Offbeat Oregon History podcast
1,079 episodes - English - Latest episode: 19 days ago - ★★★★★ - 160 ratingsA daily (5-day-a-week) podcast feed of true Oregon stories -- of heroes and rascals, of shipwrecks and lost gold. Stories of shanghaied sailors a1512nd Skid Road bordellos and pirates and robbers and unsolved mysteries. An exploding whale, a couple shockingly scary cults, a 19th-century serial killer, several very naughty ladies, a handful of solid-brass con artists and some of the dumbest bad guys in the history of the universe. From the archives of the Offbeat Oregon History syndicated newspaper column. Source citations are included with the text version on the Web site at https://offbeatoregon.com.
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Episodes
Shipwrecked fur traders walked from Oregon Coast to Louisiana
February 22, 2024 14:00 - 8 minutes - 7.56 MBWhile they were ashore, their sailing ship sank in a storm, leaving four fur traders alone in a vast wilderness with no prospects for rescue. So they set out for Louisiana – and two years later, they arrived. (Umpqua River, Coos County; 1810s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1102b-shipwrecked-fur-traders-trekked-to-Louisiana.html)
Czarina shipwreck: A deadly marine concert of timidity and incompetence
February 21, 2024 14:00 - 9 minutes - 8.99 MBThe wreck of the steamship Czarina: A cascade of bad decisions by nearly everyone involved resulted in the worst possible outcome: 23 mariners slowly dying in the surf as friends and family members watched from the beach. (Coos Bay Spit, Coos County; 1910s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1302d-czarina-shipwreck-tragic-concert-of-incompetence.html)
“Camp Castaway” was an inconvenient miracle
February 20, 2024 14:00 - 8 minutes - 8.17 MBFeeling lucky to be alive, the soldiers and sailors of the shipwrecked schooner Captain Lincoln got busy salvaging everything off their stranded ship. But then the Army had a problem: How were they going to retrieve it? (Coos Bay Spit, Coos County; 1850s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1302c-shipwreck-camp-castaway-inconvenient-miracle.html)
The Furrier's Story: Louis Schumacher, part 1 of 2 parts (WPA oral history interview)
February 19, 2024 14:00 - 16 minutes - 15.2 MBOn Jan. 3, 1939, Federal Writers Project worker Andrew Sherbert sat down with a slim, quick-moving gray haired 70-year-old furrier/pelt buyer named Louis Schumacher to talk about Mr. Schumacher's recollections of coming to Portland from Baden, Germany, and establishing a business buying the pelts and furs that trappers and mountain-man types would bring him to sell after their travels in the Oregon wilderness. (For text and pictures, see https://www.loc.gov/item/wpalh001956/)
Six iconic food items that were invented in Oregon
February 16, 2024 14:00 - 19 minutes - 17.7 MBAT THE TIME of this writing, the Christmas shopping season is just starting to spool up, and folks are getting ready for some serious holiday eating. Most likely, that festive feasting won’t include many of the things on this list. Although inventors from the Beaver State have had a big impact at the grocery store, most of what they’ve created would be a bit out of place at a Christmas dinner. The big exceptions are the products created by scientists at Oregon State University: Marionberri...
Little remains of back-woods luxury spa at Wilhoit Springs
February 15, 2024 14:00 - 10 minutes - 9.7 MBDuring the heyday of hydropathy, the remote mountainside resort was Clackamas County’s No. 1 tourist draw; its waters actually had scientifically provable therapeutic value. (Molalla, Clackamas County; 1910s, 1920s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1102a-little-remains-of-rural-luxury-spa-at-wilhoit-springs.html)
Would Slate's all-metal steam-powered airship have worked?
February 14, 2024 14:00 - 10 minutes - 9.68 MBIf so, the Linn County lad might have revolutionized air travel. But a launch-day disaster ruined his prototype, the Great Depression scared off all his investors, and the Hindenburg disaster ended the era of airship travel. (Linn and Benton county; 1910s, 1920s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1602c.pt2-slate-metal-airship-inventor-379.html)
Alsea lad became ‘The Nikola Tesla of Oregon’
February 13, 2024 14:00 - 9 minutes - 8.74 MBThomas B. Slate first invented the commercial production process for making dry ice, then took his new-made fortune and used it to re-imagine airship travel in an almost unbelievably “steampunk” way. (Alsea, Benton County; 1900s, 1910s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1602b.slate-metal-airship-inventor-part1.378.html)
The life, times, and gold mines of Captain W.H. Hembree (WPA oral-history interview)
February 12, 2024 14:00 - 16 minutes - 15.3 MBOn April 28, 1938, Federal Writers Project worker Andrew Sherbert sat down with a stocky, rugged-looking 74-year-old prospector and former riverboat captain named W.H. Hembree to talk about his recollections of life in frontier Oregon for a firefighter, sailor, and gold miner. (For text and pictures, see https://www.loc.gov/item/wpalh001950/)
Was Joe Drake a murderer, or just an innocent patsy?
