CANYONVILLE — Rolfe Dunbar has seen or heard it all in this little Interstate 5 town.

His grandfather was mayor, his father was born there in 1900. Excluding a childhood stint in Argentina and two years doing construction in Peru during the 1950s, Dunbar has lived his 76 years in this Douglas County hamlet.

Dunbar would argue that two seminal events have marked Canyonville’s history: I-5’s opening in the late 1950s and Seven Feathers Casino in the mid-1990s. Both were in the making for years, and, just as the freeway transformed the community near the confluence of the South Umpqua River and Canyon Creek in the following decades, the casino is shaping the town’s future.

The timber industry that gave birth to the Douglas County city of nearly 1,600 a century ago has receded from its role as the region’s dominant economic force. The three local mills in and around town have long since vanished along with the hundreds of jobs they provided.

"The casino has not been bad for the area; I would have to give it a plus," Dunbar says. "There is a downside and I put the blame on people’s weakness. Some people overeat, some drink too much and some gamble too much."

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While there are differing opinions on whether there are more vehicles on the town’s streets than in the past, there’s been a definite decline of foot traffic along the four-block business district.

Occasional log trucks still rumble past vacant storefronts and businesses with "for sale" signs along Main Street en route to distant sawmills.

"There was a time when there was a greater variety of stores and downtown was just bustling," recalls Carol Malmay, 59, owner of Country Livin’, an antique and collectibles store with everything from Depression glass (now-collectible glass dinnerware made during the Depression) to vintage baseball cards. "Business owners were enthusiastic, because they were busy during the holidays. People dressed up for a whole week during Pioneer Days (the local annual celebration held in August).

"I thought this was where I wanted to live the rest of my life. It was a wonderful little town with lots of small businesses. It was a quaint little town."

More often than not, the talk of the town centered around hunting, fishing and logging.

"Just normal stuff," she says. "People never worried about the bigger stuff. But since logging went down, we’ve all been more involved in what government is doing to us.

"As timber declined it spawned a little bit of desperation that grew into despair for many. I wasn’t from a logging background, but it was very gut-wrenching. Fathers’ and grandfathers’ worlds were turned upside down. They were trying to find something to do, and they had no idea what to do."

It was during those dark days that the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Tribe of Indians began making promises for better times if a small gambling operation were opened.

"Seven Feathers came along and if people hadn’t been so desperate, they probably wouldn’t have been allowed to come in," Malmay says. "Things were so desperate, even the churches didn’t fight it. The thinking was if they brought jobs, it was bound to help."

A decade later, the town’s population has grown 15 or 20 percent, several high-end homes have been built in town and an "upscale" manufactured home park has attracted scores of senior citizens from California.

"The casino is like the 800-pound gorilla," says Knoll Terrace developer Brian Place "Love or hate it, whatever the case, it’s in the living room, so you better make friends with it."

In February 2001, Place and his father, Ken, 64, began their 132-space manufactured home park just up Canyonville-Riddle Road. By mid-December, 76 spaces had been sold, primarily to retirees from California’s Central Valley. The homes, beginning at around $100,000, have two-car attached garages and large decks with views of the Umpqua drainage below. Large motor homes, worth far more than the houses themselves, are parked next to some of the homes.

"The casino being here was a huge factor in us picking this town," Place says. "It would’ve been a tougher choice to develop in Canyonville if it wasn’t here."

Cow Creek Band backing helped get the forest farmland area rezoned and annexed into the city limits.

"(Tribal leader) Sue Shaffer and some others spoke on our behalf," Place says. "We didn’t know them and they didn’t know us, but they knew there was a housing shortage."

Place says Seven Feathers has been part of the allure, and the casino’s shuttles regularly pick up residents, some who enjoy the casino’s entertainment and social activities.

"These were active people in California and they’re not going to slow down a bit here," Place says.

While some residents interviewed for this story say better prices take them into Roseburg to shop at Sherm’s Thunderbird, Place says coupons at the local Pioneer Super Save Select market are just as good as the chains.

"When it comes to stores," he says, "There’s one of everything, so it’s perfect."

Perfection, however, hasn’t been one of the town’s traits.

Dunbar remembers a banker named Oscar Hoverson, who many decades ago spoke to the local Lions Club shortly after arriving in town.

"He was asked to give his first impressions of Canyonville," Dunbar recalls. "He said ‘What this town needs is five fires and five funerals.’ "

While the comment took the gathered assembly by surprise, his implications were clear: The town needed a physical overhaul and a new attitude.

"There were a lot of dilapidated buildings and there were people in town that didn’t want any change," Dunbar says. "But a lot of them died off before the casino."

The Cow Creek Band has affected urban renewal and economic growth by buying businesses such as the old 3 J’s/Fat Harvey’s truck stop, then renovating and expanding the operation. Behind the truck stop, a 200-space recreational vehicle park is being built. Two earthen dams have gone up on neighboring creeks and a golf course is on the drawing board.

But in many ways there has been a disconnect between the town and Seven Feathers.

"From an economic standpoint, it has surprised me that it hasn’t had more impact," says Roger Shafer, 59, a government and economics teacher at Canyonville Christian Academy, which was started by his grandfather 80 years ago. "I thought it would impact the local businesses more, but the impact has been negligible even to somewhat negative. My impression is that you have a lot of people that come to Seven Feathers and that’s that. Canyonville is not a destination."

The thinking a decade ago was that travelers would stop at Seven Feathers on the north edge of town near the city cemetery, then find their way downtown.

"Instead, they leave the casino and bam, they’re out of there," Shafer says. "Part of it is psychological and part of it is the layout of town."

While the casino employs hundreds, many of the paychecks lack the buying power that timber jobs had a generation ago. But for many displaced millhands and loggers, Seven Feathers’ jobs kept them from leaving.

"You take out the retired and senior citizens and under 18 population and the number of people that the casino hires is roughly equal to the population of town," Shafer says "Of course, there are a lot of people driving in from Grants Pass, Roseburg, Winston and Myrtle Creek."

Many of the Seven Feathers jobs are "one notch above minimum wage," Shafer says. There are plenty of jobs cleaning motel rooms, washing dishes or sweeping up casino floors. But not much upward mobility.

"My feeling is that it has created a tremendous floor to the local economy, where anybody that lives in Canyonville that truly wants a job can have one. If you want to get up and go to work there will be a job waiting for you. ..."

"If a husband has a family-wage job and the wife goes to work at Seven Feathers, it really enhances the economics of the family. In some of the areas around here, second jobs are scarce. If you live within commuting distance of Canyonville, there is an excellent chance to secure a minimum-wage or low-paying job."

Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail business@mailtribune.com