Lane County Historian
The Lane County Historical Society
Vol. XXII, No.1
Spring, 1977
LANE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Hallie Hills Huntington, President, 89239 Old Coburg Road, Eugene, Oregon 97401
Stuart Hurd, Membership Chairman, 90901 Coburg Road, Eugene, Oregon 97401
Pete Peterson, Editor, 92 West 19th Avenue, Eugene, Oregon 97401
Lane County Historian
Vol. XXII, No. 1
Spring, 1977
Correction: The last issue of the Historian was Incorrectly numbered. It should have read
Vol. XXI, No. 1.
Contents
Editorial: The R-G Indexing has (Finally) Begun, by Pete Peterson, Historian Editor
2
Parts of this report originally appeared in the May 28, 1977 issues of the Eugene Register-Guard as Roots."
Essay: Save the Bridges, by Rick Bella, illustrated by Larry Olson
Rick Bells
is
the county reporter for the Springfield News.
Larry Olson
6
is
the Lane
County Surveyor; he illustrates rural scenes and often reprints them for sale in the Pioneer Museum
Postscript: More on Flume Logging, painting by Ken Brauner
The New Zealander who Entered the Siuslaw, by Alfred Lomas
12
13
Alfred L. Lomsx is Professor Emeritus of Business Administrstion at the University of Oregon.
Interested in the history of Northwest industry, he has published The History of Oregon Pioneer
Woolen Mills (1941) and Later Woolen Mills in Oregon (1974).
The Old Springfield Airport, by Jan Brown, ifiustrated by Darryle Ram
16
Dsrryle Ram, a Eugenean for three months, hails from Phoenix and San Francisco where
he exhibited his art
He begins his Lane County freelance illustrating occupation with renderings
of the old Springfield Airport.
Jan Brown is a U of 0 journalism senior and a resident
of Eugene. She and her husband Larry (a commercial airlines pilot) are aviation enthusiasts
Mrs Brown also writes the History Notes section of the Historian
Century Orchard, by Lois Barton, cartography by Ryan Anderson
22
Lois Barton has lived on the old Jonathan and Polly Riggs Donation Land Claim for over 25 years.
She began collecting Spencer Butte history after her first conversations with Harry Taylor, who sold the
Riggs' DLC property to the Barton family. Her stories will be assembled into an anthology soon, and
she also plans to writes novel set in the Fox Hollow and Spencer Butte ares. Ryan Anderson, g eo g rap n y
instructor at Lane Community College, is a cartographer as well, preparing maps for professional journals
and commercial publications
Books, Etc., by Milt Madden
25
Milt Madden teaches American history at Lane Community College ann reviews publications for
the Historian on a regular basis. In this issue he treats the republication of Thomas J. Fsrnhsm's
Travels in the Great Western Prairies; Warren C. Price's The Eugene RegisterGuard; and the
Summer Youth Employment Program's Century Farms of Lane County.
Museum Notes, by Glenn Mason, Pioneer Museum Director
History News, by Jan Brown
Membership
Bequests
Yegetable and Fruit Preparations, by Leta BurreD
30
30
31
31
Back Cover
Lets Burrell selects pioneer recipes for each issue of the Historian.
Cover photo: Sam Steele and a line serviceman refuel an old Steerman at the McKenzie
Airstrip, 1951 (photo by Skyview Photos, reprinted courtesy of Milt Ruberg)
2
Editorial:
The R-G Indexing has (Finally) Begun
We can thank Alex Haley.
best-selling historical novel, "Roots,"
excited families to study geneslogy and
biologist can't find the main causes of
death in Eugene or the most prevalent
illnesses of the 1890's without reading
local history.
every newspaper from the decade.
His
The new historians are crowding the
libraries and museums. 'They're after facts
about their ancestors and their ancestors'
involvement in community events.
But so far they are unhappy researchers.
Many return home weak and without the
Up until May there wasn't any hope
for librarians or library users who wanted
to know about community businesses,
logging contracts, or railroads in Eugene.
but who didn't have the time to survey
slightest satisfaction for their time spent
every progenitor of the Register-Guard.
In May Eugene City Library
scanning years of microfilmed newspapers
in the library.
Librarians try to help them find
Director James Meeks learned that the
county commissioners had approved his
request for two librarian assistants to read
material is literally lost in a haystack of a
thousand newspaper pages and microfilm
frames of a century's worth of Eugene City
Guards, Morning Registers, and RegisterGuards. Even a marathon microfilm
reader spending days in front of the lighted
projection screens gets disgusted because
earliest Register-Guards. Money from the
Civilian Employment Training Act will be
used
information about families.
But the
its just a hunch that the newspaper of a
hundred years ago noted grandfather's
land sale and/or great grandmother's
covered wagon odyssey.
Not one of the 'yellowed Eugene
v spapers has been indexed.
Strangely enough, the University of
Oregon student newspaper is indexed from
its beginnings in 1896. But community
news is unsorted. You have to read for
hours to find that the first dentist
registered in Eugene in 1887, or that the
first hospital was founded in 1900--(and
that it was private). A history student or
and catalogue local material from the
"I get five or six out-of-state letters
(requesting historical data from newspapers) every month" in addition to the
hundred or so personal inquiries, says
Mrs. Helen Howard, assistant city librarian who wrote the proposal for the
CETA jobs. ". . .Everybody is looking for
his or her 'roots'. . . And if people give us
approximate dates for the material they're
after, we spend time looking through a
couple of weeks of (newspaper) microfilms," she says. "We make the attempt.
But we can't give too much time to it. And
I'm sure most people haven't requested
assistance because they know the library's
newspaper collection isn't catalogued."
The two librarian assistant jobs will be
federally funded. Mrs. Howard says the
LANE COUNTY HISTORIAN
project is planned for a period extending
through next April but the funding is only
firm through this September.
The people hired for the jobs will split
their time between the newspaper indexing
and the cataloguing of the Pioneer
Museum's large collection of donated
photographs for computerized crossreferencing.
The CETA proposal was a cooperative
effort by several librarians. None of the
libraries in the area has had the time or
personnel to do the job alone, although
some efforts at current referencing are
taking place now.
Barry Tobias at the Pioneer Museum
may be the one exception: On occasion he
has taken a scissors to very old copies of
local newspapers and clipped articles for
museum files.
He has the donor's
permission, of course, and has explained
the need for the seemingly reckless act.
"We have most of the local newspapers
1976 Index is 3/4 of an inch thick and
covers 219 pages. Local libraries own
copies of the LCC effort and according to
city librarian Helen Howard the material is
one of the most frequently used reference
works in the library.
But of course, it's recent history.
The CETA-funded librarian assistants
will begin with the earliest R-G antecedent
and work forward.
The idea pleases the Register-Guard's
own librarian, Maryjoy Rubaloff, because
the newspaper itself can't, and probably
won't ever, attempt to index retrospectively. The R-G does have clipping files
begun as early as 1946 but material before
that date is uncollected, let alone narrowly
catalogued for quick reference.
There's no place to turn for reports of
women's club events, county fair prize
winners, or arrests for public drunkenness
And that's the kind of
material that might fill-out a family
before 1946.
THE EUGENE DAILY GUARD
rJERMANS SIGN PEACE TREATY
ld0vE. (tIfllOX !cltIItp!s
on microfilm already, and a whole
newspaper by itself is useless in a library
file. It has to be catalogued to do people
any good. If someone wants information
about Coburg, I show them the Coburg
clipping file. It's often more complete than
reference books."
Tobias welcomes the full-time librarian
assistants to do the job completely and to
compile index cards the public can use.
