It was a sunny Sunday and John decided that we should take a drive up along the Rogue River to the town of Agness. We drove through the town of Gold Beach, just before the I.L.Patterson Memorial Bridge (which was the first in the country to be built with prestressed concrete in 1931. It has seven arches of reinforced concrete), we took a right turn and headed to Agness.Agness is an unincorporated community in Curry County, Oregon. It is located near the confluence of two Wild and Scenic rivers - the Lower Rogue and the Illinois. Agness post office was named after Agnes, the daughter of the first postmaster, and subsequently misspelled. The Agness area is popular for fishing and hiking. Agness is in the rogue River Siskiyou National Forest and was threatened by the Biscuit Fire in 2002.
Agness is known because it is served by one of only two rural mail boat routes still operating in the U.S. The other is along the Snake River in eastern Oregon. The mail boat runs on the Rogue River between Gold Beach and Agness.
Agness has a kindergarten-sixth grade "one room school", which actually consists of two rooms. It is kept open by the Central Curry School District
because of its 'geographicial remoteness": approximately 30 miles from gold Beach up a "winding and sometimes dangerous" road. This road (County Road 595) is a continuation of Bear Camp Road, which had been the site of several incidents that have resulted in the deaths of travelers. (Glad I did not know this before we left!)Much of Agness's economy is based on tourism. There are several lodges and camping sites along the river. Many cater to the large jet boats from Jerry's Rogue Jest which carry up to 50 passengers from Gold Beach to various locations in the Rogue Valley.
All we could find was this sign!! and one of the lodges, a General Store and the small school house.
One of those out of the way places that not many people find along the roads travelled.
Until later, Candy and Johnny