February 09, 2024 14:00 - 8 minutes - 7.78 MBIt's nearly certain that Drake was guilty only of extreme naivete — and his landlord, after murdering a neighbor, knew he could pin the crime on him because Drake was black. (Salem, Marion County; 1880s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1801d.joseph-drake-murderer-or-innocent-patsy-480.html)
Japanese submarine I-25 blasted its way into Oregon history twice
February 08, 2024 14:00 - 9 minutes - 8.33 MBThe big sub was a key part of Oregon history; it fired on Battery Russell in June 1942, tried to light a forest fire with its on-board airplane that September, and sank several merchant ships. (Offshore; 1940s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1101e-Japanese-submarine-blasted-its-way-into-Oregon-history.html)
Oregon’s first execution still cloaked in mystery
February 07, 2024 14:00 - 9 minutes - 8.7 MBDanford Balch got drunk and shotgunned his new son-in-law on the deck of the Stark Street Ferry. His diary and official records tell part of the story. But the real questions can only be guessed at — and some of the guesses are sinister indeed. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1850s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1302b-balch-murders-stump-on-stark-street-ferry.html)
Schooner crew locked in a race with fiery death
February 06, 2024 14:00 - 8 minutes - 8 MBBelow decks, a chemical fire burned freely through the hold of the Challenger; above deck, her crew worked desperately in a hurricane windstorm to find a port they could put into before the fire broke through the deck. (Columbia River Bar, Clatsop County; 1900s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1602a.challengers-race-with-time-and-fire-377.html)
The Last Diggin's: Recollections of an old Oregon miner (WPA oral-history interview)
February 05, 2024 14:00 - 17 minutes - 16.1 MBOn Nov. 29, 1938, at the Portland Odd Fellows Home for the Aged, Federal Writers Project worker Walker Winslow sat down with an 86-year-old miner and prospector named Hank Simms to talk about the life of a wandering prospector in the old American West. 'I am a miner, and for 40-50 years I have been tunneling a shaft straight into this poorhouse,' he said. 'You can't call that very good mining. Most miners is fools and I'll bet you that for every dollar lifted off the bedrock in this country t...
Davy Crockett in Oregon? Yes, but only in ‘tall tales’
February 02, 2024 14:00 - 8 minutes - 8.1 MBIn the tall tales of 1840s almanacs, the “King of the Wild Frontier” had a lively interest in the Beaver State. But he did get a few of his facts wrong! (Statewide; 1840s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1801c.davy-crockett-tall-tales-about-oregon-479.html)
Vanport houses floated like life rafts in catastrophic flood
February 01, 2024 14:00 - 9 minutes - 8.36 MBThe shoddily built Portland suburb existed for six years. In that time, it spawned Portland State University and helped bring ethnic diversity to the state. Few people realize how important the place really was. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1940s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1101d-floating-houses-helped-many-survive-vanport-flood.html)
Mill owner’s fight with city sparked anti-Japanese riot
January 31, 2024 14:00 - 9 minutes - 8.56 MBIt's an event remembered with some shame in Oregon: A group of innocent, terrified men and women found themselves at the mercy of an angry mob, pawns in a power struggle between a mill owner and a group of townspeople. (Toledo, Lincoln County; 1920s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1302a-toledo-riot-mixed-racism-and-labor-unrest.html)
Skipper’s refusal to leave ship angered rescuers
January 30, 2024 14:00 - 9 minutes - 8.69 MBAt great personal risk, Coast Guardsmen had to rescue the skipper twice, because he insisted on staying aboard the stranded steamship to defend its cargo from marauding salvagers. (Columbia River Bar, Clatsop County; 1920s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1601e.shipwreck-laurel-stubborn-captain-376.html)
Recollections of one of Portland's first telephone operators (WPA Federal Writers' Project oral history)
January 29, 2024 14:00 - 16 minutes - 15.3 MBIn March 1938, WPA writer Claire Churchill sat down with Anne Abernethy Starr for an oral-history interview, touching on Abernethy Starr's childhood memories growing up in frontier Portland and working as a draftswoman and as one of Portland's first telephone operators. (Source on Library of Congress Website: https://www.loc.gov/item/wpalh001932/ )
Copter crash decimated Oregon journalism
