Jack Cluster

A Time Now Passed.
In Memory of Jack Cluster
January 28 1919 - December 11, 2007

At the beginning of the 20th Century, on the West Fork of Cow Creek, about 10 miles outside of Glendale, Oregon there once stood a small train depot and hotel. A small Post Office could be found inside the station; so the story goes. Today, little evidence remains to indicate the importance this site once played on the lives of the people who inhabited the area. It’s still a pretty spot. The tracks are in poor shape now and the steel trestle bridge is slowly rusting away, but the creek still flows with clear cold water and the trees still reach towards the sky. It’s at this place our story begins.

In 1910, a young idealistic dreamer named Clarence Cluster took two mules and started up the west fork of Cow Creek into the mountains. The following year, Clarence would finish building his homestead cabin in a beautiful meadow 22 miles from the train station depot and only a stone’s throw from the creek. For the next 10 years it would become the Cluster family home. Five children would be born to Clarence and Anna Marie Cluster. Agnes, Elaine, Don, Jack and Jimmy. Later in life Elaine would speak fondly of that time living at the homestead in the Oregon mountains. Don would move to California and was never really close to the family. Jimmy would die tragically from a head injury at age 16. Agnes passed away unexpectedly in the late 1960’s. Don and Elaine would both live long lives. Death came to Don at the end of the last century. Elaine died in 2004 at age 93. During the homestead years, Jack was too young to remember much about life on the meadow. Elaine and Clarence would share all the stories with Jack later on in life. Clarence would live to be 63. He died in 1954.

Between 1900 and 1920 pioneer spirited families took to the mountains on the west fork. The population grew enough that even a school was built for the children. The kids would have to walk to Eden Valley where the school was located. For some it was a 10 to 15 mile hike to reach. Elaine and Agnes would walk to a friends home closer to the school on Sunday afternoon and remain there until Friday when the school week ended. This is just one example on how people use to help each other out. The barter system was the currency used most amongst friends. It may have been a simpler time, but it was never an easy time. Clarence tried to provide for the family by mining for gold. He even built and ran a saw mill. He may have been a dreamer, but he understood hard work and never tried to avoid it. Before he left the mountains and returned to the city he would become somewhat of a local legend. It was rumored Clarence could out pack a good mule. He was short in stature and had legs as big as tree trunks. One story goes that he would hike out with his mule 30 miles to Glendale, pick up supplies and return back to the homestead without stopping to rest or sleep, much to the chagrin of the mule. In another story, he went to Glendale and purchased a couple of hogs and when the mule got tired, evidently from lack of rest, he relieved the mule by sticking a hog under each arm and carried them the rest of the way. As the years went by, 2 hogs became 4. In the end it became 6 hogs and enough feed for the mule’s and hog’s to last a year. Just goes to shows, a good yarn is always made better with the passing of time.

The homestead cabin had no electricity or running water. It was still a nice cabin. It had 2 stories and was considered to be one of the nicest in the area. A garden was planted in front of the cabin. A fence was constructed completely around the garden in order to keep out the deer. Old black and white photographs still exist and are cherished in the family archives. The kids learned at an early age to forage for food and grow a vegetable garden. Deer season was all year around. That is to say, deer were hunted all year around…..along with Elk, bear, squirrels…. pretty much anything that moved. With no radio or newspaper’s, information and entertainment was passed alon