FROM THE PRESIDENT ~~~ SOUTHERN ~~~~ HIS10RICAL OREGON 1111 SOC!ElY On behalf of the Board of Trustees and the staff, I extend my sincere thanks -S.IN LI. 19 ~ 6 to members and other supporters for making 1992 such a productive and exciting year SOUTHERN OREGON for the Southern Oregon Historical Society. HISTORICAL SOCIETY Your ongoing commitment to the Society has been a key factor in our many Board of Trustees achievements, some of which include: James Kuntz, Medford, President Marjorie Nichols, Ashland, First Vice -More than 90,000 museum visitors from throughout the natiori--and the President world; Jean Smith, Central Point, Second Vice -More than 10,000 participants in our adult and children's education President program; Cindy Faubion, Gold Hill, Secretary Vern Arnold, Medford, Treasurer - Regional sponsorship of the California/Oregon Columbus Quincentenary Judith Barr, Medford Chautauqua; Anne Billeter, Medford -Production of the award-winning Table Rock Sentinel, Oregon's only Gary Breeden, Medford history magazine; Jon Deason, Medford Edmund Dews, Ashland -Significant archaeological projects on the Illinois River in Josephine Mary Foster, Medford County and at Hyatt Lake in Jackson County, Gerald Latham, Medford shedding new light on the lifestyles of Janie Stewart, Talent southern Oregon's first citizens; Dr. Gary H. Wheeler, Medford Samuel Whitford, Medford -An exciting exhibits program covering a wide variety of subjects, Administrative Staff Samuel J. Wegner, Executive Director ranging from painting (The Art of Regina Brad Linder; Historic Resources Director Dorland Robinson), to textiles (The Joy B. Dunn, Programs Director Handweavers ' Craft: Handmade Textiles, Maureen Smith, Finance Director 1830-1900), to fruit (What a Pear!), to Janice S. Farmer, Development Director Susan Cox-Smith, Membership clowns (Clowning Around: The Life Coordinator/ Development Assistant Story of Vance DeBar "Pinto " Colvig). Stacey Williams, Public In addition to these, with your Relations/ Marketing Coordinator invaluable support we operate five regionally TABLE ROCK SENTINEL significant museums and historic sites; one of the Natalie Brown, Head of Communications finest history research libraries in Oregon, Services Catherine Noah, Editor including nearly 4,000 linear feet of Matt Strieby, Photographer historic documents and photographs; a collection of more than 80,000 artifacts; The Table Rock Sentinel is published bimonthly by the Southern Oregon and a public awareness program which Historical Society as a benefit of member­ brings national attention to our region's ship. Other benefits include ArtiFACTS, a heritage and the growing economic impact monthly newsletter; discounts at the heritage tourism has in Jackson County and Society's History Store; and invitations to programs and special events throughout southern Oregon. None of this would be the year. Administrative and membership possible without you. offices are at the Southern Oregon Next year promises to be another History Center, 106 N. Central Avenue, exciting year for the Society. As the 150th Medford, OR 97501-5926. Current copies of the Sentinel are available for $4.95 anniversary of the Oregon Trail, 1993 will each; back issues are $5.95 each. focus national and international attention on POSTMASTER: Please send Change of the history of Oregon and of southern Oregon. Address (U.S.P.S. Form 3579) to the This will be a perfect opportunity to promote Southern Oregon Historical Society, 106 N. Central Avenue, Medford, OR our regional heritage to new audiences while 97501-5926. we continue to provide a useful understanding Copyright © 1992 Southern Oregon of southern Oregon's history to those who call Historical Society. ISSN #0732-0523. All rights reserved. No part of this publica­ this region home. tion may be reprinted without written per­ Again, thank you for making 1992 mission from the Society. one of the most successful in the Society's CONTRIBUTIONS: Address all forty-six-year history. We look forward to editorial communications to Editor, Table Archaeological dig at Hyatt Lake Rock Sentinel, 106 N. Central Avenue, (top); opening of the Vance DeBar 1993 and your continued support and Medford, OR 97501-5926. We are happy "Pinto" Colvig exhibit at the involvement in the Society's quality programs, to consider queries and contributions. All Children's Museum in Jacksonville projects, and activities. material must be identified with the (middle); Chautauqua program, sender's name and address and will be "Columbus and After," at returned with sufficient postage. Care is taken with contributions, but we are not Hawthorne Park in responsible for damage or loss. The Medford (bottom). James F. Kuntz Society disclaims responsibility for facts Photos by Natali e Brown and Matt Strieby President or opinions expressed in signed contribu­ Southern Oregon Historical Society tions...... ------IABLE ROCK ______VOLUME 12, NUMBER 5 ENTINEL NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1992

