Oregon's Human and Natural History
Human History:
Oregon Public Broadcasting: The Governor Who Couldn’t Vote: Why History Forgot Oregon’s 1st Female Head Of State
Natural History:
Geological Society of the Oregon Country: A text searchable archive of decades of GSOC newsletters and information
Sport History:
Life:
The Guardian: Ursula K Le Guin remembered by her son Theo Downes-Le Guin
Human History:
La Grande Observer: EOU looking into renaming Pierce Library – Library’s original namesake is linked to the KKK
Natural History:
Salem Statesman Journal: The Naturalist’s Eye: Hiking sand dunes along the Oregon Coast offers insight into habitat
Sport History:
Eugene Register Guard: Sale marks the end of an era for famed Eugene running family
Life:
Baker City Herald: Retiring Reflections (of a fish and wildlife manager)
Click here for the full brochure
This post marks the beginning of the or59.org archives. We launch our natural history archives with a brochure from the Oregon Department of Transportation outlining the geological resources available in our state.
OCLC Worldcat estimates that this document originated around 1971.This brochure names Thomas Condon as the “father of geology” of the state of Oregon. There is a city named after him and the creation of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument was influenced by his work.
Read and enjoy.
This is a compilation of news stories of interest to Oregon 59ers readers.
Human History:
The Oregonian: Take a video tour of Portland’s Pittock Mansion
Sport History:
Bend Bulletin: Mt. Bachelor ski area celebrates its 60th anniversary – The resort has grown dramatically since visionary Billy Healy founded it in 1958
Natural History:
La Grande Observer: Bighorn Bonanza – The Lookout Mountain herd in eastern Baker County is Oregon’s largest herd of Rocky Mountain bighorns, and the only one that’s not infected with the bacteria that can cause fatal pneumonia
Life:
Eugene Register Guard: ‘I feel so blessed’: Dorcas Smucker retires ‘Letters From Harrisburg’ after 18 years
Our menu has a few new links up above for social media. We have officially started our Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook accounts.
Here is a link to get you started: https://www.instagram.com/p/BrJqO0KHI6C/
When I was a young boy, my father took me into the city to see a baseball game. It was Portland’s Civic Stadium, the year was 1973, and the team was the Portland Mavericks. Over the next few years, we would see several more games and, while my memory can’t differentiate one year from another, there were several memorable moments.
The first, of course, was experiencing the crowds, the smells, and the feeling of space as I sat in a stadium for the first time. It is interesting that the smell of mustard, hotdogs, peanuts, and quite frankly people (this was the age of tobacco usage) overshadowed individual strikeouts, defensive plays, and scores in the mind of a child.
Nonetheless, there were a number of memories that stuck with me about the Mavericks and Portland Beavers of my youth:
The banner pictured above is a memento of that time. I believe I have others as well and will post them as I go through the junk pile we call the garage at our house. Just kidding, we keep an immaculate house. Just kidding, the truth is somewhere in between.
As luck would have it, the Oregon Historical Society staff has also started a blog: Dear Oregon: Dispatches from Professional Time Travelers. They are off to a great start with an interview with poet Cameron La Follette and a post on reconstructing panoramas from old photos. Be sure to check them out!
I’ve never avoided history but, for many years, history avoided me. I’d say the highlight of my grade school years was visiting the living history of Chief Lelooska. I still remember the aroma of cedar and fire smoke and the songs and the stories. Outside of that, I probably learned most of my history and civics through Schoolhouse Rock.
In junior high, my history teacher was a coach who was more interested in coaching than history. In high school, I unintentionally avoided history altogether.
In community college, my history teacher was more interested in baseball stories than in history. I learned a little bit but, considering I was taking a full year of history, I didn’t learn much. The less I attended class, the better my grades became.
There were a few years after college where I worked minimum-wage jobs before I finally made a living wage. Since I didn’t make a lot of money, I got my entertainment from reading books purchased at a used bookstore complete with cat.
It was there that I found the book, Sarum, which was a historical novel following a family from Neolithic times to present in England. That kindled a spark within me that would lead to a greater interest in human history.
Marrying into a family whose roots run deep in the state of Oregon and well before its founding brought me fully into the fold. Not only did I have to keep up at the family dinner table, but I found myself more and more intrigued with how we all got here to where we are today.
Not everything I learned was complementary to human nature, but striving for the truth of what happened and how people acted proved worthy of my inquiry. I’ve read books about the Oregon Trail and John Jacob Astor’s party who came out West as well as historical fiction such as Don Berry’s Trask novel.
My in-laws have history dating back to French-Canadian fur trappers and interactions with the local Kalapuyan original people. It is a rich and rewarding experience to learn about their history. It makes me think about my own history and I am only now “putting out the feelers” on my own experience.
I thank you for visiting this page and hope that your rich past becomes an experience that is a source of pride for you, if it is not already.