So does Grace Smith, a retired librarian
who clips her Register-Guard at home
every night and indexes it at the public
library the next morning. Her efforts are
voluntary, and her scope is simply Eugene
and some elected county news.
What Miss Smith may chose to overlook
may be referenced by LCC librarians Don
Ownbey and Del Matheson who attempt to
index R-G stories dealing with the entire
Northwest. They've prepared yearly
compilations of story content since 1970
using over 1,000 topic headings. Their
p1
skeleton's profile.
That kind of cata-
loguing, quite frankly, takes a lot of time.
Richard Long, the U of 0 librarian who
indexed the Portland Oregonian for nine
years before the task was assumed by the
Library Association of Portland, chose only
material pertinent to Oregon and its
people. Yet he still spent an average of 30
minutes for each week-day paper, writing
topic headings and the nature of each story
on small slips of paper to be typed later on
index cards. Newspapers during the
legislative sessions took 40 to 50 minutes,
he reports, and the big week-end editions
consumed one hour each.
Long says it's about time the old
Register-Guards were given attention.
"It's a good thing--local news like that is
hard to come by. This will be important."
He thinks a sharp indexer can handle 10 to
15 average size newspapers per day.
The old issues vary in length and
regularity, so it's difficult to predict the
expanded eight pagers didn't have much
more news of local import then the very
first publications. So these first few--from
the 1860's to the turn of the century--may
go quickly.
The dailies will enlarge as the Morning
Register and the Guard merged into one
newspaper in 1930. And after the 1940's
the publication swelled.
Six months--or even one year--may not
be nearly enough time for this brave new
project. But no librarian in town will say
so; not one will disparage the noble idea;
all will hope for beneficial results.
After all, it took Alex Haley, the
bicentennial, and 110 years of newspaper
publishing to earn those two CETA
librarian assistants.
We, as Historical Society members,
must now pushpush the county commissioners, push the librarians, whomever we
length of time it will take the CETA
librarians. But these two people will have
a tougher task than the U of 0 or LCC
librariansthey'll have to satisfy genealo-
gists and historians and sleuths after
obituaries and even society tid-bits.
In fact, the people selected for the jobs
may be more historians then librarians,
says Mrs. Howard. And Del Matheson
thinks they "should be 200 years old and
have lived in Eugene every day of that 200
in order to catch all the historically
significant material."
To lessen fatigue in the daily reading
and sorting tasks, the new employees will
split their days between the newspaper
work and cataloguing old photographs at
the Pioneer Museum. The photos, donated
over the years by county residents and
friends of the museum, are not fully
identified and sorted, even though a
previous grand provided some money for
the job. The job was more involved than
expected.
The combination of chores may be
complementary since identifying the old
photographs will add to the librarians'
store of local historical impressions.
The earliest R-G antecedents were
weekly papers of four pages. Even the
mustto keep the funding constant until
those old newspapers are completely
catalogued. We urge you to use your
influence as taxpayers to continue this
worthwhile project: It's one federal project
that will benefit many people for many
years to come.
County History Class
"We're touching on everything from
Lane County's geography to its fine
arts," says Paul Maim, LCC's Social
Science Department chairman, of a
proposed class for fall and winter.
Workshop: Panorama of Lane
County will meet for three hours each
Tuesday night for two 10-week sessions,
during which experts from the county
will discuss county climate, native
Americans, agriculture, flora and
fauna, the history of the county's major
industries, its fine arts, and its
economics since its first settlements.
were established in the 1840's.
Maim asks Historical Society mem-
bers to contact him if we want to
participate or assist - especially
during one session planned for histories
of the county's communities.
LCC has special Senior Citizen rates.
LANE COUNTY HISTORIAN
The 90-foot Unity Bridge, two miles north of lowell, spans Big Fall Creek.
An Essay: Saving the Bridges
Written by Rick Bella
Illustrated by tarry Olson
"...the historical society of Lane County.
spare the old structure."
.
. has yet to raise a nickel or a noise to
Doug Bates, Eugene RegIster-Guard, AprIl 10, 1977
.Sometimes you have to feel sorry for Oregon. Well, maybe not sorry, but at least
cojicerned. For a part of the country with such a rich history, there is very little left
which can tell the story on its own.
Oregon's frail wooden structures could stand defiant against the relentless rain for just so
long before they had to give in. Turn of the century courthouses are, no longer able to house
the ever-growing collection of paperwork sired by a myriad of laws. And, being practical
people, the citizens of the Northwest just didn't have the time and money to spend on
monuments and statues--not when there were roads to be paved and bridges to be built. So
the sad truth is that there just isn't much left to show us what life was like before the coming
of McDonald's Golden Arches.
What few living relics of an earlier age remain and with us have fostered a small, but
strong following which is trying to protect us from encroachment by Madison Avenue and
Disneyland.
LANE COUNTY HISTORI-AN
There may be
more covered
bridges within
a 50 mile radius
of Eugene than
in
any
other
similar spot in
the world.
When most people think of a covered bridge, they conjure
up pastoral scenes of rural Vermont with stone walls
criss-crossing the hardwood forests in their autumnal glow.
But they don't realize that there are more covered bridges in
the western United States than the East. In fact, there may
be more covered bridges within a 50-mile radius of Eugene
than in any other similarly sized spot in the world.
The
covered bridge is oursand we are in danger of losing it if we
forget how it fit into our history.
Nobody is sure how the custom developed, but covering
bridges made sense in an age when wooden beams were the
rulerather than the exception. It was easier to rebuild the
roof and siding of a bridge when the wind and rain had worn
them thin than to try to relace the massive timbers which
actually support the span. It just would not have seemed
right to the self-reliant, pragmatic people of the Northwest
not to protect what they had built and not to plan for the
future.
First of all, the faithful have to convince the rest of the
population that those things around us cannot be replaced.
The old saying goes: "You can't see the forest for the
trees" and we just may be in danger of missing the value in
what we take for granted and what we accept as part of our
surroundings.
It is for that very reason that covered bridges have been
neglected as a child would shun an aging distant uncle who
wears socks that don't match.
But when that child grows to maturity, he often realizes
that his uncle has many lessons to offer and many stories to
tell which are more than just curiosities.
There is something about a covered bridge which seems to
take us by the hand and lead us back into the pastnot
quite back to the time of creaking, lurching wagon trains, but
back to a slower pace of life and the warmth which comes
from the pride of accomplishment. It seems to say hard work
has produced something which will survive the harsh
elements for a long time.
Lowell Bridge is a famili-
ar bridge to those who
travel Highway 58 to the
little town of Lowell. When
the Dexter Dam and Reser-
voir wete built in 1953,
engineers preserved the
bridge by raising it six feet.
It has a long span of 165
feet across the middle fork
of the Willamette River. It
was built in 1945, but may
be brought down in this
decade.
7
Bridge construction
boomed by 1914.
The Howe truss de-
sign made them
easy to build, and
sturdy.
And besides that, it was expensive to transport steel from
the East and the state's budding highway system seemed to
gobble up most of the available concrete as soon as it could be
produced. The covered bridge was built mostly by the frugal
county engineers trying to make the best use of the available
resources.
And too, it was generally easier to drive cattle and skittish
horses across a bridge when they couldn't see that they were
walking on timbers high above a rushing river or stream.
But no matter what the main reason was, the Oregon State
Highway Department gave its endorsement to the bridges in
1914 and a flurry of construction followed in the period after
the Great War.
of the covered bridges still standing in eastern Lane
County were built using the "Howe" truss suspension
system. Invented in 1844 by an obscure engineer named
Howe the system provided a relatively cheap and simple
support structure which had the strength of far more
complicated construction methods. After a period when
eastern bridge builders experimented with the Howe truss,
their western cousins took it to heart and used it, almost
exclusively, throughout Oregon.