p. 2 p. 18

FEATURES 2 Romancing the Rogue: Zane Grey's Fickle Love Affair with the Rogue River by Mary Korbulic Western writer Zane Grey, high on adventure and success, made regular excursions to southern Oregon in the 1920s to fish for steelhead. But the love affair didn't last long. 12 Christmas on the Northwest Frontier by Linda Eckhardt Holidays for the pioneers meant one thing: food. Their diaries reveal that even at the leanest table during the darkest hour, the message of Christmas shone through clearly-be it through a shared slab of bacon or a rare can of peaches. 18 The Good Earth by Paul Richardson Since its inception with the cultivation of wheat to feed hungry miners in the 1850s, commercial agriculture has played a prominent role in Jackson County's economy. Turn­ of-the-century photographs tell its story of hard luck, ingenuity, and worldwide fame.

DEPARTMENTS

Letter from the President (inside front cover) 21 Life in the Past Lane 22 Reflections on the Past 23 Then and Now 24 From the Collection 24 Table Rock Sentinel Index for 1992

Front cover: Zane Grey writing in front of hi s tent Back cover: Nineteenth-century Christmas postcard, addressed to while camped in southern Oregon. Photo courtesy Loren Grey Glen Simpson of Ashland. Southern Oregon Hi storical Society #14167

'-

Zane Grey fishes a stretch of water above his camp on the North Umpqua River (left). Fall scene on the Rogue River, Grey's first love when it came to fishing in southern Oregon (below). Ph ow courtesy Lo ren Grey, color photo by Matt Strieby adventure and success, made regular excur­ and material for his writing. For a time, he sions to southern Oregon to fish for found all on the Rogue. steelhead. He wrote about the trips in lov­ ing detail, sometimes in his cabin at rey discovered the Rogue River Winkle Bar. By the end of the decade, through the serendipity that is the however, Grey spurned the Rogue like a G province of a world traveler. While fickle lover and soon turned his attention fishing off Florida in 1916, another ardent to a more pristine stream, the North fisherman told Grey about the wondrous Umpqua. Rogue River steelhead. Grey recounted in While it lasted Grey's fling with the Tales of Fresh-water Fishing, "He said he Rogue would make present-day tourism could not hold these steeihead-that when promoters quiver with joy. Although word they were hooked they began to leap After catching a about the Rogue already had leaked downstream through the rapids and had to steelhead on the through river guide and pioneer Glen be followed. The big ones all got away. Rogue River, Grey described the ex­ Wooldridge and some of his famous They smashed his tackle. Now this infor­ perience as "wholly clients, and via Joe Wharton (the sporting mation from a noted salmon angier was satisfying." goods store owner and later Grants Pass exceedingly interesting."5 Photo courtesy Loren Grey mayor who wrote magazine articles about the Rogue), no one commanded public attention like Zane Grey. Between 1910 and 1924, a Zane Grey book made the bestseller list every year but one, and at one time in the United States his works ranked only behind the Bible and McGuffey's readers in sales. 1 He was the people's author, read by the masses who gobbled up his eighty-nine novels and numerous stories and articles. Beginning in 1908 and continuing for the next half cen­ tury, with the exceptions of 1954 and 1962, Grey had one to four books published annually. His works have been translated into at least twenty languages and transformed into more than 130 films. 2 "I'm quite sure he was responsible for the popularity of the Rogue River," said Dr. Loren Grey, Zane Grey's youngest and only surviving child. 3 In addition to a novel, Rogue River Feud, Grey penned numerous stories about his Rogue River fishing experiences, including "Where Rolls the Rogue," "Rocky Riffle," "Winkle Bar, 1926," "Loren," "September 8, 1927 ," and "Down River." The latter was a blow-by­ blow account of his first harrowing boat trip down the Rogue in 1925 and provided the background for Rogue River Feud.

