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Buster Keaton brought Hollywood to Cottage Grove (Part 1 of 2)
IF A COTTAGE Grove logger had been bonked on the head in January 1926, and woke up six months later, he would have scarcely recognized his home town. There was a whole new Main Street built way out e…
Published on 2 weeks, 1 day ago
Prohibition sting ended with a deadly gunfight
IF YOU LOOK UP Prohibition Agent Glenn H. Price on the “Fallen Agents” page at www.atf.gov, you’ll get a very brief account of his death: “Prohibition Agents Glenn H. Price and Grover Todd were attem…
Published on 2 weeks, 2 days ago
Town’s emergency wood money is still legal tender
IN EARLY FEBRUARY of 1933, the mayor and city council of North Bend had a big problem on their hands. It was, of course, the depths of the Great Depression — possibly the deepest of the depths. Forme…
Published on 2 weeks, 3 days ago
Bunny-massacre parties were big social events
Imagine, for a moment, that you’re passing through a little Harney County town when you see, in a used-car lot, a DMC DeLorean that someone has modified as a replica of the car from Back to the Futur…
Published on 2 weeks, 4 days ago
Corvallis man found cows make lousy boat engines
The “Genius of Corvallis” hoped his cattle-powered riverboat would give the upper-Willamette sternwheelers a run for their money; and so it did, so long as it didn't try to go upstream... (Corvallis,…
Published on 3 weeks ago
Alcoholic shipmate drank snake-preserving whiskey
Stranded for the winter on Sauvie Island, the members of Nathaniel Wyeth's trading post struggled to get enough to eat. But for some of them, the greater problem was finding something to drink. (Sauv…
Published on 3 weeks, 1 day ago
Schemers’ plans to exploit Multnomah Falls failed
Original owners of the falls tried for years to log it, but the steamship and railroad moguls were making a lot of money on excursion trips, so they blocked the scheme, preserving the falls for today…
Published on 3 weeks, 2 days ago
Shanghai tunnels mostly a myth...or are they?
In the glory days of Portland shanghaiing, sailors were 'helped back aboard ship' on the city streets; there was no need for a tunnel to sneak them down to the docks. But the tunnels under the saloon…
Published on 3 weeks, 3 days ago
Tarzan fans are grateful for gold miner’s failure
Had Edgar Rice Burroughs and his brothers been successful with their Snake River gold dredge, Ed likely would never have had the time or inspiration to start writing “John Carter of Mars,” “At the Ea…
Published on 3 weeks, 4 days ago
Riverboat party turned out to be shanghaiing trick
One fine day in October of 1891, a teenage boy named Aquilla Ernest Clark left the farm in Scappoose where he’d been working, headed for Portland. He was going to see the sights and maybe show himsel…
Published on 4 weeks ago