After you wade through the quaint and curious names
hich engineers gave to the various parts of the bridge, the
strength of the Howe system shines through: All the lumber
used in the construction was cut to either 90 or 45 degree
angles, cuts which even a neophyte carpenter could master.
In addition, the steel tie rods, which grip the upper and lower
parts of the bridge, lent more strength than the most
determined engineers could coax out of Douglas fir.
But even the engineers, as pleased as they surely were with
their creations, could never have coaxed as many uses out of
the covered bridge as did the resourceful country folk who
crossed them every day.
Although early Lane County records are cloudy, there are
accounts which suggest that covered bridges were called
"kissing bridges" in recognition of the privacy they afforded
to young lovers. Evangelists held revival meetings under the
"The Howe truss can be
figured out by almost any
carpenter. . . all its angle
blocks are patterned the
same size in an early
example of the standardization that would have
pleased Henry Ford. The
metal rods are secured to
the top and bottom faces of
the chords by means of nuts
and washers- These can be
th
(from Kramer
Adams, Covered Bridges of
tightened at any time to
the West, Howell-North,
remove the sagging signs
of old age.
1963)
LANE COUNTY HISTORIAN
Logging trucks
have worn the
bridges
weak.
Now what? What
will happen to
the old uncles?
bridge's pitched roof while the side panels were plastered
with circus posters and patent medicine advertisements.
And, of course, fishermen drenched by a sudden downpour
huddled for warmth while they tried to beat the fates into
submission with their angry curses--under the bridge.
But these are not entirely uses of the past. People still use
our covered bridges for the same thingsor they want to.
When the Lane County Department of Transportation
recently announced that the 165-foot Lowell Bridge, built in
1945. would soon have to be replaced, over 500 people signed
petitions imploring the powers that be to either save or
replace their landmark. County officials then held a public
hearing in Lowell to find out what might strike the fine
balance between spiraling costs and a growing concern for a
vanishing heritage. But there was no simple answer and two
more hearings followed.
The consensus, however, seemed to be that the bridges had
a built-in self-destruction clause: They were built out of wood
because of the abundance of lumber in the area, but the
lumber industry would be the cause of their downfall. As odd
as that seemed, nobody could tell the lumber industrythe
lifeblood of Lane County's economythat their heavier
logging truck loads were destroying the bridges. But that's
exactly what is happening.
Lowell Bridge, says Al Driver, director of the
The
Department of Transportation, has had numerous
repairs in the last few years to keep up with the increased
payloads trucked across it every day. And even though he
admits that he likes the bridge, he says there just wasn't any
way to shore it up to handle the weight.
The Oregon Bridge Engineering Co. of Springfield, one of
the few firms which specialize in bridge design, recently
estimated the cost of replacing the Lowell Bridge with a
concrete bridge at $274,000. Lou Pierce, chief design
engineer, says the cost of an entirely wooden Howe truss
The Ernest Bridge has
provided a picturesque
crossing for Mabel resi-
dents for 39 years. It is one
of the shortest covered
bridges in the area, stretching only 75 feet across the
Mohawk River. It also
became one of Lane Coun-
ty's movie stars when it
provided a backdrop for the
filming of "Shenandoah."
Wildcat Bridge, six miles
west of Walton on Highway
126, was built in 1928 with
a span of 75 feet over
Wildcat Creek near the
point where it converges
with the Siuslaw River.
bridge would be "astronomical." So, to placate all involved,
the Department of Transportation asked Oregon Bridge to
design a decorative cover to place over the concrete span to
give us a reminder of an era rapidly slipping from our
memories. But the $110,000 cover will only make the bridge a
We must investi-
gate funding
sources to preserve the bridges.
hybrid and not a traditional covered bridge.
So much for that.
John Goodson, the county's transportation planning
engineer, says more hearings will be held when other bridges
are declared unsafe. But the public must show an interest in
them and tell the county they are concerned about the
choicesbefore they are water under the proverbial bridge.
The chance to speak might be coming up soon, Goodson
says. The Wendling Bridge is scheduled for replacement
during the 1978-79 fiscal year and the Goodpasture Bridge is
scheduled to come down in 1979-80. Judging from what the
county commissioners said during the hearings on the Lowell
Bridge, it seems that they want people to be ready to put their
money where their mouths are. The current plan for the
The Horse Creek Bridge,
a 105-foot span about one
and one-half miles south of
the town of McKenzie
Bridge, has also been bypassed. County engineers
decided that 30 years was a
good, rewarding life for a
bridge nearby in 1968. The
old bridge had formerly led
a path to the Foley Hot
Spings, famous health resort at the terminus of the
McKenzie stage route.
LANE COUNTY HISTORIAN
Swinglog Bridge (or Bat-
tle Creek Bridge) over
Coyote Creek was built in
1922 with a span of 60 feet.
It is two and one-half miles
southeast of Crow.
Lowell Bridge calls for building a cover with donations from
private citizens. If the public wants to save the Wendling and
Goodpasture Bridges, it would be a good idea to raise funds
for the fray and to show that there is ready money in the
community which will pick up a good partif not allof the
tab.
the county engineers say they don't like to bypass
But
the bridges if at all possible. If the bridges sit dormant,
they may rapidly deteriorate as they are no longer eligible for
state highway funds. They no longer get the care or ittention.
necessary and often become a liability soon after retirement.
But this is one option and bridge buffs should find out what
historical preservation grants are available to increase the
longevity of the bypassed spans. Armed with such practical
knowledge, it would take considerably less convincing when
the county commissioners ask for the nuts and bolts of a
bypass proposal.
Some of the engineers will admit that, for sentimental
reasons, they don't like to by-pass the proud bridges. And
it's easy to see their point. You wouldn't want to retire a
bridge of aging grace any more than you would judge your
aging uncle by his mismatched socks.
The uncle and the bridge can tell us marvelous stories
about the past.
The Goodpasture Bridge
receives a good deal of
traffic in the Vida area as
drivers cross the McKen-
zie. Built in 1938, the
bridge is 165 feet long and
sports 10 slatted windows
on each side which overlook
the river. Probably the
most photographed bridge
in eastern Lane County, it
was named after the Goodpasture family which
owned the ranch at its far
side.
Postscript
!111! L
!Ml
Still, he was delighted to see the Roy
When local artist Ken Brauner read
Jerold Williams' "The Late, Great Mt.
Bauguess, Bob Shaffler, and Jerold
June Flume Company" in the Winter, 1976
issue of the Historian, he shook his head in
amazement, irony, and pleasure.
"When I was painting my picture of the
Williams photos reproduced, nevertheless.
His final painting of the Mt. June Hum
now hangs in the lobby of Guistina
flume I was inquiring all over the county
for information and photographs of the
the same painting of the flume are
flume in its prime." He said he had to
reconstruct the way it looked at its best in
the 1920's and 1930's so that when he
painted its likeness on canvas the
rendering would be near perfect in detail.
But his research turned up less than he had
hoped for.
Brothers Lumber Company on Second and
Garfield Streets, Eugene. Notecards with
available in the Pioneer Museum.
The artist now asks if readers know of
the whereabouts of pictures of the old flour
mill in Jasper (destroyed in the 1964 flood),
which is the subject of his current painting
project.
Ken Brauner's address is
1545 Russet Drive, Eugene.
LANE COUNTY HISTORIAN
Exactly one hundred years ago this
July, George Duncan, a retired New
Zealand businessman and former
government official, sailed into the
Siuslaw River and built a cannery and
sawmill near what is now the town of
Florence. The project lasted only two
years before disaster hit the Duncan
family. But the enterprise demonstrated that Florence was an accessible
West Coast port.