Grey's trips on the Rogue and his later summer stays at his place on Winkle Bar, fifteen miles below Grave Creek, were not vacations from writing. On the contrary, Grey's life as an author was a vacation by most standards. Few writers in history knew greater wealth, 4 and Grey used his fortune to live out fantasies. He traveled almost constantly, moving around the globe in pursuit of world-class fishing, high adventure, pure outdoor experiences

TABLE ROCK SENTINEL NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1992 5 Grey traveled to Oregon that same year to find the river "beautiful beyond com­ pare," but devoid of fish . He missed the steelhead run on a subsequent trip also; but in September 1922 flashing silver darted beneath the river's surface. After several days of watching others land the elusive fish, Grey at last hooked a steelhead: "If moments could be wholly all-satisfying with thrills and starts and dreads and hopes, and vague, deep, full sense of the wild beauty of environment, and the vain boyish joy in showing my comrades my luck and my skill-if any moments of life could utterly satisfy, I experienced them then."6 While rewarding, Grey's fishing success did not satisfy his appetite for adventure, and in 1925 he made a trip down the lower Rogue. Wooldridge pioneered the lower river in 1915, but ten years later it still was considered a hazardous journey. The trip made front-page news in the Grants Pass

Loren Grey (left), Zane Grey's son, catches a ten-pound steelhead on the North Umpqua (below). Photos courtesy Loren Grey Daily Courier. "Zane Grey's party of eight magazine's editors felt it was 'too cranky' persons arrived in the city late yesterday and might offend some readers." afternoon and after outfitting here (at Part of Grey's "cranky" comment read: Wharton's sporting goods shop) for their "The people of Oregon, and more trip to Gold Beach by boat, left for the especially those who live on or near the Lewis ranch near Galice."7 Umpqua, are as a whole deaf and dumb The newspaper reported Grey's party and blind to the marvelous good of this would stay several days at the Lewis ranch river, and if they do not wake up, its virtue before starting down the Rogue. Seven and beauty and health will be lost to them. wooden boats had been built for the trip, . . . Unless strong measures are adopted by some of them by Claud Bardon, who the people of Oregon, this grand river will served as head guide. Bardon is believed to go the way of the Rogue." 10 be the person upon whom Keven Bell, hero Grey also railed against the Fish and of Rogue River Feud, is modeled. 8 Game Commission for allowing nets at the mouth of the river and for trying to t was on the 1925 trip that Grey fell in replace natural fish with hatchery models. love with Winkle Bar, which he pur­ "Any scientific angler, any good naturalist, I chased the following year from a pro­ let alone an ichthyologist, could expose the spector. Grey wrote in Tales of Fresh-water blunders made in the so-called conserva­ Fishing, "The rushing river at this point tion of fish," Grey wrote. "U.S. fish hat­ Zane Grey casts a makes a deep bend round a long oval bar, line on the Rogue cheries are mostly rackets. In very few River in 1925. Photo with rocky banks and high level benches cases do they increase the number of fish, courtesy Loren Grey above, and both wooded and open land. Here it flows through a lonely valley set down amid the lofty green mountain slopes. A government forest trail winds out some twenty miles to the nearest settle­ ment. Far indeed it is across the dark Oregon peaks to railroad or automobile road!"9 Ironically, it was only two years later that Grey became disenchanted with the Rogue River and his visits abruptly ended. "He quit fishing the Rogue after Savage Rapids Dam was built," said Dr. Grey, who as a young boy made two trips to Winkle Bar with his father. "After the dam, the water was too warm. The summer steelhead stopped coming. He had a four­ or five-year hiatus from Oregon before he heard about the North Umpqua and went there in 1932." Although he was loquacious about the Rogue, Grey penned only one magazine article about fishing the North Umpqua. Dr. Grey said his father wanted to protect the North Umpqua from publicity, dams, overfishing, and anything else that might ruin the pristine stream. In the introduc­ tion to the one article Grey did write about the Umpqua, for Sports Afield in 1935, he despite the millions of eggs hatched and chided Oregonians for their ignorance con­ the millions of young fry released in the cerning conservation. Editors at Sports river. But that sounds swell in the Afield refused to include the introduction, newspapers, and in the fisheries reports. but it was published thirty-seven years later It's a lot of baloney. It's just another in a collection of stories edited by George example of Vanishing America."'' Reiger titled Zane Grey, Outdoorsman. In Vanishing America was a major theme prefacing the article Reiger wrote, "ZG's in Grey's writing, although he was not introduction was eliminated because the widely regarded as a conservationist.