January 26, 2024 14:00 - 10 minutes - 9.22 MBPORTLAND, MULTNOMAH COUNTY - It was the first news helicopter in the nation, and it gave the Oregon Journal a huge advantage. But then, one day ... (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1801b.sam-jackson-helicopter-crash-journal-478.html)
Oregon back country is rich in legends of buried treasure
January 25, 2024 14:00 - 8 minutes - 8.01 MBStories of lost loot and buried booty have kept treasure hunters busy digging for gold in hidden corners of Oregon for the past 150 years. (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1101c-oregon-backcountry-rich-in-legends-of-buried-treasure.html)
Radical Wobblies found support among loggers
January 24, 2024 14:00 - 9 minutes - 8.59 MBIndustrial Workers of the World union grew strong in the woods just before the First World War broke out — and the U.S. Army had to teach soldiers to cut timber to get the industry moving again. (Lumber camps, 1910s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1301d-wobblies-come-to-oregon-timber.html)
Buying a B-17 for his gas station was a crazy adventure
January 23, 2024 14:00 - 10 minutes - 9.82 MBBefore he made it back, Art Lacey had survived a plane crash, bribed a fire department with illegal whiskey, kited a big check and made bitter enemies in Portland City Hall. But hey, all's well that ends well, right? (Milwaukie, Clackamas County; 1940s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1601d.bomber-gas-station-375.html)
Autobiography of an Oregon Trail pioneer (Part 3 of 3)
January 22, 2024 14:00 - 9 minutes - 8.85 MBIn 1847, while a lad of 15, Mr. Brown crossed the great prairies and mountains of the Oregon Trail in a wagon train with his father, grandfather, and sundry other relatives. Brown’s grandfather kept a store back East in Illinois, and, being unable to liquidate it on congenial terms, packed all the inventory into wagons and hauled the whole thing across the country to Salem, where he set it up again. It was the first store in the history of the town of Salem. (For text and pictures, see https:...
‘Automo-bubble’ a part of Deschutes railroad war
January 19, 2024 14:00 - 16 minutes - 15.5 MBSOMETIME IN THE late spring of 1909, at the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company’s ticket booth in Portland, a 19-year-old man named Jim Morrell laid down his last $2 for a ticket on the Bailey Gatzert, the famous Columbia River sternwheeler. Destination: The Dalles. Morrell was from Colorado originally; just now he was at loose ends, drifting through Portland looking for work. He thought he might find it in The Dalles. Someone had told him about a great railroad war playing out near The Da...
Shipwreck of Brother Jonathan is ground zero in treasure squabble
January 18, 2024 14:00 - 9 minutes - 8.27 MBSidewheel steamer’s sinking was a major maritime disaster for Oregon; treasure hunters found the gold-laden wreck in 1993, touching off a big, undignified catfight with the state of California over salvage rights. (Offshore, Curry County; 1860s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1101b-shipwreck-of-brother-jonathan-ground-zero-in-fight-over-treasure.html)
SPADs, Sopwith Camels made with Oregon spruce
January 17, 2024 14:00 - 8 minutes - 7.42 MBThe famous First World War aircraft were made of spruce, and one of the most important sources of the strategic wood for the Allies was the northern Oregon coast. (Toledo, Lincoln County; 1910s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1301c-great-war-planes-made-of-oregon-spruce.html)
Fossil hunters' ‘Bone Wars’ came to Oregon, but just barely
January 16, 2024 14:00 - 9 minutes - 8.96 MBIt's probably just as well that no actual dinosaur bones were found here; the spiteful, unprofessional “cowboy paleontology” practiced by O.C. Marsh and E.D. Cope left Oregon's pioneer scientists profoundly unimpressed as it was. (John Day Fossil Beds, Wheeler and Grant county; 1870s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1601c.bone-wars.374.html)
Autobiography of an Oregon Trail pioneer (Part 2 of 3)
January 15, 2024 14:00 - 20 minutes - 18.8 MBIn 1847, while a lad of 15, Mr. Brown crossed the great prairies and mountains of the Oregon Trail in a wagon train with his father, grandfather, and sundry other relatives. Brown’s grandfather kept a store back East in Illinois, and, being unable to liquidate it on congenial terms, packed all the inventory into wagons and hauled the whole thing across the country to Salem, where he set it up again. It was the first store in the history of the town of Salem. (For text and pictures, see https:...