The New Zealander Who Entered
The Siuslaw
by Alfred L. Lomax
George Duncan and his family had come to San Francisco to make money.
Records don't explain what his original plans might have been, but his
meeting with Robert D. Hume, a Rogue River entrepreneur later known as
"The Salmon King of Oregon," may have had something to do with his
pursuit of a salmon-canning enterprise on the Oregon coast.
13
Hume owned a 98-foot twinscrew (double propeller) boat. Ironically it was
named the Alex Duncan, although the name had nothing to do with George
Duncan. The boat's seven-foot draft gave it clearance in shallow water to
permit its entry over the Rogue River bar to Hume's cannery. Hume, no
doubt, explained to Mr. Duncan how he canned salmon from the river and
shipped it on the Alex Duncan to the San Francisco international port, and
how he could then bring back supplies on the return trip.
We don't know the nature of the dialogue between Duncan and Hume, but
we know from a later newspaper serial which Hume wrote (in the 1904-05
Gold Beach Gazette-Wedderburn Radium) that the New Zealand businessman
chartered Hume's boat.
Duncan planned to engage in much the same
enterprise as Hume, but on the Siuslaw.
Hume's account says the maiden
cargo was huge, taking animals
"equal to Noah," as well as "sawmill machinery, machinery for a
cannery, a tin shop, a blacksmith
which later resulted in their marriage
in December of that year.)
The visit concluded, the voyage
continued and the Alex Duncan
crossed the turbulent Siuslaw bar on
shop, and material of every kind for
their use.''
July 6, 1877, the first ocean-going
vessel to enter that stream. With
The chartered vessel then "sailed"
north, carrying this mysterious cargo,
encounter with the south sandspit,
the salmon king Robert Hume, a
Captain James Carrol who piloted the
craft, Mr. and Mrs. Duncan and
their three daughters and four sons,
and perhaps a crew, we're not sure.
One wonders at this point why the
New Zealander Duncan chose to risk
his capital investment in the Oregon
coast wilderness on the Siuslaw
River--a stream of which shipmasters
were admittedly ignorant. Even
Hume, the experienced cannery oper-
ator, was astonished at the New
Zealander's firm determination to
carry the unusual project to completion.
The voyage from San Francisco
was gladly interrupted by a port call
to the Rogue River--sailing was
unpleasant for the seasick family.
But recovery was quick as the boat
anchored in the quiet waters of the
river and the family was invited to
dance and party in Hume's cannery
building in celebration of the Fourth
of July.
Hume invited Mary,
Duncan's oldest daughter, to be his
guest.
(Here a romance began
between Hume 32, and Mary 20,
that act Siuslaw's isolation was
After a minor
broken forever.
the Alex Duncan moved cautiously up
stream piloted by Captain James
Carrol, and moored at a point on the
north shore about where the present
Coast Guard station is now located.
First overside was the family
There amid the rhododendrons, salalberries, and scrub pine,
organ.
the wilderness silence was broken by
young voices singing hymns of
thanksgiving and rejoicing in their
safe arrival in their new homeland.
Squealing pigs, squawking chickens,
a mooing cow, and the joyful barking
of the dog, added an inharmonious
obligato to the human chorus.
Umbrellas had thoughtfully been
provided against the western Oregon
rain, and walking sticks for strolling
on the hard sand beach. Hume's
newspaper account said the Duncans
were disappointed, however, to find
their house unfinished; they lived
aboard ship until they could move in,
Hume says, but he does not give
details as to who built the house, or
where the lumber had came from.
LANE COUNTY HISTORIAN
Before summer's end both a cannery and a sawmill were in operation
on the Siuslaw. Again, Hume
doesn't say where the structural
materials came from.
Perhaps some
lumber from storm-tossed sailing
Francisco buyers would not take any
cans that were not red, although this
peculiarity in marketing is unexplained.
Operations continued for a year.
But sand, carried by the constant
ships en route to San Francisco from
the Columbia River or Puget Sound
was picked up on the beach; maybe
northwest winds, eventually stopped the
wagon on the only highway existant-the hardsand beach.
Substantiation of Duncan's activities is found in a report by the editor
discouraged.
lumber from a nearby Gardiner,
Oregon mill was transported by
of the Coos Bay News (Marshfield)
who visited the Siuslaw area out of
sheer curiosity in October of 1877.
He found both the cannery and
sawmill working. He took H. H.
Barrett's three-horse stage from
Gardiner to Glenada across the river
from the settlement informally called
Osceo la--later
Florence--and
noted
that Indian laborers were employed.
(It is also recorded that Frank
Knowles, an early settler, sawed
boards for Duncan and that Mrs.
Knowles picked berries that Duncan
canned for her.)
The editor also
noted that he was entertained by the
Duncans, so it can be assumed that
the house was finished by that time.
One speculates at this point how
Duncan assembled the machinery for
his operations.
Hume must have
helped him with the cannery, its
cooking pots and steam lines. As for
the sawmill--who rigged the saw
carriage, mounted the saw, etc?
In his newspaper biography Hume
lists the equipment necessary to
operate a salmon cannery in the
It was all hand labor and
1860's.
included the following items: Hammers, shears, clamps, a roller to form
the cylinders, cast iron pot for
cooking, soldering irons and solder.
There was a 50 per cent loss after
cooking.
The marketable cans were
painted with a mixture of red lead,
turpentine and linseed oil.
San
operation. It simply clogged the mechanical processes.
Duncan was crestfallen, completely
He entered business with Robert
Hume, now his daughter's father-inlaw, in a cannery at Flavel, Oregon,
a village near the mouth of the
Columbia River.
The next year, 1879, Duncan
returned to the Siuslaw and reopened
his sawmill.
It had been in opera-
tion but a short while when his
clothing caught in the machinery and
he was fatally injured.
Not long
thereafter his 14-year-old son died of
an accidental gunshot wound. The
bodies were shipped back to New
Zealand, and the family followed.
The S.S. Alex Duncan continued in
Hume's service to California and
Pacific Northwest ports until it was
sold to the Pacific Coast Steamship
Company which rebuilt it in 1883 to
new dimension&
The Alex Duncan was withdrawn
from service in 1902, after 27 years
of hauling cargoes of coast supplies
and trading products.
Duncan's trading may or may not
have succeeded--we simply have no
records. Neither do we know how
much his two-year enterprise influenced the growth and development of
little Osceola into present-day Florence. But we do know that the Alex
Duncan continued to ply the Pacific
Coast waters from Nanaimo, British
Columbia to San Francisco, including
calls at Port Townsend, Seattle,
Grays Harbor, and at Florence. The
Siuslaw could be entered. The word
was passed. Florence had become a Pacific
port.
Written by Jan Brown
Illustrated by Darryl Ram
It was past midnight on a
moonless February night. The
young man stood huddled against
the chill rig wind, straining to hear
the sound of the Stearman's engine.
Then a faint purr, barely audible even to
his trained ear, triggered a surge of adrene-
un. He waited. When the purr became a
roar, he lit the torch and sprinted down the
uneven gravel strip touching off the crude run-
way lights - kerosene-filled smudge pots that
marked the runway at 300 foot intervals. The pilot
guided the linen-covered craft down between the two
narrow rows of lights. He braked hard as the wooden
propeller slowed almost to a stop. Then with a little throt-
tle, he urged it to taxi. The Stearman responded with
a
shudder and hobbled toward the hangar.
The pilot was either Larry Wojcik or Sam Steele, or it
could have been young Milt Ruberg, the aviation enthusiast
who had just purchased the financially-troubled Springfield
Airport. It could have been any number of local pilots
enamored with the possibilities opening up at tiny airports all
over Oregon - in dirt fields or on gravel runways. The windsock was full. The time seemed right for an airport and flying
service in Springfield.