TABLE ROCK SENTINEL NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1992 7 Reiger wrote that only one out of one hun­ dred of Grey's readers knew him as an out­ Tenacity Fueled Grey's Rise to Fame doorsman and conservationist, even though Zane Grey's dream of being a writer nearly was Grey minced no words when describing dispelled several times. He was discouraged from writing those who would exploit rivers and other early in life by his father and later suffered repeated rejec­ natural resources. In expressing his con­ tions from editors, but his will proved stronger than cerns for the care of the North Umpqua, defeat. Grey wrote: " ... when they build the Grey published his first story, "A Day on the dams and cut the timber, with all the Delaware," in 1902 and wrote his first novel, Betty Zane, attendant ballyhoo about good to the peo­ during the winter of 1902-03. It was rejected first by ple, that will be the end of the Umpqua. It Harper & Brothers, then by four more publishers. Grey will merely be history repeating itself. I was stunned into despair. 1 He finally published the book never knew any company, in any one of the many national forests, to do anything himself after his future wife loaned him the money. 12 Grey met Lina Roth Grey when she was seventeen and but harm ..." he was twenty-eight, and they carried on a five-year courtship, writing almost daily letters and visiting two or n current perspective Grey was a con­ three times a week. Lina, or Dolly as she later was called, servationist, but not a minimalist, and excelled in subjects her future husband only had tolerated: I the size of his parties and bounty of grammar, English, and rhetoric. She was his early writing his supplies did not go unnoticed. Grey's coach, editor, critic, and secretary. She copied his early entourage drew local interest in the North novels out in longhand, and the manuscripts were in her Umpqua country when the author stopped handwriting. 2 for the first time at the Steamboat area en Even after publishing a novel, Grey repeatedly was route to British Columbia in 1932. His rejected by magazine editors to whom he wanted to sell party-composed of his son Romer and his hunting and fishing stories. The year 1906 was bad for his wife, another couple, secretaries, writing but happy personally. He spent hours hunting and photographers and technicians, and Grey's fishing and was happy in his work and marriage. The personal cook, Takahashi-was described couple lived mostly on Dolly's inheritance. In 1907 Grey as "part business enterprise, part fishing 13 had sold a couple of articles to major publications. extravaganza." Locals marveled that it Grey wrote Last of the Plainsmen after a successful took six mules three trips each to transport writing trip to the West, but it was rejected by more than all of Grey's gear to the cabins.1 4 a dozen publishers. "I do not see anything in this to con­ This was nothing compared with Grey's vince me you can write either narrative or fiction," a September 1927 excursion into Winkle Bar Harper editor told him. 3 When the book finally was from the West Fork of Cow Creek. Accord­ accepted by the Outing Publishing House, Grey agreed to ing to stories passed along by descendents no payment. He sold three magazine articles in 1908, and of an early packer, 132 loaded mules led after six years as a writer had his first substantial sale: by three packers and their helpers guided "The Shortstop," a long story about baseball. Editors Zane Grey and his party over the trail to were becoming more receptive, and when he wrote Heri­ Winkle Bar. 15 That trip was the first on tage of the Desert, the forerunner to all his western the Rogue to include his entire family: novels, it was accepted by two publishers in the same day. 4 wife, Dolly, and their three children, Betty, Grey was on his way to the top, but editors were still Romer, and Loren. As Grey recalls the trip shortsighted. When he completed Riders of the Purple in Tales of Fresh-water Fishing, "It was not Sage, described by many as the finest Western ever writ­ such an undertaking as I had imagined. ten, Harper & Brothers refused to publish it because it We had never before all been in camp at could be offensive to Mormons. Grey, believing it was his once. An event!"J6 best work, refused to take no for an answer. He went An event it seemed to young Burl over the head of the editor and found a vice president Rutledge, who helped pack Grey's party in who loved it. The book was published, and Riders of the to Winkle Bar. Rutledge, then a teenager, Purple Sage became the most successful Western novel worked for Charlie Pettinger of the Big ever published.s Bend Ranch near Illahe. Pettinger kept about 150 mules and was one of three I. Frank Gruber, Zane Grey, A Biography (Roslyn, N.Y.: Walter Black, packers along the Rogue River. Ernie 1969), 45. 2. Gruber, 46. Rutledge, relating a secondhand account 3. Gruber, 77. passed on from his father, Burl Rutledge, 4. Gruber, 83. said, "That pack train must have stretched 5. Gruber, 96. ten miles over the trail. Charlie Pettinger had the contract. Dad was on a mail run