State government was ‘decapitated’ by crash
January 12, 2024 14:00 - 10 minutes - 9.62 MBWhen it came out just after the war, the Beechcraft Bonanza was the hottest private plane in the sky — a sleek, speedy, fuel-efficient hot rod. But it was very easy for a novice to get in deadly trouble flying one. (Rural south Lake County; 1940s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1801a.earl-snell-plane-crash-bonanza-477.html)
“Wonder Dog’s” 2,500-mile odyssey put Silverton on the map
January 11, 2024 14:00 - 7 minutes - 7.16 MBLost in Illinois, the affable collie crossed the Rocky Mountains on foot in the dead of winter, making friends along the way and causing a sensation on his arrival. (Silverton, Marion County; 1920s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1101a-bobbie-the-wonder-dog-put-silverton-on-map.html)
Gun-toting ‘Wildcat’ was nation’s first ‘shock jock’
January 10, 2024 14:00 - 11 minutes - 10.2 MBRobert Gordon Duncan was the first radio broadcaster ever to be sent to prison for cursing on the air. For the first six months of 1930, the entire city was riveted to his radio show, wondering who he'd slander next. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1930s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1301b-oregon-wildcat-was-early-shock-jock.html)
Portland ‘jitney wars’ were monopoly vs. small-biz
January 09, 2024 14:00 - 10 minutes - 10.1 MBRegular motorists would swing by streetcar stops and offer to take passengers faster and in greater comfort for the same nickel. But the competition enraged the powerful plutocrats who owned the streetcar company. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1910s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1601b.jitneys-vs-streetcars.273.html)
Autobiography of an Oregon Trail pioneer (Part 1 of 3)
January 08, 2024 14:00 - 17 minutes - 16.1 MBOn today’s Primary Source Monday offering, we have the first of a three-part series, which consists of most of the autobiography of J. Henry Brown. In 1847, while a lad of 15, Mr. Brown crossed the great prairies and mountains of the Oregon Trail in a wagon train with his father, grandfather, and sundry other relatives. Brown’s grandfather kept a store back East in Illinois, and, being unable to liquidate it on congenial terms, packed all the inventory into wagons and hauled the whole thing a...
Atlantis in Oregon: The underwater lost cities
January 05, 2024 14:00 - 8 minutes - 7.8 MBThe rising waters of lakes and reservoirs have submerged many budding Oregon metropolises over the years, from tiny one-horse towns to an entire Native American homeland. (Klamath, Baker, Lane, Wasco County) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1406e.lost-cities-oregon-atlantis.html)
Japanese shipwrecks on coast predate Columbus
January 04, 2024 14:00 - 9 minutes - 8.66 MBThe case of John Ottoson (ne Otokichi) in 1832 illustrates what can happen: Blown off to sea by a gale, he and his comrades rode the Kuroshio Current to Washington State — much to the astonishment of Dr. John McLoughlin. (Oregon Coast; 1830s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1404d.japanese-junks-blown-across-to-oregon.html)
Mislabeled wood alcohol killed 28 Portland hobos
January 03, 2024 14:00 - 10 minutes - 9.32 MBThe alcoholic derelicts of on Burnside Street knew they could count on denatured alcohol for a cheap-but-nasty buzz; it might make them sick, but it wouldn't kill them. But then, one day, it did. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1930s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1404c.poison-dehorn-killed-28-hobos.html)
Story of sinister video game is urban legend
January 02, 2024 14:00 - 6 minutes - 6.35 MBThe darksomely sinister story of the old console game, with its attendant Men In Black and swarms of zombie children, is a fun story to look back on; but its odds of being true are up there with tales of Bigfoot. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1980s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1701e.polybius-legendary-sinister-videogame-428.html)
Sara B. Wrenn interviews Bert Mendenhall about old Portland, and his father's experiences as an Oregon Trail pioneer
January 01, 2024 14:00 - 11 minutes - 10.7 MBOn May 15, 1937, WPA writer Sara B. Wrenn sat down with Bert Mendenhall for an oral-history interview, touching on Mendenhall's childhood memories in 1880s Portland as well as the stories told by his father, Rush Mendenhall, who crossed the continent on the Oregon Trail in 1847. (Source on Library of Congress Website: https://www.loc.gov/item/wpalh001987/ )
Did ‘Vortex I’ prevent riots in downtown Portland?
