Interview with Lauretta "Corky" Smith

Born 9/11/29, born in Lakeview Oregon, folks lived in Bly. Parents were mother Grace O'Neil, father was Lawrence Oswald Griffin. Brothers: Lawrence Neil Griffin (nicknamed Tom Thumb), Gilbert Lee Griffin. Sister: Janet Louise Griffin and Terry Nelson and T.J. Nelson half brothers.

Corky and Wayne raised her half brothers, Janet's boys, Eddie and Rusty Ward, after Janet died.

Her parents were married in 1928 and Corky was born in 1929. Her grandfather had a ranch and father worked for him. Janet died in a car wreck. Her grandfather was called Griff. He had a ranch this side of Harry Obenchain. Grandfather came here in 1900, when he was 16 years old. He worked on the BK ranch for Ernie Paddock. Grandfather died December of 1961. Her father was killed in the 2nd world war in France. He was 45 or so.

Corky has always lived in Bly. Mother's dad and mother had the Jack's Place bar and restaurant in Bly. They were Jack and Amy O'Neil. Corky's mom and dad divorced when she was 5 years old. She lived with her grandmother until she was 10 and then back with her mother. Jack O'Neil died in 1953 or 4. Grandma still had bar and restaurant at that time.

One time Bly had 4 sawmills and lots of loggers and lots of people. Most weekends were spent in the bar. They held dances. Bly had 3 hard liquor bars and 3 beer bars. From 1939 or 40 went on for quite a while. One bar had a 2-lane bowling alley. Both Corky and Wayne set pins in the bowling alley for a penny a line.

Wayne moved to Bly when he was 9. He was born in Lakeview. Doctor's name was Leafhead.

Corky and Tom Thumb were out in the yard playing and the Liquor store was across from the bar. They heard a commotion from across the street. Corky and Tom were about 9 or 10 years old. There was a drunk man wanting liquor, owner was the Justice of the Peace, Bill Titus, he had a hook for a right arm. Titus told the guy to leave because it was Sunday. There was a rooming house in back of the store. The drunk came back again and threw a rock through the door of the store. Bill Titus hooked the drunk with his hook arm under the jaw. We could hear the bones cracking; killed him dead. Grandma hollered at us kids to get back in the house. Tom Thumb would laugh later and say "By God, they never did call you and I for witnesses." Streets were quiet and we could have been the only witnesses. Titus later killed his wife by shooting her with a shotgun. Then they did something to him, jail time. In between Titus and the Liquor store was the only telephone in town.

The phone switchboard office had the police in there when the people were killed at Mitchell Monument. They wouldn't let them say anything. People who had the switchboard had two daughters around Corky's age and were good friends with them. You could not get in where the switchboard was. It was very hush, hush, because they did not want the Japanese to hear that the bomb had killed anyone. The Patzke kids were the youngest in the family. The Shoemaker boy was the youngest in their family. Other 2 boys were only children. Kids were around the age of Corky. They went to school together. It was kept very quiet so there wasn't a service at school. It was a few days before the word got out. Bombs were supposed to start fires and burn the forest.

Corky's dad mother is buried in the Bly cemetery. Grace Oswald Griffin. Buried 9/11/11.

Grandfather killed a 300 lb deer. He played cards and drank hard; he was very honest and would stand by his word. He came from Jackson County. His granddad Beryl Bell Griffin came to Jackson Co in 1852 with the Calvary. They had an army base at Jacksonville and were there to control the Indians. Griffin Creek is on Hwy 66 out of Keno. The also have a Griffin Creek grange and cemetery. His dad's name was John Bell Griffin. He must be buried in that area. I have a cousin in Klamath Falls named Bill Bailey. He had a cabin up there on Griffin Creek where they would have family reunions. Denise Corcoran is relation to Corky on mother's side.

O'Neil came in 1928. Granddad O'Neil came out of Hornbrook. He broke horses for the Army. His older brother piddled everything away. Griffin was here in 1900. Ruth Obenchain came in the 1920s. Corky's family probably one of the oldest. Sis (Owens) Rental came to the area in 1800 and something.

