are paved. The old ferry was replaced by a steel bridge in 1909 that many thought would stand forever. It was replaced 41 years later by a larger steel bridge that stood for 50 years, until it was replaced by a concrete arch bridge. This bridge was built alongside the old bridge, and then slid into position over a two-day period when the old steel bridge was taken down. Today it stands as a bridge between the past and future. Underneath a new bicycle trail is moving it's way upriver, with the goal of tying the town to the rest of the Rogue Valley in the next few years.
Rogue River has come a long ways in 160 years, since the time when pioneers used to pull themselves across the river holding onto the tail of a horse, to a bridge that is somewhat of an engineering marvel.