It was 1948, just two years after the age of aviation had
dawned in Springfield with the opening of a private airport
on the outskirts of town. It was the same year that the
Weyerhauser Company announced pians to build a large
pulp mill east of the airport.
Milt Ruberg sensed that aviation and the City of Springfield would grow and prosper in the next two decades. He
and his family had sold their previous home to buy the airport and begin the McKenzie Flying Service. Their new home
consisted of a small office, one hangar/shop combination
with living quarters attached, and the 1,600 foot dirt runway
and a few acres of open land.
On Sundays
Ruberg's group
flew their Aeronca
Champs, J-3 Cubs,
Steannans, and
PT-19's to the
coast for a picnic
Ruberg had taught flight instructors for the Army Air Force during World War II. He came to this area to operate a grocery business.
But the yearning to pass on the thrill of that first airplane ride and
to share the freedom and fulfillment he found in flying was still
with him. Eventually he landed a part-time job at the airport and
from that point, flying again became his primary occupation.
From this humble beginning, Springfield Airport grew to be the
second largest in the state, with only Troutdale logging more daily
traffic. Even more impressive was its status as the third largest flight
school in the nation during the 1950's.
It was a place to discuss the finer points of flying or just catch up
on local gossip. You could stop in for a cup of coffee or bring the
family and a picnic basket, spread a blanket and spend the day. But
flying was the main attraction and often on Sundays more than 15
planes would leave in a group (traveling in Aeronca Champs, J-3
Cubs, Stearmans, Ryans, and PT-19's) for a picnic on the beach or
an air show up the valley. Flying couples, kids and dogs would descend at a pre-planned destination and spend the day sharing fried
chicken, friendship and flying stories.
"K" (Mrs. Freeman) Day, who flew to Springfield from New
England with her bridegroom when they were both in their 60's,
wrote to her relative with overflowing enthusiasm of the Sunday
"wing-dings" and of the people who considered the airport their
second home.
Ruberg's contagious enthusiasm spread to the flight instructors
who worked for him His zeal was passed on to the multitude of students who took up the challenge of learning to fly when getting a
private license was still front page news in Springfield - especially
for a woman.
Kay Wojcik, the first woman to solo at Springfield, took her first
airplane ride in 1929. Once, as a very young girl, she had climbed into
the open cockpit without a moment's hesitation when a barnstormer
landed in her father's Washington wheatfield offering rides. "I can
remember wanting to fly more than anything else - I can't really
describe the feeling .
But it wasn't until 20 years later, when she had children of her
own, that Kay fulfilled her childhood dream.
Kay learned to fly at the McKenzie Flying Service under the instruction of Hugh Lackey, then perfected her piloting with her husband Larry. and Sam Steele of the Steele Air, Incorporated, crop dusting service. Steele Air fought the budworm in New Brunswick,
sprayed crops in Ontario and dusted cotton in Arizona. Kay flew
parts and supplies to the operation sites while the two others carried
out the dusting business, Her menior, Hugh Lackey, later became
one of their pilots, swooping and climbing the breezy Stearmans
which had been modified for this high performance flying style.
Eldin Olin, a timber cruiser who also became an accomplished
pilot under Lackey's instruction, tells of the day when he and Lackey
strapped on parachutes, carefully buckling the harness before they
climbed into a tandem-seat, open-cockpit Ryan for some adventuresome acrobatic maneuvers. Olin, in front, signalled Lackey he was
ready to "go" - but immediately there was a furious pounding on
the fuselage. A frustrated Hugh Lackey, in the process of strapping
on the parachute, had forgotten to unfasten his seat belt!
In 1952 Lackey traded his goggled helmet and leather jacket for
the uniform and cap of Pan American Airlines. Today, he lives in
Ontario and is a 747 captain with that same company. Many pilots
who began their flight training in Springfield went on to careers in
aviation: Ralph McGinnis is assistant administrator of Oregon's aero-
nautical division; Ron Byers became the first department head of
Lane Community College's flight school and more than 30 of those
pilots are now flying for major airlines.
Having established a successful flight school, Ruberg was granted
the contract to train University of Oregon ROTC pilots in 1958.
Kay Wojcik was
the first woman
to solo
LANE COUNTY HISTORIAN
marred
Photo courtesy of Larry WOjcik
Starting with 50 young men, the peak enrollment at McKenzie's flight
school pushed to 250 students.
With the increased number of student pilots and the rapid rise in air
traffic, McKenzie intensified its emphasis on safety. As a result, its
safety record is one of the best; only one fatality and few injuries in
the years it served the flying public.
The one tatality occurred in 1960 when Lee Dejean, considered
the top aircraft mechanic in the Northwest, crashed on takeoff while
attempting to test fly a plane he had re-assembled. The Federal Aviation Agency and the Civil Aeronautics Board investigated the acci-
dent and determined that the plane's controls had been reversed.
The mechanic/pilot had diligently followed instructions printed in a
maintenance manual - but the manual was in error. De Jean was
known for his ability to rebuild airplanes and convert them for larger
engines. He operated the aircraft maintenance shop at the airport
until the time of his death.
The airport improvements were keeping pace with its growth and
by the early 1960's it boasted a 2,000 foot paved runway, a green
and white rotating beacon which guided pilots at night (the vintage
post-war smudge pots were replaced by official runway lights), and several
large hangars and restaurants The facility now took up more than 40
acres.
LANE COUNTY HISTORIAN
Local pilots spent many hours in search and rescue. They flew
fire patrol, spotting forest fires when they were only a puff of smoke.
Surveying flood damage was another mission. Once, even local
wildlife benefited when Ruberg and "the boys" made a hay drop to
Lane County's starving wildlife during a particularly harsh winter.
For many years, McKenzie sponsored an annual air show featuring airplane rides at two-cents per passenger-pound. In 1967, Chief
Pilot Robert Hill estimated the rides had attracted "9 tons of people
in the past years." At times more than 100 people stood in line for
this event. Guests were invited to bring their picnic lunch and spend
the day observing the biggest aerial event in the Willamette Valley
- including skydivers, helicopters and aerobatics.
Growth during this time was not confined to the airport.
The community was also sprawling. The once small town had
grown to a city of several thousand. Shopping centers, apartments
and houses were closing in the airport.
But the growth that might have insured the airport's future and
Springfield's reputation as an aviation center, eventually sealed its
doom. In 1967, a bond issue which would have provided public
funds for the airport was defeated by a decisive 4 to 1 margin. It was
too close to town now, the citizens felt; it was unsafe; children
sometimes rode bikes on the runway; and the skydivers could be a
nuisance.
Ruberg, heartbroken because of the publics refusal to support a
facility he felt offered so much, knew he couldnt operate the airport
indefinitely without public support. He began looking for a new location and in 1971 McKenzie Flying Service moved to Mahion Sweet
Airport. Ruberg took the name and some of the employees from
Springfield. but he recalls with regret that he was never able to recapture the feeling of comradeship that encompassed the flying enthusiasts from the earlier days.
The age of aviation that had dawned with such enthusiasm and
expectation quietly slipped out of Springfield. The tattered hangar
windsock and a dead neon sign spelling Airport Restaurant remind
the casual passerby that there was once an airport here. But the
r P.Pt
The community
didn't want the
airport. .Ruberg
was heartbroken
unique band of people whose lives are intertwined with memories of
goggled helmets and fly-ins on the beach need no reminder but the
sound of an airplane. .passing over Springfield.
