Offbeat Oregon History podcast

IN THE SMALL hours of the morning of Aug. 16, 1906, a powerful explosion jolted residents awake near the little town of Willamette, which today is a neighborhood of West Linn. It came from the direction of the nearby Tualatin River. The cause was soon discovered. When the first rays of the morning sun fell on the Oregon Iron and Steel Co.’s diversion dam, located a little over three miles from the river’s mouth, a 20-foot-wide hole had been blasted in its center. The river water was still gushing through it. Executives of the Oregon Iron and Steel Co. were outraged. In newspaper interviews the next day, they pledged that the dam would be speedily rebuilt, and for weeks afterward newspapers like the Hillsboro Argus and the Oregon City Enterprise ran advertisements from the company offering a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest of whoever blew it up. They also fanned out around the neighborhood of farmers and residents along the Tualatin River upstream from the dam, making the same offer. But nobody seemed to know anything. Most of the residents wouldn’t even admit to having heard the blast. They all knew, of course. Some of them had been in the party that had crept up to the dam in the pre-dawn darkness, set the charge, and touched it off.... (Lake Oswego, Clackamas County; 1900s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/24-01.tualatin-dam-dynamited.html)

Legend of a monk's journey to a land called “Fusang” dates back to 499 A.D.; is it possible that Fusang was Oregon? Or was the whole thing a complete fabrication? (Oregon Coast, 400s; yeah, that's right, literally 1,500 years ago.) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1103b-was-buddhist-monk-first-to-discover-oregon.html)

Crafty county commissioners tried to rig the bidding so their favorite bid, padded to the tune of half a million 1924 dollars, would win — but they didn't move quite fast enough. Three months later, they'd all been thrown out of office. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1920s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1303d-bridge-scandal-aroused-fury-of-1920s-portland.html)

After the only skipper willing to brave their fearsome river bar died, the only way to get wheat and cheese to market was to build their own trading ship — which they did. (Tillamook County; 1850s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1102d-tillamook-tiny-schooner.html)

On Nov. 28, 1938, Federal Writers Project worker Andrew Sherbert sat down with a stocky, animated 77-year-old attorney named George Estes to talk about Mr. Estes' recollections of working in the 1800s, first as a telegraph operator and later as an attorney for the Telegrapher's Union at Southern Pacific. (For text and pictures, see https://www.loc.gov/item/wpalh001955/)

Native Americans told Coronado there was a fabulous gold-and-turquoise city called Quivira just to the east -- or was it the north? All he found were Indian villages. But, was there a real city behind the legend? More specifically, was that city near Port Orford? (Port Orford, Curry County; 1540s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1802d.legendary-city-of-quivira-on-oregon-coast-484.html)

In Gold Rush-era Oregon, the most skilled miners were probably the Chinese — but they were in constant danger. To avoid being robbed, they entrusted their gold to professional couriers who masqueraded as penniless vagabonds. This is a story from the life of one of them, a man we know only as 'Cheng.' (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1103a-secret-chinese-courier-saved-woman-and-baby-then-vanished.html)

Calm seas, a hard-working crew and a cool-headed skipper helped the steamship Congress and everyone on board survive a terrifying night after a fire broke out in the cargo hold and spread throughout the ship. (Coos Bay, Coos County; 1910s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1303c-steamer-congress-won-race-against-fiery-death.html)

State health officials scoffed at the idea of hydrophobia in Oregon — until people started dying. It was the start of a decade of attacks by mad coyotes, when folks carried shotguns everywhere and nature seemed to be in open revolt. (Central and Eastern Oregon; 1910s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1303b-rabies-epidemic-eastern-oregon-mad-coyotes.html)

I've run into a little trouble with my Internet hosting service. My Website has gotten too large for their taste and they want me to upgrade to a $120-a-month 'dedicated server' or 'virtual private server' account. Hey, I do this stuff for fun, I don't make money on it ... Anyway so I went shopping and found a good deal at a new shop, inmotionhosting.com. I'm very excited, but the process of migrating a 30-gigabyte website from one place to another means it's going to take me all week to get it done probably. So I'm uploading all this week's episodes at once, tonight, on Monday. Enjoy!

On May 3, 1938, Federal Writers Project worker Andrew Sherbert sat down with a tall, urbane, professional 70-year-old mining-law specialist named J. Thorburn Ross to talk about Mr. Ross's recollections of working in old Portland for George Himes and later experience in the area of Sailors' Diggin's and Waldo. (For text and pictures, see https://www.loc.gov/item/wpalh001951/)

It was obvious to nearly everyone that Chee Gong was innocent. But one of his tong brothers had murdered Lee Yik and disappeared, and blood had to answer for blood. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1880s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1802c.tong-war-in-portland-averted-with-hanging-483.html)

The Reverend preached the funeral service to an empty church, while the deceased's friends and colleagues fought in the parking lot over who got to ride in the taxicabs. But the hostilities were forgotten when they arrived at a roadhouse. (Tacoma, Washington Territory; 1880s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1603c.circuit-preachers-longshoreman-funeral.html)

When trying to minister to the spiritual needs of a crowd of hard-sinning miners and sailors, it was sometimes necessary to resort to unorthodox tactics — tactics not often seen among men of the cloth in more civilized times. (Old Oregon Territory; 1840s, 1850s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1603b.circuit-preachers-shanghai-flock-382.html)

Eagerly, the Reverend leaped into the waiting bathtub, positioned at the top of the stairs in the chilly foyer of the frontier hotel. And then, to his horror, he realized it was sliding toward the top of the staircase on a sheet of ice ... (Weston, Umatilla County; 1850s, 1860s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1603a.circuit-preachers-wells-wild-ride-381.html)