How many of you remember the hotel? The one that used to stand at the north end of South West Fourth Street where North Santiam Machine now stands. I do, but just barely. As I recall it was a wood frame structure with a long porch along the front. At the time I saw it, it had run down into a state of disrepair, but I do have dim recollections of people sitting on the front porch during the evening hours; gathered there to talk of the days events in the cool shade offered by the east facing porch.
Just across the tracks to the north, also no longer there, was a house. At the time it was occupied by the "Banker", a fellow who, with some justification, thought the hotel was an “eyesore;” and, as I understand it, worked hard and long to have the place torn down. Well, he won out and the hotel was torn down.
Some time later the metal building which is now North Santiam Machine was built as a shop for logging trucks and equipment where the hotel had stood. For the neighbors, including the banker, it was a source of constant noise all night long while the trucks and other equipment came and went.
All that's changed now, as the machine shop only operates during the day, and the only trucks which come and go are delivering or picking up work.
I've never heard what the banker thought of having a noisy shop across the street from his home in place of a quiet, dark old hotel. Perhaps he liked the sounds and sights of money being made, but more likely what he thought of what had replaced that old hotel was the furthest thing from printable.