Baker Site

Baker Site. . The Baker's water supply consisted of a hand dug well located close to the cabin. Likely located by dowsing , there is a strong underground stream easily found even today with a 'water-witch.' The well extended down approximately 25 feet and often has water to within 15 feet. The current pump is of a more modern age. Every year in May, a club of dowsers demonstrates and teaches 4th grade school children the art of dowsing. Many find it fascinating and a true adventure. , Between the pump and the shed are two significant plantings. The grape vines growing on the arbor date back to the 1800s and are evident in our earliest cabin photos. The Lilac bush growing between the pump and the shed is a cutting from a plant brought from Calaise, Maine in 1842 by Phillip Foster and his wife. Traveling via New York, around the Horn to Hawaii, then to Vancouver, they finally planted their cuttings near Eagle Creek at what is now the Phillip Foster Farm Historical site. , Horace, who had skills as a stone mason, owned and operated "Baker's Quarry" on this basalt mountain. He selected this site for his Donation Land Claim because of the fine basalt rock nearby. Rocks were harvested from the base of the cliff without evidence of quarrying from the cliff face. Stones were hand drilled and split using black powder or wedges. Considerable amounts were used in the construction of the Tillamook Lighthouse, the Oregon City Locks, Pioneer Courthouse, and the Portland Hotel. An example of these rough hewn stones is placed near the cabin chimney. Quarry marks are very evident. Stones were transported down the Clackamas River on barges to meet steamships in Oregon City. The barges were later dragged and winched back upriver by men and teams of horses.