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Note: Address:<ADDR> 40533 Jasper-Lowell Road Lowell
Oregon
97452
USA
PHON541-937-2853
Doyle Goss was born in a dugout in Greer County, Oklahoma in or near
Reed, Oklahoma. He was the second son of Ephraim and Trannie LaDonia
(Donia) Goss. Six months previous, his grandfather Henry was killed in a
well cave-in. As he died he indicated his family lived in Reed,
Oklahoma. Based on that we know that not only Ephraim but Eliza and her
other children, at least those at home, were there at that time.
With his family Doyle moved to Oregon when he was about six. This was
shortly after the death of his grandfather Henry. Luther Rogers had, for
some reason, moved to Oregon and wrote back to the family that there were
jobs in Oregon. Most of the family including Dock Commodore Rogers, his
brother, Ephraim Goss and others of the family moved to Oregon. They
traveled by Train to the Cottage Grove Oregon area . They sold everthing
they owned in Oklahoma to pay for the tickets. On the way they stopped
for a while in Kansas while Bill Goss sold his home to travel on with
them. It is probable that Eliza and some of her daughters also traveled
at that time. Doyle started school in Saginau, Oregon. HIs father Ephie, Bill and Doc
Rogers men worked for a tie mill that hand hewed railroad ties. They
lived on the hill a short distance above what was then a school (and is
now in 1996 a residence). In short order they moved to nearby Walker
and then a short way to Cottage Grove as the tie mill moved. in Cottage
Grove they lived on the Row River. From here they next moved to the Dalles area in northern Oregon. I have
not been able to learn the reason for this move. On the trip two Rogers
families (Charley and Dock Rogers) and Ephraim (and possibly Bill and
others of the family) traveled by automobile. Doyle reports there were
three vehicles . Ephraim's was a Overland, which he could sort of point
but not really drive. In Hood River the Overland broke down and the men
of the families had to work several days in the fruit because they had no
money to pay for fixing the vehicle and no money to continue. They camped
near Tucker's Bridge below Odell. During that time Doyle reports they were all very hungry. They had no
money and the men had to work several days in the fruit before they could
get paid. Doyle and Odie found some old potatoes in a dump and they made
potato soup. Their stories differ on which one found the potatos but
they both agree it made the best soup they ever tasted.
In The Dalles they rented a home in the Five Mile Creek area. Ephraim
was not used to heavy snows and failed to have enough food on hand to last out long periods of isolation. After a heavy snow the first winter,
he had to walk out for food on snowshoe to a neighbor. He contacted
frostbite in this walk. While living in this area Ephraim contracted to
clear a part of the road right of way on Mt. Hood which became the Portland to Madras highway. Ephie, Odie and Doyle all worked clearing
the road. Trees were fell with a hand saw and horses were used to haul the timber out.
The family then moved to the Hood River Valley area where the family has
lived for several generations. They first moved to the Dee Flat area
where Ehpraim worked in a mill. They later moved to an area about four miles south of the Mt. Hood general store where there was a two room school. Doyle attended that school, later the school in Mt. Hood where he graduated from the eighth grade and later started High School in
Parkdale. Both school buildings later became church buildings for the
Church of Christ and Doyle Goss preached in the 2 room school building and lived in it's basement. The first building is a two story two room school house that is now (in 1996) a private residence. Among the stories told of this school, Doyle tells of someone catching a mouse and
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