PLSO The Oregon Surveyor Mar/Apr 2019

22 Vol. 42, No. 2 The Oregon Surveyor | The Lost Surveyor ? Answer This issue of the Lost Surveyor is about an adventure to solve the mystery of who was Glen Hawkins. Glen Hawkins Park is located in Vernonia, the information on this park is very limited. On-line research revealed nothing about the origin or the person it’s named for or why the surveyor image adorns the sign in the park. Further digging revealed that although the park is located within the city limits it is actually a Columbia County park. The imagery on the sign would seem to indicate the park was named after a surveyor, but who was he? Once again, on-line research didn’t reveal the answer. With the deadline for this article fast approaching it was time to hit the road and head to Vernonia for an on-site investigation. Along the way, we briefly explored the Banks-Vernonia trail. This trail is Oregon’s first rails to trails project which provides 21 miles of excellent paved trail spanning fromBanks to Vernonia. It can be enjoyed by hikers, bikers and equestrian. Not far from Vernonia, the trail passes through one of Oregon’s newest state parks. Stubb Stewart State Park is 1,800 acres of for- est which is crisscrossed with over 25 miles of trails. The hill top day use area is a center point of the park with two trail heads starting from this point as well as being an equestrian staging area. The hill top area provides wonderful views of the coast range as well as providing access to the 18-hole disc golf course which winds through the forest. (photo 2) Arriving in Vernonia and walking through the park revealed the only indication of a surveyor is the picture on the sign, so the mystery of who Glen Hawkins was remained. Fortunately, the local histo- ry museum was open. At first, the folks there had no idea who Glen Hawkins was and had little to offer. Eager to help and discover some of their town history, they made a few phone calls to other museum volunteers and allowed us to dig through the many books, albums and local lore piled around the building. One of the phone calls resulted in some local scut- tlebutt of typical small-town controversies related to the park, but for the most part it was a dead end. Just before leaving the museum, an album full of newspaper ar- ticles was discovered which contained the answer to this issue’s Lost Surveyor. Glen Hawkins (photo 3) was a local Ver- nonia resident who grew up around the United States while his father worked in the coal and oil industry. His father was a civil engineer who laid out oil wells, railroads and roads for many years. The family arrived in Oregon in 1924 when Glen Hawkins was 17. This was about the same time that the Oregon American Lumber Company Mill (OA) was found- ed in Vernonia. The mill was owned by the parent company that Glen’s father worked for. Glen attended the University of Oregon in 1927 to study architecture, however, the Great Depression set those plans aside and Glen went to work for Clark and Wilson Lumber Company in the log- ging camps. Like any good surveyor or engineer’s son, Glen had grown up on engineering crews; so, in 1931 when an engineering job became available he took it. Glen spent 14 years laying out railroad and truck roads all around Vernonia to facilitate logging and to support the log supply to the OA. Quoting Glen from the newspaper article, “At this time we were producing a million feet of logs a day. Normally working 220 days per year and producing 220 million feet of logs, just like that.” Clark and Wilson was even- tually absorbed by Crown-Zellerbach in 1945 and Glen continued with them for the rest of his career. This newspaper ar- ticle appears to solve the mystery of the survey symbology on the sign in the park. Glen was a huge community supporter in Vernonia and helped spark commu- nity projects through volunteer efforts. These efforts resulted in construction of the high school football field, grandstand and lighting at no cost to the school dis- trict. They also constructed a city park on Rock Creek which included brick fire plac- es, a creek fed swimming pool that still exists today, ball fields and picnic areas (photos 4 and 5). In 1960, Glen was trans- ferred to Tillamook as Crown’s Division Manager. According to the newspaper article this was a sad day for Vernonia to lose a pillar of the community. The park Glen helped create was eventual- ly named in his honor. While Glen may Photo 2 Photo 3