Waldo Safe and the Stories It Could Tell!

This story appeared in the Grants Pass Daily Courier on July 25, 1931.

"In the business office of the Cold Storage plant is a relic of early Josephine County, an iron safe, which for years was the strong box at the Charley Decker store at Waldo and went with the business when it was taken over by George Elder.  The safe was made in Boston, shipped to Crescent City by water and from Crescent City to Waldo by pack train.  It has no combination but is locked by a big copper key."

How much gold do you suppose passed through this safe from Waldo?!  The Waldo Mining District was instrumental in the creation of Josephine County.  In 1856 when Josephine County was carved from Jackson County, Waldo became our first county seat.

According to Heritage Research Associates, report number 234, the George Elder store was the last business to remain in Waldo; this store and the post office closed in 1928.

I wonder what happened to George Elder between the time his store closed and his death.  Looking at the census reports, George Elder was born In Waldo, and had lived there all of his life.

• On the 1870 census from Waldo, George W. Elder was listed as being 2 years old; the son of John and Minerva Elder.
• On the 1900 Waldo census, George is now 31 and single, living as a boarder in the home of Charlie Decker and works as a merchandise salesman for Charlie. 
• On the 1910 Waldo census, George is a 41 year-old bachelor, renting a home and listed as a retail merchant. 
• On the 1920 Waldo census, George is 51, still a bachelor, renting a home and listed as a retail merchant.

1920 was the last census I could find George Elder listed on.  George Washington Elder died June 2, 1931 (the month before the Daily Courier's news article about the safe was published), and is buried in the Jacksonville Cemetery along with his parents and siblings.