Editing Sweet Home, Oregon (section)

== History ==
Settlers first arrived in the Sweet Home Valley in the early 1850s. A community known as Buckhead developed near the mouth of Ames Creek and the [[South Santiam River]]. Buckhead was named after a saloon that featured a set of elk antlers on the gable end of its building. East of Buckhead, a community called Mossville developed with a store and post office. In 1874, the two communities merged to become one community called Sweet Home. In 1893, the city of Sweet Home was incorporated.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sweet-home.or.us/index.aspx?nid=95 |title=City of Sweet Home - History |publisher=Sweet-home.or.us |access-date=2012-03-12}}</ref>

The [[Santiam Wagon Road]], a toll road connecting the Willamette Valley with central Oregon, was opened in 1865. The road extended from the Sweet Home Valley across the [[Santiam Pass]] in the Cascades to Camp Polk near Sisters. The Santiam Wagon Road was a vital means of supplying livestock and goods from western Oregon to central Oregon and transporting wool from east of the Cascades back to Willamette Valley woolen mills.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oregonhistorictrailsfund.org/trails/showtrail.php?id=16|title=Santiam Wagon Road|access-date=2012-03-20}}</ref> Competition with railroads that extended south from the Columbia River into central Oregon and the newly opened McKenzie Pass Highway made the wagon road obsolete by the late 1930s. [[U.S. Route 20]] was constructed across much of the same route as the Santiam Wagon Road.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oregonhistorictrailsfund.org/trails/santiam-wagon-road-1865-1939/ |title=Santiam Wagon Road, 1865-1939 |publisher=Oregon Historic Trails Fund |access-date=2013-04-21}}</ref>

Sweet Home experienced significant growth during the 1940s due to the demand for timber from local forests. Further growth occurred when construction began on nearby Green Peter Dam in 1962 and continued as construction began on Foster Dam in 1966.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.foresthistory.org/ASPNET/Publications/region/6/willamette/chap5.htm |title=History of The Willamette National Forest (Chapter 5) |publisher=Foresthistory.org |access-date=2012-03-12}}</ref>

During the 1980s, Sweet Home experienced a number of sawmill and plywood mill closures due to economic cycles, increased competition, increased productivity, and logging restrictions placed on nearby forests resulting from environmental concerns for endangered species.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://oregoneconomicanalysis.com/2012/01/23/historical-look-at-oregon's-wood-product-industry/|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160303221830/http://oregoneconomicanalysis.com/2012/01/23/historical-look-at-oregon's-wood-product-industry/|url-status = dead|archive-date = March 3, 2016|title = Historical Look at Oregon's Wood Products Industry|date = January 23, 2012|access-date = February 28, 2014|publisher = State of Oregon}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-07-14-mn-3677-story.html |title=Industry Fears Environmentalists : Loggers See Spotted Owl as a Harbinger of Doom |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=1989-07-14 |first=Mark A. |last=Stein |access-date=2012-03-12}}</ref> In response, community members sought out other economic development opportunities such as the [[Oregon Jamboree]] country music and camping festival.<ref name=aboutjamboree>{{cite web|url=http://www.oregonjamboree.com/about-us/|title=About the Oregon Jamboree|publisher=Oregon Jamboree|access-date=2013-04-21}}</ref>