Park Story Began With Garbageman
Although he didn’t have civic improvement foremost in his mind, Ludwig Deines, a Russian-German immigrant, probably did as much as any man to make Overlook Park a reality.
Deines had come to America with his wife, his parents and five children. In his native Norka, a village along the Volga River, he had hauled cargo on sleds for a living when he wasn't busy farming. It seemed logical to him, therefore, that he should make his fortune by entering into the hauling business when he came to Portland and settled at NE 12 Ave. and Beech St.
So in 1908 Deines invested in a horse an wagon and began his career, hauling off the garbage of Albina and Overlook residents on a six-day-a-week, dawn-to-dark basis. His dump was the steep, useless ravine where Overlook Park sits now, atop his lifetime’s accumulations.
But even though he used his horse and harrow to plow fields for extra money in his few spare hours, Deines never did amass much of a fortune. As the years went by he became the father of seven more sons and daughters, and it became necessary for him to work ever more diligently collecting garbage to take to the Overlook ravine in order to keep food on the table at home.
Other collectors used the dump, and Deines couldn’t claim sole credit for filling it up, but over many years he did more than his fair share of the job.
John Deines of Portland, a longtime community leader and retired secretary–treasurer of Teamsters local No. 220, the sanitary drivers union, still speaks with pride of his dad’s pioneering achievement in civic enhancement.
Deines had come to America with his wife, his parents and five children. In his native Norka, a village along the Volga River, he had hauled cargo on sleds for a living when he wasn't busy farming. It seemed logical to him, therefore, that he should make his fortune by entering into the hauling business when he came to Portland and settled at NE 12 Ave. and Beech St.
So in 1908 Deines invested in a horse an wagon and began his career, hauling off the garbage of Albina and Overlook residents on a six-day-a-week, dawn-to-dark basis. His dump was the steep, useless ravine where Overlook Park sits now, atop his lifetime’s accumulations.
But even though he used his horse and harrow to plow fields for extra money in his few spare hours, Deines never did amass much of a fortune. As the years went by he became the father of seven more sons and daughters, and it became necessary for him to work ever more diligently collecting garbage to take to the Overlook ravine in order to keep food on the table at home.
Other collectors used the dump, and Deines couldn’t claim sole credit for filling it up, but over many years he did more than his fair share of the job.
John Deines of Portland, a longtime community leader and retired secretary–treasurer of Teamsters local No. 220, the sanitary drivers union, still speaks with pride of his dad’s pioneering achievement in civic enhancement.
Sources
"Park Story Began With Garbage Man." Oregon Journal [Portland] 31 Jan. 1977: 13. Print.
Last updated November 12, 2016.