Wayne's granddad lived in Barnes Valley and delivered the mail on horseback to the ranches. He lived in Bly and was a black smith. He ended up in Bonanza and got killed by a bull dragging him around for 3 days. He had one piece of pant around his leg and had one cuff of the shirt left. We drove down there; that bull weighed 1600 pounds. That bull would moan and swell up and the hair stood up on his back. Corky was scared and wanted the bull killed; the butcher shop would take him if it was early in the morning. He never cut any of his cattle; he would throw them a can and have them butt it around. His neighbors told him to sell the bull. Grand Father's name was Raymond Ripley Utley. He was 67 when he died; around 1955. Wayne used to ride horses. He liked to hunt deer. He was riding a colt up above a rim rock and while shooting down the horse fell over backwards and fell on him. It broke his leg and arm and he crawled 5 miles to his house; got in his pickup and drove through the gates to the neighbors. They took him to hospital.

15 lemons, 10 sodas and 10 carrots were 35 cents for all of it. Leather bound ledger, 1.5 pounds of beef was $0.40. Year was 1920. O'Neil Mercantile, in Mt Hebron.

They found person at Andersen Cabin, staying in his cabin for the winter. Next spring they went to look for him. Harry Obenchain and Griff went and found him dead in his cabin next to Long Creek. Name was Anderson. It is now called the Andersen Cabin. He ran out of groceries snow too deep to get out.

He was not one of the Indian Andersen family. His name was O.T. Andersen, called him Buck, and lived up by Andersen field. Weyerhaeuser had guys come out and homestead, build a cabin and live on it five years. To get timber, Weyerhaeuser would pay them to come out and stay there. Weyerhaeuser got most of their land this way. The country was full of cabins; man and wife lived back to back. The Forest Service burned most of the cabins down. Only one left standing that Wayne knows of. It had a patio built on it. Roof came off the cabin like a porch.

How got nickname? When 10 days old. Mary Gordon gave her the name and also called Neil Tom Thumb. Mary Gordon lived for years in Bly. There was a big building, a bar called the Bucket of Blood, (behind Lura Hunter mobile). They played cards and danced. There was also the Highway Inn. The Bucket of Blood burned. They found pieces of burned glass that melted together. Corky was only 5 or 6 when it burned.

Her Granddad went to jail for bootlegging. He was at McNeil Island, for 18 months, just out of Portland. Grandma had tall ceilings; you could see her light moving at night, she took in laundry while he was in jail. He couldn't get bar license but she did and he called it Jack's Place. Corky has the licenses. It didn't set well with him that he couldn't get a license but the license was issued to Amy O'Neil. They came in and found the sink in kitchen had booze under it. When they came to the Bucket of Blood, Mary Gordon poured the booze in with the laundry water so they wouldn't find any at her place. I don't think Granddad made the booze. There was a still at Yaden Flat and on one of the sand hills up at Ivory Pine there were a couple of brass tubs that were used for making liquor. Wayne remembered Corky's Granddad talking about ordering a still through the mail.

Remember the trains? They used to park and walk up town and have dinner. They hauled logs out and gas in to Bob Clark's distributor tanks. Behind the ODOT's building is where the stockyard used to be. Wayne used to drive cattle from Bly to Barnes Valley, Horsefly, Lapham, and Callamus Butte. He worked for lots of the ranches around. He had two kids come up one time and they had mustaches; he took them down and dry shaved them. They had a Frenchman at the ZX ranch that couldn't speak English very well. He would jump up every morning and take a bath in the snow. He wrote a book called Over the Rim in 1943.

The hunting used to be really good. When they bought the reservation you could run out 12 or 14 big bucks. Then came all the special hunts; the Indians did not kill off the deer like people say. Friends Betty and Leo Olett came from Sutherland OR with a Buck tag and the last three days you could kill a doe. They had three more doe hunts; killed 2200 does and 1800 does in the next hunt and people wonder where the deer went.

Winter of 1999 Wayne saw 20 elk swim the river. Elk tore up Mike O'Brien's fence.

Went to Lee Decker's funeral, Bill Hamilton said he remembered when he lived in Bly said Lee Decker was part of the Wild Bunch meaning Wayne, Gordon, Virgil Berry and Lee Decker. They were just kids and they didn't stay at home. Wayne left home at 14. Lee's folks moved to Klamath Falls and Decker stayed out here.

Mattie Cross Green was here when Corky was born. She moved before Corky got very big and she doesn't remember her being here.

