The Van Bibber Empire

In 1868, Isaac Jacob Van Bibber, and his 23 year-old son Peter each claimed 160 acres of prime timberland north of Germaine. Two years later, young Peter began to build a small sawmill on Tamarack Creek to provide lumber for several new homesteads which were being constructed in the area. Unable to find enough strong, young men in Wilbur County to fall the trees and drag them with mule teams down to the mill, the Van Bibbers began to advertise for labor in the Willamette Valley, and in the east. By now the cross-country railways were bringing new arrivals daily to the Oregon country, and in no time, the Van Bibbers had all of the workers they needed to operate the sawmill full time. By the late 1870s they were bringing down so much lumber from the Ochocos that Peter Van Bibber headed out to find new markets in neighboring…

The Blue Bucket Mine Legend

You can’t write about this part of the country without mentioning the legend of the Blue Bucket Mine. Does it exist? If so, where is it? The very name, Blue Bucket Mine is misleading, since “mine” implies some kind of working claim. The Blue Bucket discovery might be a more accurate description of a handful of nuggets supposedly found in a stream bed, somewhere along the route of the Meek wagon train. The ore was either placed in one of the blue buckets which the pioneers used to carry water, or it was found near where one of these buckets was crushed by the wheel of a wagon, depending on whose story you believe. By most accounts, the lost gold mine is somewhere in northern Harney county, but various theories have sent prospectors into Grant, Wheeler, and Crook counties, and as far afield as Baker County, even though the Meek…

A Wilbur County Timeline

1845 – After little Germaine Van Bibber becomes ill, the pioneer families leave the Meek wagon train, and settle in the Tamarack Valley near current day Germaine. 1846 – Young Henry Applegate begins construction of the first log cabin to house his printing press, near the current site of The Germaine Truth. 1848 – The Germaine Truth is founded. 1859 – Town charter is drafted and Thomas Bradford is elected the first Mayor of Germaine. 1861 – Luke Charlebois discovers an artesian spring near Charlebois Corners, and begins farming the adjacent area. 1864 – Claiming he wants to help farmers and their emerging farms in Wilbur County, Thomas Bradford turns the position of Mayor over to Peter Hedrick. He goes on to found the Bank of Germaine, the towns first bank. 1866 – Three strangers, said to be veterans of the Confederate army, rob the Bank of Germaine and terrorize the town…

The Founding of Germaine

For several years, the pioneers who settled in the present site of Germaine had a very loose structure of governance. They were, after all, just a few neighboring families trying to survive on the harsh Central Oregon desert. These families all knew one another, got along relatively well, and had a tradition of consensus around major community decisions. It wasn’t until the late 1850’s, when the first newcomers began arriving in the Tamarack Valley, that the town began to consider the need for a formal city council. In July, 1859, the year of Oregon statehood, the town elected its first Mayor, Thomas Bradford. By that year, Germaine’s population had grown to 45. Two years later, Luke Charlebois discovered artesian water at the present day location of Charlebois Springs, and moved his family out to a new farm about 8 miles west of Germaine, reducing the population to 37. There it…