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Pixieland and Oregon's midcentury culture
Jerry and Lu Parks envisioned a “fairy-tale history of Oregon” in the form of an amusement park. What they created was a rich cultural artifact, and …
2 weeks, 4 days ago
‘Daredevil Al’ Fossett was Evel Knievel of the ’20s
The former logger tried to cash in on his knack for boat design and total lack of normal fear by paddling over waterfalls: Willamette Falls, Celilo F…
2 weeks, 5 days ago
West’s first female lawyer: A legal Mother Teresa?
The real Mary Leonard was probably someone who had given up “the good life” after realizing, during her time in jail, that the powerless women of her…
2 weeks, 6 days ago
Pioneering “lady lawyer” deserved a better legacy
Had Mary Leonard died in 1890, she'd be remembered as she really was — a brilliant orator and an inspiration to future Oregon women and attorneys. Bu…
3 weeks ago
Acquitted murder suspect became first ‘lady lawyer’
Many historians, eager to see in her the caricature of the nagging, garrulous fishwife and gold-digging black widow, have missed the real story of Ma…
3 weeks, 1 day ago
Fiery explosive shipwreck gave Boiler Bay its name
A MILE OR two north of the picturesque little Central Coast town of Depoe Bay, there’s a little unassuming wide spot at the side of Highway 101 where…
3 weeks, 4 days ago
Bob Straub stopped plan to put highway on the beach
State treasurer Straub was a regular visitor to the state park through which the highway department wished to route the main Oregon Coast arterial. H…
3 weeks, 5 days ago
Shanghaied in Astoria: A once-perilous port city
Desperate for men, shanghai artists once tried to kidnap the local Methodist minister. He turned out not to be as soft a target as they'd anticipated…
3 weeks, 6 days ago
Secretary imposed martial law on rowdy town
Don't be fooled: Fern Hobbs was a secretary in the “Secretary of Defense” sense of the word. A practicing attorney, she was the highest-paid woman in…
1 month ago
Legislators shut down Salem with a raging party
The six-week-long drunken party was thrown by the notoriously rascally Jonathan Bourne Jr. to keep the state Legislature from convening, so it couldn…
1 month ago