21
Orville Phelps wasn't the first to settle
there. Others had claimed land on Spencer
Butte two decades before him. But every
springlike this spring 100 years after
Orville Phelps arrivedfruit trees on the
slopes of the big butte mark out his claim and
the site of his nursery.
A Century Orchard
In the "Brevities" section of the
Eugene City Guard of November 7,
1891. choice dried apples were selling
for six cents per pound, peaches and
plums were at eight cents. Phelps'
orchard would havc been mature and
counted in this report.
In December the City Guard carried
the story that 100,000 fruit trees had
bee:i planted within a six-mile radius
of Eugene.
Incidently, the Portland Market
Report listed other 1891 groceries-such as sugar at 4 2/3 to 5 1/2 cents
per pound, eggs at 20 cents per dozen,
and coffee at 21 1/4 to 25 cents per
pound!
by Lois Barton
Cartography by Ryan Anderson
One hundred years ago, in the spring of 1877, Orville Phelps, native of New York, an
unmarried man of 54, built a 16 x 32 foot log house just below the road on the west slope of
Spencer B'jtte. A week later he filed a Declaratory Statement at the Roseburg Land Office
announcing his intention of homesteading 158.77 acres.
His cabin view was a panorama of open rolling hills, while to the east he saw the
sharply rising summit of the butte. And evening light revealed the ribbon of Spencer
Creek winding off to the west.
Close-set clusters of overgrown, scraggly fruit trees now mark the site of his nursery
which did business on Spencer Butte nearly a century ago. Seedling apples, pears and
plums, spread by the wildlife, bloom all over the butte each spring, and local residents
and park visitors harvest hundreds of pounds of fruit each fall, much of it from the
roadsides. The homestead certificate assigns the land to Orville Phelps, his heirs and
assigns, forever. Dd he ever guess the far-ranging heritage he bequeathed to man and
beast?
LANE COUNTY HISTORIAN
Records on this homestead (final certificate #2758, dated 11-3-1891) note that the
claim was within the boundary of Oregon
and California Railroad, but Phelps' claim
was uncontested by the railroad. A.J.
residence on the 17th day of May, 1877.
Present occupied house was built last year
(1899). I have 2 log house 16 x 32 & 14 x
32, & box barn, fencing and orchard, value
$500 to $600. I am unmarried. I have
August 15, 1867. But for an unexplained
reason that action was cancelled March 13,
1873, leaving a clear title to Mr. Phelps.
away from my house but one night since
1877." In answer to the question, "How
much of the land have you cultivated...?"
he answered, "About 15 acres, have raised
crops every season since 1878."
Chichester had filed on the same land
On October 28, 1899 Mr. Phelps, then 76
years old, sold his homestead to Rebecca
A. Porter for $1,000. The property then
changed hands seven times in the next 30
years. In the late thirties a broker, Robert
Morse, sold a few acres to Eugene as part
of the Spencer Butte Park. The parking lot
is now on that acreage. The balance of the
property went to Emery and Mildred
Pruett who still live within a few yards of
the site of the first log cabin. The Pruetts
resided there continuously, have been
Barzilia C. Dunn and Keeler Farrington
appeared as witnesses when Phelps went
to prove up the claim.
They both
mentioned in their written testimony that
"it is mostly open rolling land, some
timber, a good young orchard", and Mr.
Farrington refers to a "nursery".
tell me their deed records that Orville
Phelps filed for water rights on his land.
Nick Anton owned the homestead during
the late twenties, and the deed books at the
Court House record one sale of 75 cords of
Phelps Homestead
firewood from the acreage during his
:1.
ownership.
Lester Swaggart, who grew up in the
Spencer Butte area, reported the following
DS
incident about old Mr. Phelps. which he
had from his mother: 'When my mother,
Luella Toll, was a girl about twelve or
oJs
SEC 19
GL
SEC
fourteen years old she knew a school
teacher, I think her name was Sadie Bonn.
Anyway the teacher kinda took pity on the
old gentleman who ran the nursery.
"He was a bachelor, and so she made
him a cake. As a result he got quite
infatuated with her and she couldn't hardly
get away from him.
o
S!e V Ige1 968
Cartography by Ryan Anderson
"He was trying to court her and she
didn't want to have anything to do with him
in that respect."
When our family moved to the Spencer
On the Homestead Proof Form is his own
description of the Phelps homestead: "It is
rolling hill land, some timber, good grazing
or fruit land, some good farm land. It is
Butte area in 1952 an old-timer, Harry
Taylor, pointed out the overgrown nursery
stock to us. One of the earliest references
appeared in the "Brevities" section of the
more valuable for agriculture than any-
Eugene City Guard dated November 1,
1890, carried this notice: "Go to Orville
December 18, 1890, tells us his "First
Phelps Spencer Butte Nursery for 3-yr-old
thing else.''
The same form, filed
house was built in 1877 and I established
apple, pear, cherry trees, etc."
As
on
UI
Train
Journal
TRAYUS
L4
ns;Lh. ItALE4LS
Travels in the Great Western
Prairies by Thomas J. Farnham
1839 [NY] Reprinted by Rodney
R. McCallum, Bracken Hill
Press, Monroe, Ore., 108 pages.
Paperback. $7.59.
A continuing problem of the historian
is that of locating out-of-print materials.
A happy solution is the reprint. Travels
In the Great Western Prairies, written by
Thomas J. Farnham and originally published in 1843, is an example of such
material. It has been reprinted by
Rodney R. McCaIlum of Monroe, Oregon.
Travels, a valuable primary sourch
because it recorded one of the earliest
thumbnail report on over 30 Indian tribes,
wagon train efforts. Until now it could be
guide to Oregon.
found only in the hard-to-find, multivolume set of Early Western Travels
and Chapter Nine, which is a traveler's
Mr. Farnham, with an initial party of
16 people, set out for the Oregon
edited by Reuben Thwaites (Cleveland,
1906). This early anthology can be found
Territory in 1839. Leaving Independence,
Missouri, the normal departure point for
Community College libraries.
Several prominent historians, including
tens of thousands of subsequent Oregon
travelers, they journeyed to Bent's Fort
in southeastern Colorado and then evidently traversed the Rocky Mountains
at the University of Oregon or Lane
Bernard DeVoto and David Lavender
refer to Farnham in their books. This
nine-chapter work is a curious mixture of
a history (consciously written as such)
and a daily journal. An introduction
traces in detail the backgrounds of the
Oregon Territory. The text is in double
columns with rather small type and has a
soft cover--the size reminds me of the
current popular news magazines.
Some
of the chapters are decidedly instruc.
tional, e.g. Chapter Three, which gives a
through Middle Park, Colorado, emerging
on what was to be the Oregon Trail at
Beer Springs near the Wyoming-Utah
border. From this point the company
traveled what will be the Oregon Trail,
arriving the Willamette Valley in October,
1839.
Stylistically, Mr. Farnham's prose
is a pleasure to read, 19th century syntax
and all. At times his words approach
poetry.
On hunting elk:
In this exigency a few balls
were sent whistling after
them, but they soon slept in
the earth, instead of the
panting hearts they were
designed to render pulseless;
and we returned to our lonely
and hungry march. [p. 10]
On mosquitoes:
A swarm of the most gigantic
and persevering musquitoes
[sic] that ever gathered
tribute from human kind,
lighted on us and demanded
blood. [p. 12]
The dawn on an Oregon sky,
the bright blue embankment of
mountains over which the
great day-star raised his
glowing rim . . [p. 75]
.
the expiring groan of the
world [p. 19]
the lords of the quiver"
[Indians] [p. 34]
a mouth that laughed from
ear to ear" [p. 37]
cold beams [of the moon]
harmonized well with the
chilling of the mountains" [p. 73]
an aged knight of the order
of horns" [buffalo] [p. 48]
the shining apex of brown
barrenness" [p. 81]
His descriptions alone are worth the
price of the book. Among the best are:
How to preserve fish (p. 84; the Columbia
cascades (p. 85); a prairie storm (p. 10);
butchering a buffalo (p. 15); of Bent's
Fort (p. 51); and of Fort Boisais (Boise)
(p. 73).
