The Town That Time Forgot
The Bull Run River and water shed may have gotten its name from the presence of wild cattle on the river in the pioneer period (1849-55). Cattle escaped from immigrants in the river’s vicinity and ran wild a number of years. Bull Run was selected as the source for Portland’s pure drinking water. Located in the western foothills of Mt. Hood, the Sandy Rivers were also a main source of electricity for Portland. It is believed that the original settlement, which was christened Unavilla, was near to the present-day location of the Bull, Run School. It started out with employees living in a tent camp. A post office was established there on May 6, 1893. This was about the time the pristine waters of the Bull Run Watershed were selected and a elaborate water purification and delivery system was built to transport this water to the residents of Portland. The electric system included joining two rivers, Sandy River and Little Sandy River through a concrete canal, 4 tunnels, a long wood flume and trellis and a man-made run off lake (Roslyn Lake). Bull Run water, for drinking, flows to Portlanders through 24 miles of pipeline at a maximum capacity of 2500 gallons per day.
For 13 years, Mr. Phelps handled a pack train of mules and horses used to haul supplies to Bull Run Lake, which was selected as a water storage 2 basin before Bear Creek dam was built. The country was being surveyed at the time by Portland city engineers who had a crew of men building fire trails.
During these trips, Mr. Phelps often encountered bears and cougars on the trail, but to him, the most annoying wild life were the hornets and yellow jackets which caused the horses to stampede. He fought so many yellow jackets after blowing out their nests with gunpowder that he became immune to their stings. The horses used in the pack train were mostly of wild stock, broken into the saddle by Mr. Phelps. Mr. Phelps hauled in the first diamond drill machines used to test the rock formation of the river bed prior to building of the Bear Creek dam. Weighing 1500 pounds, the drill machines were hauled on a sled pulled by teams of horses hitched in tandem fashion.
A system of two dams, canals and a wooden flume created Roslyn Lake, which then funneled water down huge tubes to spin the turbines below. The Mount Hood Railway and Power Co. started construction in 1906. Mt Hood Railway and Power Company’s work started on the Bull Run hydroelectric powerhouse and first generated power in the late September of 1912.
Portland Railway Light and Power Co, acquired the assets and operating equipment in 1913, and began operating electric streetcars on the Mt. Hood Division. Bull Run is a town that now has a Hotel, Gas Station, Grocery Store, Blacksmith and many other amenities that a modern town of the turn-of-the-century boasted of.
Passenger service continued until December 27, 1930. Freight service continued until November 26, 1932 when declining revenues brought on by the great Depression forced the abandonment of the line. Tracks were removed and salvaged from East Gresham to Bull Run. Two historic automobile bridges and a bridge for a water pipe cross the Sandy and Bull Run Rivers were also impacted.
The largest of the three spans was placed over the Sandy River, next to a similarly designed bridge with wrought–iron trim that was built in 1893. To hold a large pipe carrying Portland’s drinking water. The bridge over the Sandy River was moved to Bull Run Park in 1926 and the 32 yr. old bridge was moved piece-by-piece, to Bull Run Park (now Dodge Park) on the Sandy River. Dodge Park was a small destination Amusement Resort that flourished in the summers. It was famous for boating, swimming, picnicking, camping and fishing. Eventually, fewer employees were needed to operate the power and water generation facilities and the town of Bull Run was dismantled, and Roslyn Lake (a Sandy fishing and recreation area) was drained. In 2012, a new group called the Powerhouse Re Gen purchased the old decommissioned powerhouse to turn it in to an interpretive center to educated people about the site. In 2013, the city of Sandy partnered with the city of Portland to use the Bull Run water shed. The Marmot Dam was removed and restoration work continues on the river to bring back the Salmon. While the town of Bull Run is no more, the history and memory of the complex Bull Run water and power delivery system is preserved at the Sandy Historical Society Museum. Visit the museum to see the full Bull Run exhibit and learn about the people that built this amazing project.