December 29, 2023 14:00 - 9 minutes - 8.39 MBOn that tense late-August weekend, tens of thousands of young people enjoyed themselves at McIver Park, while the much-dreaded riots failed to materialize. Was there a connection? Many voters thought so. (McIver Park, Clackamas County; 1970s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1406c.291.vortex-the-event.html)
McCall expected ‘Vortex I’ to cost him re-election
December 28, 2023 14:00 - 9 minutes - 8.63 MBWhen McCall green-lighted the plan to distract potential street rioters with a week-long music festival, he fully expected to lose his job for it — whether it worked or not. (Salem, Marion County; 1970s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1406b.290.vortex-part2-the-family.html)
Riot at PSU set the stage for ‘Governor’s Pot Party’
December 27, 2023 14:00 - 9 minutes - 8.43 MBTo Governor Tom McCall, it looked like Portland was about to explode, and there was nothing he could do to prevent it ... until two long-haired young people came to his chief of staff with a very unusual plan. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1970s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1406a.vortex-part1-psu-riot.html)
NASA’s ‘Moon Trees’ have roots in Oregon forest fire
December 26, 2023 14:00 - 8 minutes - 8.16 MBAstronaut Stuart Roosa had a special relationship with the U.S. Forest Service, and when it was his turn to go to the moon, he proposed a science experiment. You can see the results towering over Peavy Hall at Oregon State University today. (Cape Canaveral, Florida; 1970s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1405b.moon-trees-of-oregon.html)
Ardyth Kennely interviews Newt McDaniel about the ghost town of Ellendale (WPA oral history)
December 25, 2023 14:00 - 7 minutes - 6.58 MBIn late 1937 or early 1938, writer Ardyth Gibbs (known to literary history today as Ardyth Kennely, author of several bestsellers in the 1950s) sat down with pioneer Newton McDaniel to talk about some early Willamette Valley history concerning the ghost town of Ellendale, in Polk County. (https://www.loc.gov/item/wpalh001936/)
Childhood tree-planting memories for thousands
December 22, 2023 14:00 - 9 minutes - 8.62 MBFor decades after the Tillamook Burn, classes of schoolchildren were bused out to help replant. Today, thousands of Oregonians, on trips to the beach, can point to a thriving patch of forest and say, “We planted those trees.” (Tillamook, Yamhill, Washington county; 1950s, 1960s, 1970s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1408b.schoolkids-replant-tillamook.html)
Tillamook Burn ‘blew up’ with shocking speed
December 21, 2023 14:00 - 9 minutes - 9 MBQuick action by state forester Lynn Cronemiller prevented the devastating forest fire from claiming hundreds of lives when a furnace-stoking wind blew in from Eastern Oregon, flogging the fire toward the sea. (Washington, Yamhill, Tillamook County; 1930s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1408a.tillamook-burn-pt2-the-legacy.html)
Tillamook Burn sprang from loggers’ bad gamble
December 20, 2023 14:00 - 8 minutes - 7.61 MBA hard-pressed crew tried to snake just a few more logs out before quitting for the day, hoping nothing would go wrong in the tinder-dry forest. Unfortunately, something did. (Forest Grove, Washington County; 1930s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1407d.tillamook-burn-1933-outbreak.html)
War-games campaign blanketed Central Oregon
December 19, 2023 14:00 - 8 minutes - 7.36 MBTens of thousands of U.S. soldiers, shipped to the Beaver State for training, learned combat lessons that would save their lives and help them win the Second World War during the huge campaign simulation known as the Oregon Maneuver. (Statewide; 1940s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1408d.oregon-maneuver-ww2.html)
Reminiscences of Mrs. E.W. Wilson
December 18, 2023 14:00 - 26 minutes - 24.7 MBIn 1851, before Oregon was a state, a young schoolteacher named Elizabeth Millar stepped off a sternwheeler in Portland for the first time. These are her memories of that time, as recounted to her daughter, Mrs. J.T. Peters, 45 years later. In those 45 years, Miss Millar (now Mrs. Wilson) went on to become a very important person in frontier Oregon, the wife of a U.S. Congressman and Postmistress at The Dalles from 1884-1886. (For more details, see https://www.loc.gov/item/wpalh001971/)
Oregon’s ‘tiger king’ became Idaho’s problem
December 15, 2023 14:00 - 21 minutes - 19.6 MBON THE EVENING of Sept. 28, 1995, Woney and Laurie Peters, of Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, were driving back to their home behind the local elementary school when they noticed something wasn’t right. The first thing they noticed was the horses. They were confined in a corral in front of the house, next to the trampoline, which their teenage kids were playing on. The kids seemed fine — but the horses seemed terrified. They kept staring up at the hillside that ran along behind the house and the sc...