Evidently the exciting world of traveler-
explorer was not without its monotony
and the reader is jolted from the
On nature:
repetition of daily journal entries by a
brief foray into conversational speech.
The green grass grew thickly
all around; the moon poured
her bright beams through the
frosty air on the slumbering
hights [sic]; in the deep
pine-clad vales, burned dimly
the Indian fires; from
mountain to mountain
sounded the deep bass of a
thousand cascades. [p. 74]
It is difficult kindling this wet
bark. Joseph, sing a song!
find a hollow tree! get some
dry leaves! that horse is
making into the forest! better tie him to a bough!
that's it: Joseph! that's a
youthful blaze! give it
strength! feed it oxygen! it
qrows! (p. 51)
I was amazed to find a prophetic
The breeze scarcely rustled
the leaves of the dying
flowers; the drumming of the
woodpecker on the distant
tree, sounded a painful
discord; so grand, so awful,
and yet so sweet, were the
unuttered symphonies of the
sublime quiet of the
wilderness. [p. 78]
Mr. Farnham had a way of painting with
words:
description of what would soon be the
Oregon Trail by way of the Platte River
and south pass.
in years to come when
the Federal Government shall
take possession of its
territory west of the
mountains, the banks of this
stream (the Platte) will be
studded with fortified posts
for the protection of countless
caravans of American cit-
izens .....[p. 22]
LANE COUNTY HISTORIAN
With the benefit of hindsight one can
predict Mormon readers will not be
pleased with this comment about LDS
brethern in Missouri.
Century Farms of Lane County,
compiled and written by 1976 YOuth
The pious intimation that
their (gentile) throats would
be cut to glorify God, was
resisted by some rugthless
and sinful act of
self-defense; and all the
denunciations of the holy
brotherhood were impiously
scorned as idle words. [p. 4]
By the same token, the native American will be offended with some of his
descriptions of their ancestors:
These Indians are more
filthy than the Hottentots.
They eat the vermin from
each other's heads! [p. 72]
The Kauzans (Kansas) are
ignorant and wretched in
the extreme; uncommonly
servile, and easily managed
by the white men who live
among them. [p. 28]
Employment Project, Lane County
Youth and Children's Services Program, Marshall Northlngton, Director, Photography by Nancy Roberts
Written under the sponsorship of the
1976 Summer Youth Employment Program, Century Farms of Lane County is a
delightful respite from a busy world. Put
together by young people, ages 14 to 21, it
retains their vitality and freshness.
The book is a paperback, of 130 pages
and includes black and white photographs
covering more than one third of the
publication. Since "Farms" is essentially
based upon interviews, there is no index or
bibliography.
A "Century Farm" is defined as one
which has been owned by one family for
one hundred years. Ten representative
farms were chosen from the forty-one
shown on a double-paged map of Lane
County.
An introductory chapter gives the
At times the accuracy of the writer
must be in doubt. He unhesitatingly
states there are 135,000 Indians of the
Great Prairie wilderness. Historians are
still uncertain about the native population
of the 19th century.
As a further example, Farnham
describes Bent's Fort as having two
cylindrical bastions about 10 feet in
diameter and 30 feet while David Lavender's description of Bent's Fort walls put
them at 17 feet in diameter and 18 feet tall.
In closing, perhaps I should give some
warning, for if readers take this book, a
good map of the Western United States,
a bowl of popcorn, a favorite beverage,
and an active imagination, they may
break the TV habit only to find themselves infected with an all consuming,
voracious blessing/disease called history.
Relax! Enjoy!
Milt Madden
historical background to the concept of
land claims. Each of the ten farms is
covered by a separate chapter. Although
different writing teams authored each
chapter, the change in style is not
irritating; to many it will not be noticeable.
The strength of Century Farms is its
simplicity, its lack of literary artiface or
psuedo-sophistication. The interviews
with the farm families are simply stated.
felt
I
I
was listening in on friendly
conversations with neighbors.
Here's an example:
In those days, timber was a
weed, you wanted to get rid of
it, you hoped that it caught fire
and burned so it would be easier
to clear the ground but Grandfather was foresighted enough
to know the timber someday
would be worth money. He sure
was right. . . (Leon Huston) p. 81
LANE COUNTY HISTORIAN
Traveling by stage was not a
very fun thing. . . It was not a
Photo by Nancy Roberts, Century Farms of Lane County
stage like we have in our minds
familiarity in their presentation of pastoral
scenes. They're of excellent quality as
from westerns; it had no roof
and the people wore ponchos in
the wintertime; any, kind of
poncho that turned water, just a
kind of thing where your head
was out of the rain. Your body
was covered by the poncho, but
you were sweating so much
inside that thing, that you might
as well be out in the rain.
(Farmer Hale) p. 16
The photographs exude a warmth and
compositions and as extensions of the
narration.
These pictures and the relaxed
prose provide the kind of pleasureable
experience that helps us develop our awareness and an appreciation of heritage.
If other readers have the same impulse as I,
these farms will suffer a rash of visitors intent
on capturing some of the aura of the past so
enticingly presented in Century Farms.
Milt Madden
27
bob
The Eugene Register-Guard, Vol. I,
by Warren C. Price, Binford & Mort,
Portland, Oregon, 1976, $15.00
Courlesty ol Lane County Pioneer Museum
proved themselves as worthy of historic
notice as the personalities and occurrances
of the first 85 years."
This work is primarily lauditory.
Recording daily history for thousands of
readers, the community newspaper is also
a fit subject for historical study.
At
times I found myself wondering if
Eugene's newspapers were totally altruistic; whether they (it) were always on the
side of right; and if they could possibly
Before his death journalism scholar
Warren C. Price had finished most of the
writing of his history entitled, simply,
The Eugene Register-Guard. On the
faculty at the University of Oregon, he
have been managed by mere mortals.
There are many old-timers who will contest
that many incidents and controversies
about the newspaper itself are omitted
from the book. But, if you enjoy local
history, biography, or are a newspaper
buff, read this workit's worth it.
The time period covered is from the
published award-winning bibliographies
and histories ofjournalism. His two widely
known publications, "The Literature of
Journalism" and "An Annotated Journalism Bibliography" will service history and
journalism scholarship for years to come.
His local study in Eugene is the story of
the evolution of a newspaperthe evolution from several antecedent papers to the
present one, and its growth from a small
appearance of the Eugene Guard in 1867 to
the Register-Guard of 1967. The twentytwo chapters include two major sub-divi-
sions; the early years to 1930, and the
Alton Baker-ownership period. Of the two,
town newspaper to one of state and
the second is by far the most readable
regional import. Curiously, this volume is
Book I, supposing that someday someone
while the initial section is historically more
valuable.
will write a Book II when, as William
Wasmann writes in the Introduction,
"those personalities and events have
The book is well written in a readable,
matter-of-fact style one would expect from
28
a professor of journalism. His easy use of
consolidating the state schools, the issue of
sentences was a source of envy to this
up-and-down relationship with Sen. Wayne
reviewer. His organization is admirable.