8 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1992 TABLE ROCK SENTINEL Rutledge said. According to local lore, when Burl Rutledge arrived at Winkle Bar, he counted noses and discovered his favor­ ite mule, which was loaded with flour, missing. The untethered mules were trained to follow the bell mare, but Rutledge decided his mule may have developed a mind of its own. "Dad went back sixteen, seventeen miles to West Fork but no mule. Then he rode back to Illahe, about twenty miles, and still couldn't find the mule. He switched horses and went back to Winkle Bar. He'd been about eighty or ninety miles in the saddle in one day. At Winkle Bar he found a trail of flour and found where the mule had gone. It had been there all the time. Dad hadn't had anything to eat during this entire fiasco. He asked Grey if the cook had anything left, and Grey told him you had to be there at mealtime or you didn't eat. If only Dad had been a little older, he'd-a stretched him out. Dad had to wait for breakfast for a bite to eat. Zane Grey is not really a good name to us," Ernie Rutledge said.

Zane Grey's pack when Charlie sent out a train to West train heads out Fork. When Dad got off the mail run, he from his Winkle sent Dad's train out too. Then the more Bar cabin at the Charlie thought about it, he took another end of a 1926 fishing trip on the train. Each train was forty-four mules Rogue River long. That's a lot of mules." There was no Dr. Grey, who was a child on this trip, (above). Winkle problem finding loads for the mules, recalled nothing about Burl Rutledge's Bar still stands recounted Rutledge. "They had a gob of ordeal but said it did not sound like his and is open to people and the train was scheduled by father. "Doesn't make sense to me," he visitors (right). Photo weight, but there was so much oddball said. "Why would he ask my father and courtesy Loren Grey, color photo by Natalie Brown stuff. A bunch of wicker chairs, and light not the cook, Takahashi? I think these furniture. It was like hauling a load of stories get embellished as they get passed canaries with half of them flying." along and take on the tone of folklore." Dr. Grey said his father was building a Since all participants except Loren Grey, fairly large cabin at Winkle Bar and had then a young child, are deceased, verifying to pack in all of his supplies-including details is difficult. lumber, windows, siding, and roofing. Ernie Rutledge and Carolyn Rutledge, "Obviously it would take a huge pack Burl's widow, recalled another incident that train." probably occurred during the 1925 An incident on the trip soured the downriver trip. Again, this is a secondhand Rutledge family against Grey, Ernie account. "Zane Grey tried to run Dad

TABLE ROCK SENTINEL NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1992 9 away from the river while he was watering the horses," Carolyn Rutledge said. Grey's fishing party was camped on an island near Illahe when Ernie Schneider (Carolyn Rutledge's father) brought his team of draft horses down to the river to drink. "Grey raised Cain about him watering horses by the camp," Ernie Rutledge said. "He claimed it was unsanitary and here he was camped with a bunch of people on an island with no sanitary facilities at all." According to the Rutledges, Grey was not well-liked wherever he was, at least in southern Oregon, where negative words often are heard in recollections about Grey. Even Glen Wooldridge, who guided Grey's parties several times, could not muster a kind word and delivered what to Grey would have been the ultimate insult: "I never did think much of him as a fisher­ man. He just couldn't seem to get the hang of catching a steelhead." 17 In Grey's defense, he was learning the fine points of fly-fishing when he visited the Rogue and Dr. Grey also pointed out a story in Zane Grey with com­ later became accomplished in the art. Grey Thyme and the River that he feels panion on the Rogue was a recognized world-class fisherman by demonstrates his father's kindness toward River, 1925. Photo several published accounts and held courtesy Loren Grey locals. Grey generously rewarded Merle numerous fishing records. Hargis, a Forest Service packer stationed at espite his fishing and writing prow­ Steamboat, for hauling eighteen loads of ess, Grey's reputation on the North his gear uphill during a fishing trip in D Umpqua was not much better. 1932. "Afterwards, Zane Grey put his arm "While ZG (as he was known) was around Hargis, thanked him warmly, and respected for his power and reputation as a gave the packer four half-dollars as a writer, he was not well-loved by other reward for his efforts."zo anglers or local residents," wrote Sharon Although not entirely surprised, Dr. Van Loan and Patricia Lee in their book, Grey is nonetheless stung by unflattering Thyme and the River. "When Grey camped stories that have been passed along about along a stretch of water, he considered the his famous father. He speculates locals fishing pools to be his own private probably resented his father for the domain. Many old-timers on the North outspoken conservationist remarks. Grey Umpqua still remember how ZG's zealously attacked logging and road and assistants attempted to prevent them from dam building. He also was critical of fishing their favorite spots before the locals who fished the Rogue River for fun famous author arrived to cast his fly in the and not the meat. "21 "Catch and release morning." 18 was really not done at that time, but my Although no fishing spots along the father made sure no fish were wasted," Dr. North Umpqua are named for Grey, Grey said. Takahashi Hole was named for his cook. Former Rogue River guide Bob Pruitt And Ledges is a name Grey gave to a believes jealousy was behind the less-than­ favorite fishing hole. flattering local stories. "Zane Grey was not Dr. Grey admits his father was not a well-liked by some people who fished up at tactful person and "made enemies easily," Almeda, but it didn't take very long in but he questions the oft-repeated story that guiding to find there is nothing but plain Grey paid assistants to hold fishing spots. old jealousy of success. He was a well­ "I was on these trips, and I defy you to known person and they tried to bring him find someone who actually saw this hap­ down."22 pen. It didn't to my knowledge. I never There is yet another explanation for how knew it if he tried to chase anyone off the and why Grey alienated locals. Dr. Grey, river." 19 who is a psychologist, believes his father

