Monday, August 25, 2008
Muir & McDonald Tannery
We recently began our latest deconstruction project. It is the Muir & McDonald Tannery in Dallas, Oregon. Muir & McDonald began operating in 1863. After being destroyed by fire, the building was rebuilt around 1902. Until closing for business about a year ago, Muir & McDonald held several superlatives. It was the oldest tannery west of the Mississippi, it was the oldest business in Polk county, and it was the oldest tannery in the country using the slow vegetable tanning process. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Upon deciding to sell the property, the owners contacted us to save the building from the landfill and give it new life. The property has five buildings. There are three pole barns, a scale house and the main building. The pole barns are sided with beautiful 12 inch barn-style siding. The main building is a three story, 40,000 square foot facility. It is full of thousands of feet of beautiful tongue and groove flooring, lapped siding, and large beams. Most of the wood has absorbed a hundred years worth of tanning oils and residues that should infuse it with some beautiful patina. This project should definitely yield some truly beautiful and unique old wood.
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The Bevens family played an ongoing role in the life of the Muir & McDonald Tannery. Both my grandfather, Manley, and my dad, Homer, worked there virtually their entire lives. Homer (born 1902) moved to town in about 1921 and excepting for a slow period during the depression, stayed on until his retirement in the 1960s. As a boy, the Tannery was my playground; I learned to use tools (including an old forge, anvil, and pipecutting tools )in the workshop there. Along the way, I "worked" there, doing odd jobs, like keeping the sawdust-fired boiler fed, or helping drain the spent tanbark out onto the large field on the northwest corner of the property. Mostly, though, I had fun. I learned to drive on Pop's 1936 Chevy pickup (bought from the Tannery when WW II demanded a bigger truck to ship leather), and picked blackberries down by LaCreole ("Rickreall") creek.
The Tannery business suffered from several economic sea changes over the decades: when whales became an endangered species, their oil was no longer available to soften the Beaver Brand leather. Clearcutting of timber became unpopular, too, and it was no longer economical to buy the red bark of the Douglas Fir tree for the tanning liquor. The concentrated Qebracho(from "quiebrahacha", or "axe-breaker") extract had to be substituted at much greater cost. Similarly, cattle hides skyrocketed in price as Japan began buying shiploads of frozen hides to make leather for European shoes. All these factors, coupled with the hard work and modest pay to make leather, led to the ultimate demise of the business. I am proud of what my Dad did in rising to become foreman of the company--with a 4th grade education. Eldon deserves great credit for continuing to adapt to the changing market, with many small customers. Lisa and Greg Koloen can be proud of keeping the reputation of the company strong in the face of difficult times; they worked long and smart and hard, investing their lives in the fine old company!
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