For the longest time life in Bear Valley was quiet and change was slow. Native American seasonal camps gave way to small ranching operations of the first Europeans. In good weather the stagecoach ran through the valley. In 1895, postmaster Mrs. Minnie Southworth named the Seneca post office after her uncle, judge Seneca Smith of Portland. In 1923 the 890 million board feet Bear Valley timber sale meant the days of quiet existence were to become much louder. Woodsmen, mill and railroad workers were needed to fell trees, mill the logs, and build a railroad. Those workers and their families needed a place to call home, and they built the town of Seneca. Hewing trees by hand, the Swede Steel Gang made up for poor English with sheer hard work. The crosscut saw brought more sweat and toil in the woods. As the pine and larch crashed to the ground, the railroad line and the town of Seneca rose with them.