10 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1992 TABLE ROCK SENTINEL probably suffered from "mild manic­ 12. Reiger, 269. depressive psychosis." "He was a very 13. Sharon Van Loan and Patricia Lee with Mark Hoy, temperamental person," Dr. Grey recalled. Thyme and the River, Recipes from Oregon's Steamboat Inn (Portland, OR: Graphic Arts Center Publishing, 1988), "He had these depression spells where he 21. could not write. If you've ever read 14. Van Loan, Lee, and Hoy, 21. Darkness Visible: Memoirs of Madness by 15. Ernie Rutledge (Illahe, OR), telephone interview with William Styron, his depressions were author, Aug. 4, 1992. similar to that. He'd force himself to write 16. Grey, 271. 17. Arman, 86. just to get out of them. His temperament 18. Van Loan, Lee, and Hoy, 23. was volatile but very disciplined and con­ 19. Loren Grey, July 8, 1992. trolled. A lot of his writing was the outlet 20. Van Loan, Lee, and Hoy, 21. for those tremendous feelings." 21. Zane Grey, 154. Whatever the reason, Rogue fishermen 22. Bob Pruitt (Grants Pass, OR), telephone interview became as disenchanted with Grey as he with author, July 7, 1992. 23. Grey, 211. did with their river. He wrote in Tales of Fresh-water Fishing, "I expected to find the Mary Korbulic is a freelance writer and Rogue, after we left Almeda, twenty miles river runner living in Rogue River. below Grants Pass, to be one of the wildest, purest, and most beautiful of all rivers. It was certainly one of the most beautiful, but the other attributes failed. Miners, prospectors, half-breed Indians, and a few whites scattered down the valley, Greys that Glitter effectively kill any suggestion of utter by William Doody solitude. There were wild stretches of the river, to be sure; but just when you Many of Zane Grey's first imagined you were drifting into an untrod­ editions are highly prized- and den wilderness then your dream would be often highly priced-collectors' dispelled. "23 items. Though Grey never returned to the Rogue River Feud (1948) and Rogue River, his memory lives on at Tales of Fresh-water Fishing Winkle Bar, where current owner Walter (1928), of considerable interest Haas, Jr., has preserved Grey's cabin and to Oregon collectors, both have opened the area to visitors. Winkle Bar, on sold for prices above $100. the Wild and Scenic section of the Rogue, Some titles are worth even is still accessible only by foot or boat, more. Betty Zane (1903), the which would suit Grey fine. Even though author's first book, has sold at fishing has declined, Grey would be auction for more than $400. 1 American Anglers in pleased that the river between Grave Creek Australia (1937), a highly obscure work in Grey's already and Foster Bar is closed to development rare series of fishing tales, has brought as much as $275. forever. r.:-.-.,..... But all that's gilded is not gold. Most of the Grey lUI .!!!!. titles offered to antiquarian book dealers are Grosset & ENDNOTES Dunlap reprints worth only a fraction of the value of a I. Charles G. Pfeiffer, So You Want to Read Zane Grey, 1st ed. (Columbia, S.C.: Columbia College Press), 15. true first edition. Expertise is often necessary to deter­ 2. Pfeiffer, 15. mine a first from later editions. Condition is another 3. Loren Grey (Woodland Hills, CA), telephone conver­ key factor in determining a book's value. The presence sation with author, July 8, 1992. or absence of a dust jacket may determine a difference 4. George Reiger, ed., Zane Grey: Outdoorsman, Zane in value of hundreds of dollars. Grey's Best Hunting and Fishing Tales Published in Com­ memoration of His Centennial Year (Englewood Cliffs, Those with a Zane Grey edition should take note: If it N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1972), viii. was published by Harper & Brothers and if it has a dust 5. Zane Grey, "Where Rolls the Rogue," Tales of Fresh­ jacket, or if the word "Tales" or "Fishing" appears in the water Fishing (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1928), 109. title, they may be holding a little bit of Rogue Valley 6. Grey, 122. history-and a little bit of gold. 7. "Zane Grey Party Taken to Galice," Grants Pass Daily Courie1; Sept. 4, 1925. I References used in compiling this story were American Book Prices 8. Florence Arman with Glen Wooldridge, The Rogue, Current and The Old Book Collectors' Guide. A River to Run (Grants Pass, OR: Wildwood Press, 1982), 63. Freelance writer William Doody is owner of Yellow 9. Grey, 257. 10. Reiger, 268. Pages bookstore in Grants Pass. II. Reiger, 270.