Ethel Fairchild (Bannister) owned the ranch across from the River springs ranch. Banisters are from Paisley. Ethel wore furs and then lost it all.

Laboree house, Cork has picture. He married a dance hall girl in New York. When he died she lost the place, ran out of money, and the house was never finished. When Corky was 7 years old a family name of Savage ran the old hotel. All the kids played an instrument. They lived in the house out there. She would stay the weekend with June Savage. House inside looked like? Inside the front door there was a big wood furnace, to heat to the first level. Front room was big and narrow, had French doors to family room, dining room, kitchen all the bedrooms was upstairs. There was a big old staircase. Slat on the walls with chicken wire would put stuck over. The house was never finished, didn't have any carpets just had wood floors, and very few people ever lived in it. The one down where the trees are burnt and they built a new one on the hill. There used to be dumbwaiter in the house. He died and she had the place, house burned in the trees she built the new house but ran out of money. Sold the place and left the country. Lowery bought from her. Liskeys bought from Lowery. Totsi Liskey lived down at Swan Lake she inherited from her Dad and she sold to Lorenz.

Did you know the Bloomingcamps? They were gone before Corky can remember. Cork's Granddad worked for them. Bell had a ranch here for years. Gloria Buchanan lives in Bly. Her grandma came on a covered wagon. She with the bunch that came to the Blue Bucket mine; they found gold and no one could figure out where they found it.

Corky can remember the sawmill burning about 3 different times. It was devastating to the community, nobody would have job. Weyerhaeuser was cutting a million feet a day for about 30 years. Wayne worked for Ivory Pine mill in 1949. Wayne tried to go to work at the mill but was too young. It burned in the 40s. There was a house of ill repute on the Ivory Pine road in the 40s. It didn't have a name and the house finally fell down. Holly Brown built a cabin beside the house. He had a bad back, could not straighten up.

What was Jack's place like? Inside was big room that was the bar, tables for poker games, walled off part of it for storage. Other room was bedroom. The door on the end of the room that went into the house had 12' ceilings, bedrooms off and kitchen and dining room off of that. Had a big dining room table that was only used once or twice a year. We had a washer and dryer. Bar had 8 or 9 stools and two bathrooms. The restaurant was on the other side and was Called Yours and Mine Cafe. Grandma didn't drink, and she kept everyone in line; Granddad liked to drink. He got picked up for playing Blackjack. He had friends that had been to Reno. 6 or 7 were playing for nickels and dimes. They arrested them. They wanted to go to Wood River Court because he had a good friend and for $100 represented all 7 of them. Got a jury, first guy told them they didn't have any business picking people up. Went to trial, had everything in notebook, no money out for bets. One bag had $0.25, one $0.98 happened in 1964. Guy came in to the bar, seen him watching them, went outside and came in with another person. Wayne was tending bar so he got arrested too. Found them not guilty.

We were hunting deer during the Columbus Day storm. We went to Ida Lee's place and got under a loading ramp. Hail was the size of golf balls and it hurt the horses. Looked like it had snowed, mother had filled a bowl and kept them in the freezer. Beat the roof off of lots of houses. Corky and Wayne lived in the house where Homer Green now lives. The roof leaked and bed was wet; water shot up when you pushed on it. It blew a lot trees over and roads were blocked. Blown down timber was harvested for several years after the storm.

Wayne's mother lived at Corning California. The road washed out before we got to Beatty so we had to go through Lakeview. We went almost to Sacramento and then came back to Corning.

Bly had terrible forest fires, 1956 or 57. There was five going at once. You couldn't see the sun and the smoke was terrible. We didn't have to evacuate but thought we may have too. Deming Creek, Round Mtn fires. A guy on a caterpillar was killed on the Deming Fire. Forest Service would bring in big metal containers with lids that the cafe would fill with roast beef, gravy and etc. They were bigger than 5 gallon. We would make sandwiches 250 at a time and include apples, oranges etc. Mother would buy all the food. Now they have catering service that goes to the fire camps. They fought those fires for about one month. Mother made enough on the fires (long time getting the money) that she bought herself a new Ford automobile. Jim Haven, Pete DeGarus worked in the restaurant. It was a lot of work; Marge Fitzpatrick had it for a long time.

