The Lebanon Express from Lebanon, Oregon • 15

iff The rise and fall of Sodaville Springs but hmlatiiie had a liisiuiy buiriwt iixll out. and wily hr klisaluie lm UlrJ a Ti) li louiaU Uui tuu Thry Onu lite hill 14 k4 ill Hi Mfiirf or III trifc ot Uilllr, kqual Hail. prrfta ir. and omrtime lfr l. a lake i UmM at ll? mhi UllHHia liunrtal Jitii Uutu tuti SudakiHe iU name un Hatr p4JS, Ml Ui brrt of tuQ I) all) rlfmewriil, and flavor ha trft uVkCf ibrd ki "twrlilrW-" ItruU- Uft J.L.e 'ra 1M7 he hit Utr hriahUil I4r4 llnrtf rattle ii oti ie kn-p ii rirr, ik--r tuulti rttiH 1 'M '3l I -C" llic to located ItUdtui plly ttnd lM.rl trvm the tulli )uinp lit lour fail (f MhrM frUkiil til tli Ui liiirvrral tt in HmtuuwU ttrt1 Ut-T (Jul up i nioft Ui4n(idt Icttnt isil rm tutll (l tU(vl ftxi er trie (cir ith ru tut the futAx runWirf tatrr iJ buute a trfnini im1 the City llhrr hrlj Uirif IUrrli in lUl butldii rrtulily WHJ Uatt dual! Ml tktlt td rial fMlrii kin M4llii -thai jjfitij mlrf hu "iiniwrf Tnf til lh rtM nj tali at lt rn4 old iintimmuty ol ScdlrdlaUbyabiaiiihuHheMuUlU Liitain, talM II Snlinii, thv community gn Irumi (r rally white trtilirtlo Uunviiif til which mcai purctril lael cm had IU hrday Ml llw la.

Hi Indian Iivu4 Amr utiavilU rt nrm nuMni to rwfiiim. but thrir inunbrr dttUidtnl In lhri? tfotdy five MirniU-t 11 If vilitilr IWiiluiii till If ft bum ol today 'l rtWrriU rlairq In a atwwl thrt Indian Uifiai Wirt thd founJ Sudavdk 71a tntf lal ffwjuiU art cvmrd ailh truth, U4 torn pro(ile hat umomrd ftMl fiiaiiur, arrthradt, Hrvrt (jtJ. klruii with lit thr 9mm tivritl came llouMiid day to t4t thr lain "Jr14 Sprine Al that lim th lon bwutnl lo or thrr hutrii. ibret ctiurctirt, fiicr twnd. (irrholl, art lit rrrjm patUir, a Ulatkuriah timp, nuniftl alrr bait) huuM, a Uirtaff ihup, (jhotographlC gailrry, drt uur.

a butcher thop, a lurnilur Uctury, a bruk lartury, a ttafie catch Hop and rua.Bxiu. a Uaiing rink, a city jail, and a grnrral nieTvhandi ktur at arli at a covrrrd Urut lufi1 ur the lamrd minrral kprUliEt Th ton rrn had a trmlnary htrh hrtd IU firt rla in Iifi2 The Mineral Kff tnt; Seminary by thf fumtjertand i'mbytrriarn, bui irnnrd la Albany in about iwr. It later bream" Lrwii and Uark txtLWg In hrllnd The old txiildini ied by Khnol dulrlct 13 an riemenlary pchoul for 40 yrara '1 A fi 1 IMI'I HK, The rrlebfalrd iprintf that otw allfarted lliaiui vltitwt to itMlarlllp have now bren alrle4 im-pur To boyi. Vine Calvm. led.

and Hip (irrgory J. right uw the yuartirail around Ihe nng kourr lor an nrrti in climbing The house that Hale built as the 'spirits' moved him to the houe during the years Hale lived there. She remember od a large room with many beds, all in a row "He toid us those were for the spirits." she said, "and yes, they all looked as if they had been slept in AJthough the Hale house was considered one of the largest and best built of the early Sodaville homes. Hale was never though with its building. A "haunted houK built" bef or th turn of the rentury on thr ide of Sodavillr (till standi a a kuhttantial memorial to itt creator, an etf rnlfK' Hintualil named Andre Hale Th weather-beaten ttmctur atand three tturiet hiph on a kohd brick foundation.

The hou includet an exit on the firt floor level opening into thin air no railing, no itepi nothing but a Moot drop to a cement walk below. Another luch exit waa built on the second floor with a 1 foot drop According Mr. Alma Parrwh. who chronicled much of Sodaville'i colorful hitory before her death. Ihe house waa labeled "Cray 'llous" and "Haunted" because of the mental aberration of the builder, whose imagination peopled it with innumerable apiriti.

Hale had a collection of perforated diski of familiar old time music and often at night he would put a lighted lamp in every window of hii large house, then atep out ontoa grilled platform-off the atuc level of hi home and grind out music lor the entertainment of hit spirit guests. Although Hale's wife and family "found it impossible to live ilh him." according to Mrs. Parrish. his Sodaville neighbors regarded him as .1. A second sfory exit into spoc and rows of bdt tor tpiriti "Th nfghfs bcom such horror for Halt fhot quit If hung hmiaf A I I -S i a.

i Ik a. For 17 years he continued to make additions and changes. "Whenever the spirits moved him," wrote Mrs. Parrish. The original structure had a full basement, two -floors andVm attic.

Gables faced in four directions. Across the east side was a two-story veranda. The entire interior, not excluding the attic, was ceiled with number one, 34-inch flooring. In those days number one meant clear. No one has ever found so much as one knot in any piece of lumber used.

At one time Mrs. Ace (Geraldine) Baker of Sodaville says she and her husband thought of restoring the house, and she too recalls the clear wood, especially where the ceiling came to points in the attic room. Fred and Ethel Kau were owners of the property for 49 years, from 1919-1968. Their daughter-in-law, Mrs. Henry Kau, says the ceiling of every floor had a square finished hole "for the spirits to flow through," but she insists that in all the 49 years her relatives lived in the house, they never saw a "ghost." 1 She comments, however, that the south side of the property was the site of an old Indian camping ground, and her father-in-law plowed up many arrowheads as he worked his field.

There vas later another owner named "Brar''-iSls Mrs. Kaiu- '--sold to the owner, Donald James. He resold the property to hew owners this summer Du the "haunted" legend lives on In the hearts of the children of the town who still test their bravery by making a visit the house on Halloween night. i I 'ft eccentric but harmless. They may have laughed at him sometimes, but never feared him.

Housewives, thinking of his lonely life, would supply him with pans of biscuits, pies and other home-cooked fare. In turn. Hale was fond of children, and if they took a shortcut to school through his property, he would fill their coat poketi with apples, even tying knots in the sleeves and filling them, too. f'Finally," wrote Mrs. Parrish, "the nights became ouch a horror for Hale that he quietly -Jm property ITJie "spook iree" has sinceTeen cut down to a stump.

But the day before his death, the spiritualist thoughtfully returned each empty pan, plate or dish to its owner. Mrs. C.F. Snider told Mrs. Parrish of her viait rblU(l XfrfSJ Thursday.

14. 1972. Page 15 JT" -f-Tl I I.