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Here's
the second message from Mike. At the end of this page are thumbnail
links to the pictures he is so generously sharing with the Gerking
Family.
If you have any information about Ray Gerking I’d enjoy hearing about
him. Of all of the old roads I’ve retraced in Central Oregon, Ray did
the finest job of marking I’ve ever seen. I fancy he was a young, hard
working and energetic man when he assisted with this survey. Maybe a
bit of a fun loving cut up.
Usually the helpers on these road surveys were locals who had an
interest in the road being established…local farmers, ranchers,
businessmen and the like. The only professional surveyor on the crew
was the County Surveyor who directed the crew, ran the instruments,
took notes and reported to the county commissioners. Ray probably
volunteered to help survey this one road…I haven’t seen his name on
other surveys. I know that the Gerking Market Road is in the Tumalo
(AKA Laidlaw) area so the Gerking Family probably had a vested interest
in a wagon road being created and improved from Laidlaw to Prineville,
which was the County seat and center of commerce at the time.
These markings are very unique. I imagine Ray got a good chewing out by
the County Surveyor for his high jinks, but 96 years later it’s an
interesting novelty and it’s fun to think about the reaction the county
surveyor had when he came down the road (which was at the time on the
main wagon road between Prineville and Laidlaw) and first saw the
freshly blazed “Gerking” tree and the 4 R tree. If those trees could
talk…
I was out along the old Horner Road a couple of weekends ago looking
for more trees and other survey evidence. It’s quite remote and
desolate in a juniper desert sort of way. When you’re trying to retrace
the footsteps of surveyors in an area that is basically unchanged since
the time it was originally surveyed, it’s as if those long gone and
forgotten men are alive again for a brief moment. You find a place that
you think is a good starting spot, take a look at their 96 year old
handwriting on your copy of their original notes, dial the bearing in
on your compass, look down the line they supposedly went along, measure
the distance and start snooping around. Then lo & behold! a half
grown over blaze in a juniper with just enough of an “R” visible to
confirm that Ray Gerking himself was here chopping that tree and
dutifully carving markings into the fresh cut wood. And you think
“Great job, Ray. I’d a liked to shook your hand”. I’m glad I found some
Gerkings to share these trees with. Hopefully some of them will be Ray's
direct descendants.
Mike |
We wrote back and gave Mike our thanks for his willingness to share
what he'd found, and also gave him some information we'd found about Ray. He emailed back:
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Beth,
My pleasure. When I first saw the Gerking tree
about 8 years ago I looked around to see if there were any Gerkings in the area
to no avail. When I came across it again I thought "Genealogist" and found your
forum on Genealogy.com.
Regarding your post on Genealogy.com, you are more
than welcome to use my words on your web site (nice site, by the way...it's
amazing that y'all have been having get togethers since 1959!).
If any Gerkings ever want to see the tree in
person, tell them to get in touch with me via email. A four wheel drive is a
must... about 3 or 4 miles of rough road to get to your "family
tree".
Happy Trails,
Mike
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If you want to take Mike up on his invitation or just say thanks to him for sharing, you can email him at mberry@teleport.com.
Below are thumnails of the pictures Mike sent. Click on the thumbnail or the text to be taken to a larger size picture.
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Family in Deschutes County, Oregon