Harry Obenchain lose ranch in a card game? I heard he came close. Corky's granddad almost lost his ranch by gambling it all away.

Why do they call the Laboree house haunted? Nobody bothered the house for years. Teenage kids kept saying they seen a light in the window. They were told not to go in. The windows got broke and the inside of the house got messed up. It was finally torn down and the lumber salvaged.

Remember the CCC camp? Ed Patzke was in the CCCs when he came to Bly. When Corky was 12 went fishing, borrowed a guys pocketknife to make a sling shot. He told me to be careful but I cut myself. The CCC's had a Japanese doctor; didn't give anything and just sewed it up. Cork squalled and bawled. Orville Bowmen came here with the CCCs. Wayne's step dad worked as a diesel mechanic in the CCC camp. We got married in 1947, Wayne was 20 Corky was 17, got out of school in June and married in July.

Corky and Gloria Buchanan owned the store that Protsman built. They bought it from Ed and Opal Patzke. Everyone, including the kids liked Corky. Lily's granddaughter would go behind the counter and get change out of a dish that Corky kept behind the counter. Lots of people owed them money when they sold the store but she got her money. She helped Lily when she needed help. She really misses the little kids. The store was called the Bly Country Store, sold groceries, boots, clothes and penny candy. We owned the store from 1979 to 1991.

Wayne and Virgil Berry had a race in logging trucks on Hwy 97. Trucks were empty.

Wayne and son Wayne still rope cows. Son-in-laws and grandsons all rope. Mac has won 10 silver belt buckles and won his first at 2 1/2 years old. He is 6 now. Can't dally but he can throw. Their daughter Billie is married to Jeff Wessel.

Rodeo grounds at Parker Flat and by the Weyerhaeuser water tank. Beatty also had a rodeo grounds. Once caught a horse thief here and was going to hang him in a barn but Dally Givens and someone cut him down before he died.

A good friend, Bill Sylvester, rodeo came here in the late fall with Bud Linderman, They stayed in Beatty with George Anderson. Anderson had 3-400 head of horses. He would take the yearling colts when they rounded them up. Four gates would open, if Sylvester got to drinking you couldn't sober him up. He was an alcoholic. He was supposed to open the gate and he was passed out on the ground so the horses got away from them. They were so mad they put Sylvester on the pulley with his legs up. Hanging by feet and Linderman came to Bly to the bar. Said, "I fixed the SOB. I hope it killed him." Wayne and Virgil went out and got the man down.

Bud Gunn crashed his single engine airplane. He was living at the ranch where Butch and Lee Hadley now live. We watched the airplane from the hill make a circle as they were practicing landing. It was a dirt airport. About 1 1/2 hours after we got home Jim McGilvery said the plane is going to fill with dirt and dust and conk out on them. About 1/2 hour later Phil Menges's wife came in and said we need an ambulance, the motor conked out and the plane came right down on the nose. Both had their legs broke and were burnt; gas was leaking, and the guys were trapped. Gunn has a wooden leg now. Other fellow later killed himself. He always walked on crutches. It was probably in 1964 or 65.

A Mexican got knifed in the bar. Corky was in the kitchen about 1:30 in the afternoon and heard a shot. She went in the bar and front door opened. Henry Miller came in the door and crawled under the sinks. He had been at the Halfway house. Corky looked out and a guy was straddled another guy cutting his throat. A woman was saying that's enough don't do anymore. The Mexican gets up and the blood is flowing, throat was cut but not deep enough to kill him I locked the front door and ducked down. Raised up and looked out and my oldest daughter was standing on the curb. I just got her in the door and he tried to get in. He came around to the side door, jumped the fence and went through the alley behind (Pit Stop mini Mart). Red West lived on the corner. He had the faucet turned on was lying there trying to stop the bleeding. The ambulance came and got him. He had stabbed the guy in his back first and broke his blade off so it was too short to cut his throat. He went to car and got the gun and shot his buddy. He knocked the gun away and was stabbing him. It was all caused over a woman in the bar. James Quinton Anderson had killed three or four people before that. Everyone was afraid of him. He was sent to jail and lived at Hermiston until he died. They wouldn't let him come back to Klamath County. The last guy he was supposed to kill he was so drunk Wayne didn't think he could have done it. He thinks someone else did and blamed him.