Morse make absorbing reading.
quotations as an integral part of his
a biased chancellor, and newspaper's
Here's
This was no easy task especially when
some adviceif the first chapters weigh
covering the complicated early years. At
times he takes chronological leaps backward to cover specific people or journalistic
endeavors, but it is done with consumate
skill and one feels no loss of continuity. To
those not versed in the terminology of the
is an admirable summary of the first half of
the book.
printerphrases such as "single column
measure," "two column half-tone profile," "masthead," and "plain Roman
logotype," may need translation. The
problem is not insurmountable, however,
and many of the meanings can be inferred.
Mr. Price certainly has succeeded in
setting down the history of the RegisterGuard. There are, however, some
problems involved. The first eleven
chapters (although historically valuable)
are tedious, because of the abundance of
names and dates. "The 1870's and 1880's
were 20 great years for the establishing of
newspapers in Oregon. By 1890 the 44 of
1876 had jumped to 142, but the increase
was actually 115 instead of 98, since 17 of
the newspapers listed by the state by
Rowell in 1876 were not among the 142
heavily upon the reader the "Part One in
Retrospect" at the end of the first section
On occasion Price includes excerpts of
the "human interest" bent: He quotes the
ramblings of a Confederate editor
("Traitor do you say? You cowardly,
perjured lanternjawed green-eyed Yankee..."); he outlines the problem of hogs
freely roaming the streets; he conjures
the indignation which the newspaper and
the public felt when President Benjamin
Harrison arrived in Eugene by train in
1891, but failed to make a public
appearance for the 2,000 waiting citizens
and dignitaries gathered to greet him at
the depot.
He says the young newspaper had its
financial ups and downs. At one point the
hard pressed owner of the Guard asked two
of his printers to take over the newspaper
in return for a printing press, two bundles
of paper, and two cords of wood. It was a
given by Ayer in 1890." (p.81)
matter of his saving himself the embarrassment of owning a losing enterprise. (p.69)
necessary part of the narrative, perhaps
they could have been incorporated in the
notes instead of inflicting paragraphs of
numbers upon the reader. "In 1883 the
The book ccntains 365 pages, a short
forward by the author, an explanatory
And while circulation figures are a
Guard was up to 900 circulation (claimed)
as against the State Journal's 575. Two
years later the Guard had 960 (claimed)
with State Journal reporting 800 and the
new Eugene City Register (founded in
1884) 660......(p.81)
The chronology of newspapers, their
editors, owners, and name changes may be
uninteresting to all but the historian or
introduction, and a short biography of Mr.
Price. Two appendices include a roster of
Register-Guard employees in the 20 year
club, and a chronological, annotated listing
of Eugene newspapers. A four page
bibliography is valuable for its compilation
of sources concerning area history, always
difficult to collect.
adequate index.
Also included is an
Physically the book is a well-bound,
newspaper buff. But when the narrative
attractive book on quality paper in a
pleasing format. It includes fifteen
ownership the story becomes alive and
most enjoyable. The last half dozen
photographs of newspaper offices, various
front pages, and people. Documentation in
the form of footnotes is found at the end of
each chapter.
reaches the Alton Baker period of
chapters are involved with specific causes,
issues, and personalities, where Mr. Price
was at his best.
The struggle over
LANE COUNTY HISTORIAN
Milt Madden
r
Museum Notes
This Year's Major Exhibits: Osburn Hotel,
Museum
New Warehouse Space
The museum has rented some secure,
dry and heated warehouse storage space in
The feature exhibit "Osburn Hotel: End
of an Era" attracted 750 people to the Lane
which to house many bulky items not
currently on exhibit. The collections are
County Pioneer Museum on the opening continuing to grow at such a rate that
day. It was a delightful Sunday co-hosted rather than discourage donations the
with the U. of 0. Art Museum, Lane museum staff looked for additional storage
County Historical Society, and the Junior space. This move has freed up a small area
League. Many people shared their where Curator Loretta Conger is able to
memories of the Osburn during its fifty attend to the problems of caring for the
years as one of the major hotels in Eugene. collections.
The Osburn Hotel exhibit has been New Museum Blueprints
Museum and other county staff people
dismantled and the Museum is preparing a
feature exhibit on the history of the are currently reworking the $2,500,000
museum itself which will be completed Local Public Works grant request to be
sometime in July. The evolution of the resubmitted for consideration in June. If
museum from the Trail to Rail Pagent days approved, construction of a new 30,000
to the present, and projections for the square foot, temperature and humidity
controlled museum in Alton Baker Park
future, will highlight the exhibit.
would begin in the fall. Schematics for the
Temporary exhibits currently installed new facility have been completed and can
relate to the fire department and musical be reviewed at the Lane County Pioneer
instruments.
Museum.
by Glenn Mason, Museum Director
Design for History Wall still to be Approved
on the work being done by six to eight local
A design for the Wall of History in the
Lane County Public Service Building -
artists, perhaps paid by federal money
with $65,000 earmarked for its final
(under Civilian Employment and Training
Act sponsorship).
construction - has been presented to the
As reported in the last Historian, a
model of the mural traces Lane County
Arts Advisory Committee. Although final
approval of the design is still pending,
recent County Commission meetings have
indicated an approving attitude of the
artwork rendered by Portland architect
Williard Martin, mural designer.
And at press time, increased importance
during County Commission and Arts
Advisory Committee meetings was placed
history from the pre-settler era through the
present, and even suggests a concept of
the future.
If the design is approved by the County
Commissioners, the second phase of the
project calls for working blueprints of the
mural, and the last phase will be the actual
construction of the wall.
Jan Brown
LANE COUNTY HISTORIAN
YOU ARE INVITED TO BECOME
A MEMBER OF THE
LANE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Membership entitles you to receive THE HISTORIAN published three times a year
by the Society.
Members are eligible to participate in periodic Public Interest Meetings and in
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I would like to become a member of the Lane County Historical Society in the
classification checked:
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LANE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
$5.00
$25.00
$7.50
$
1977 SUSTAINING MEMBERS
LOUNSBURY-MUSGROVE MOR-
EHRMAN V. GIUSTINA
WILLIAMS BAKERY
GIUSTINA BROS.
NILS HULT
'H. L. EDMUNDS
JOHN A. WARREN
TUARY
HALL PRIJITI
'RICHARD H. OEHLER, M.D.
CLAY A. RACELY, M.D.
'UNITED STATES NATIONAL
BANK OF OREGON
A M COLLIER
Your Lane County Historical Society is entirely sustained by membership dues
and contributions which are fully tax deductible. Hence, we earnestly encourage
present gifts and contributions, devises and bequests under Wills and other forms
of deferred giving such as by use of trusts and life insurance policies. For such
deferred giving, your attorney should be consulted.
"I devise and bequeath to the Lane County Historical Society the sum of
to be used by the Society for the
$
accumulation and preservation of Lane County history." [Specific uses can be
designated .1
'1 devise and bequeath to the Lane County Historical Society my
(specific item or items.]
31
Old Recipes
by Leta Burrell
Vegetable Thickening - to fancy-up a vegetable serving.
remember my mother (Della Agee of Albany) making a thickening
sauce when guests came to dinner it stretched the vegetable
serving and fancied-up the dish.
Put 1½ tablespoons of flour with some water in a bowl
Stir until the lumps are gone. When the vegetables are
cooked, pour the sauce over the vegetables, then bring to a
boil. It will thicken and hold the vegetables together.
Old Recipe for Rich Fruit Salad Dressing:
Mix 3 tablespoons of sugar, 3 tablespoons of cream, 3 tablespoons
of real lemon juice, and 3 egg yolks Add V2 teaspoon of
cornstarch,a pinch of salt, and (for a tangy taste) just a little
mustard.
Mix and cook together until it thickens and bubbles
Let it cool. Then add a cup of whipped cream and sliced seasonal
LANE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
89239 OLD COBURG ROAD
EUGENE, OREGON 97401
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