

Trail Maintenance

I believe I found that on the 1955 Clackamas County Metzger map. It is the "overview" map. They didn't seem to have the detailed township map for that area, just the big overview map. I think (but could definitely be mistaken) the trail the goes by North Dickey peak is the 550 trail? Or at least part of it? It kind of looks to me like the area that was "the farm" is very near where 550 starts. There is a big flat area there - I always thought it was a logging landing, but maybe it was "the farm" before that.
Interesting history anyway....
Rob Williams said
While looking through some old online maps, I saw this curious thing - Near Lillypad Lake, a place called "The Farm". Anyone know any details about it?
Your Metzger Map shows a structure south of the road and a little short of where Trail 550 nowdays takes off from the road for Bull of the Woods. I've hiked there many times over the years but never knew to look for signs of it. I'm planning to go up there this summer so I'll look then. Possibly the name was sarcastic but who knows maybe someone tried planted a garden up there or maybe it was more like a horse and/or mule ranch. The structure likely was a cabin but again who knows maybe a barn.
I've been asking around but so far nobody seems to remember. Those that would are mostly gone now. If I can find anyone who does I'll post it here. A good example of how National Forest history fades as each generation dies away.
I'm thinking a car shuttle from Trial 550 to 559 and down to Road 6380 in July. Plenty of wildflowers and quite a bit of the two burns depending on the exact route (556 or 554).
Bryon

What is the fire history of the area? It may have had openings. I do seem to recall that either miners or Mr Bagby put their stock up there.
There are other names that have stories. Timothy Patch. I was told it was a natural opening of timothy that people drove stock up to from Dodge, Springwater. The Narrows. A place to get the animals gathered up.
Don2
Edit: Correction I think I mixed up "The Bars" with "The Narrows".
I do seem to recall that either miners or Mr Bagby put their stock up there.
Bagby was a miner!
There was a large formerly heavily used horse camp above Pansy Lake which was "rehabilitated" by the FS and is no longer as obvious as it once was.
I suspect the nearby mine shafts were Bagby's, but unfortunately the mining claim paperwork was filed under a business rather than personal name. The claim was never fully proved up so now we have a wilderness area with a mine in it and rusting mining equipment. The quartz vein involved petered out quickly so there was never enough ore to justify a full mining operation. Another words the glacier took out the potential mine. It is known that Bagby spent years prospecting in the Clackamas.
Bryon
Trail Maintenance

Donovan said
I do seem to recall that either miners or Mr Bagby put their stock up there.
Donovan,
Your memory is good, as always.
Oregon Geographic Names by Lewis McArthur has a listing for Farm Creek: "Farm Creek lies in T7S, R6E. It was named by Joe Davis, Jim Russell, Andy Wyland and Joe Dickey, who prospected and mined in that part of the county in the 1880s. They found good horse feed at the head of Farm Creek and left their stock there to pasture, calling the place The Farm."
Interesting that there is no listing in the same book for nearby Dickey Creek, but one would think that it might be named for Joe Dickey, or perhaps someone else in the Dickey family for whom Dickey Prairie was named.
Rob Williams said
Visiting the mines around Pansy Lake is on my "to do" list.
Bryon, where is the old horse camp located? That would be fun to explore when I go look at the mines.
It's uphill to the West-Northwest from Pansy Lake. I can recall the remains of enclosures there but those are now gone. The Forest Service rehab job did not take so look for the area with few or no plants under the trees and a carpet of old rotten wood. There is a lake North of the horse camp which served as a watering trough in the Spring. The original miners trail goes right through it with a detour to the East for when it was full of very green water.
The main mineshaft trail is now blocked but a little bushwhacking will get you there. In 1996 not only did the portion close to the Lake turn into a creek complete with channel but a six-foot thick Doug fir dropped the long way down the old trail. Head uphill left - South of that fir and cut left when you find the trail. It isn't far after that.
I'm planning a June trip up there to find the other small shaft and the cut. I have a geologist interested. I also want to visit Strongbox Lake which is near the top of the ridge that divides Pansy from Bagby just above the green lake mentioned above. It appears to be a 500 ft. very steep climb through the trees from there.
Bryon
Here is the 1890 mining claim map:
Trail Maintenance

Resurrecting an old topic here....
I stopped at Lily Pad Lake a couple of months ago, curious to see if I could find a remnant of the Farm Trail as shown on the map that Rob posted here. I did find a bit of tread south of the lake. I didn't follow it very far but I suspect it continues through the old growth at least as far south as the quarry. Just an isolated segment remaining of an old trail in a heavily-logged part of the forest.
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