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Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Covering Dallas, Monmouth, Independence, Falls City and surrounding areas since 1868
Crib sections support the upper floor of the Commander's House on Pedee Creek Road, and I beams that will be used to lift the roof section off are visible Thursday.
October 09, 2012
PEDEE -- The Commander's House, the pre-Civil War structure that sits along Pedee Creek Road, will make a return voyage to Fort Hoskins in Benton County on Oct. 21.
The trip entails separating the home into two parts, loading them onto dollies and pulling them south along Highway 223.
Jeff Powers, director of Benton County natural areas and parks department, said he and supporters are all eager to see the move happen soon, though "we don't want to push things because we want this to be done right."
The move is being handled by Terrebonne-based Chris Arsenault LLC. Crews have been doing prep work since Sept. 25 on the home and its eventual destination near the parade grounds of Fort Hoskins Historic Park.
The project costs $52,500 and is largely being paid for by donations from citizens, foundations and other organizations, as well as a $20,000 state grant. The money was raised in about a year.
"It's been very gratifying to see so muchgrass-roots support for this," Powers said.
The county's plan was to move the home during the last week of September or the beginning of this month. Crane availability and permitting with the Oregon Department of Transportation on Highway 223 pushed it back.
The top and bottom floors of the home will be moved separately, to accommodate 70 power line spans that sit between the structure's current and future locations.
"It would have been an additional $70,000 to take the lines down and put them up again," Powers said. "It also would have been an inconvenience to people."
Arsenault workers have removed the home's skirting and a kitchen addition on the home. Steel I beams have been inserted where the upper and lower floors meet to allow it to be lifted by crane.
Cross bracing is also being installed to make sure the structure stays stable during the move, Powers said.
Steve Long, project manager for Arsenault, said the move will start at daylight on Oct. 21. It will take about an hour to haul the 12-ton house 14 miles to the park, though the entire move will last eight hours, Long said.
Crews will bypass the main entrance of the park and transport the house along an old skid road and winch it up a hill to its original footprint.
"It's winching it to the new location that will take a while, it's fairly steep," he said.
There will be a shelter area in the park where visitors will be able to watch the move from above.
The Commander's House is one of only two surviving military buildings from Oregon's pre-Civil War era. It was constructed at Fort Hoskins by eventual Gen. Philip Sheridan in 1857. After it was decommissioned in 1865, it was moved to Pedee Creek Road. Nobody knows when.
What's Up?
The moving of the Commander's House from the Pedee area to Fort Hoskins Historic Park in Benton County is scheduled for Oct. 21. For more information: 541-766-6871.
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