Sincere thanks to all who are helping create this Gopher Valley history. It’s great to connect or reconnect and visit with you! Sadly, three of our helpers have passed away: John Agee, Roger Smith and Kenneth Tilden.
Grace Armstrong
Gary Remington
Donna Lee Sanders
Charleen Remington
Charlotte Remington
Dan Linscheid
Linda Fagan Bird
Mike Fagan
Jim Fagan
Chuck Fagan
Darrel Jones
Allen Gross
Jon Hemstreet
Lynn Jackson
Tom Nash
Jan Wepster
Mike Smith
Roland Smith
Heather Marks
Kenneth Sanderlin
Susan Chamberlain
Marilyn Bride Levy
For those who may not know, chittum bark is “cascara sagrada”, sacred bark. It’s a deciduous shrub/tree found in Pacific Northwest forests. Cascara bark (or “chittum”) has been used by Native Americans for hundreds of years as a natural laxative and has been marketed by the
pharmaceutical industry since the late 1800s. After peeling, most trees are cut down these days. If a stub is left, it may sprout a new tree.
Cliff, this whole project is totally delightful! I love the way you have “chunked down” on the valley history. Charming.
Thank you, it’s becoming funner and funner as I’m connecting dots and doing triangulation to figure out facts, names, dates, etc.
Mom was really dressed up for the job, wearing a tie with her bib overalls! Too bad she’s no longer with us so I can ask about it! She passed away in 2015 at age 97, after living 57 years on her mini-farm in Lower Gopher Valley. Prior to 1958, we all lived about half-way up the Valley on the 60-acre place we bought from Dave Remington and family. Mom’s side of the family (from Floyd Long) arrived in Gopher Valley around 1895, buying a 400-acre farm on top of the ridge running between Thomsons’ Mill and Gopher Valley.
I remember when Uncle Doyle tried to trick his new wife, a city girl, into drinking some chittum tea!
I have a friend who put some chunks of chittum wood on a cookout BBQ. He wasn’t aware what it was or what that smoke would do until It hit all the guests about the same time…
Wow, I’ve heard of poison oak spreading in campfire smoke, but not chittum! The teenaged son of a friend got a bad case of poison oak in his private parts after a big campfire in the woods of Montana. My wife gave him some “Butt Paste” for the itching, which he said helped.