TABLE ROCK SENTINEL NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1992 11

• Rl a on the NoRt west FRan ieR by Linda Eckhardt

• :~ "'l ~ \ .• for presents or decorations, they could at least devour the delec-

table meats, fall vegetables, puddings, and pies they had prepared

for the biggest day of the year.

Unless they were stuck in the middle of nowhere. Christmas in the mid-

1880s found many pioneers blazing trails or hunting for gold, and their tales

reveal that even at the leanest table during the darkest hour, the message for

Christmas shone clearly-be it through a shared slab or bacon or a rare can of

peaches.

When holiday preparations began, homemakers even then turned to women's

magazines for advice. These nineteenth-century journals often made elaborate

suggestions for Christmas celebrations.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1992 13 Godey's Lady's Book, a magazine described as the ding with brandy sauce, frozen pudding, assorted "only lady's book in America, the cheapest, most cake, bonbons, crackers, cheese, and cafe noir. 3 useful, ornamental and instructive," offered detailed For those who would like to try a genuine plum instructions for making not only Christmas dinner pudding to see whether they agree with Stowe or but also crafts, such as a Christmas Table Basket: Farmer, here is a historic recipe from Farmer's Boston Cooking-School Cook The pretty, and at the Book of 1898: same time inexpensive, little basket .. . is par­ ENGLISH ticularly appropriate at PLUM PUDDING this time, when so Y2 pound stale bread many friendly enter­ crumbs tainments are 1 cup scalded milk exchanged, and the !It pound sugar young and happy meet 2 ounces finely cut together. Where the citron refreshments consist of Y2 pound suet cold viands and confec­ !It cup wine and tionery, these baskets brandy, mixed are exceedingly orna­ 4 eggs mental. They are very \12 pound raisins, quickly made, only seeded, cut in pieces requiring a strip of thin and floured cardboard, a little silver !It pound currants paper-pure white is !It pound finely the prettiest- and a few chopped figs skeins of orange wool. \12 a nutmeg, grated % teaspoon cin­ namon Godey's went on to sug­ liJ teaspoon clove gest a menu: "Roast liJ teaspoon mace turkey with cranberry 1 \12 teaspoons salt sauce, boiled fowls with Soak bread crumbs celery sauce, boiled in milk, let stand ham, goose pie, turnips, until cool, then add salsify, coleslaw, winter sugar, beaten yolks squash, beets, mince of eggs, raisins, cur­ pudding, lemon pud­ rants, figs, and cit- ding, pumpkin pudding and plum pudding." 1 ron; chop suet, and cream by using the hand; com­ bine mixtures, then add wine, brandy, nutmeg, cin­ lum pudding was a staple of early Christmas namon, clove, mace and whites of eggs beaten stiff. dinners, but women's magazine writers Turn into a buttered mold, cover and steam six hours. disagreed over its substance. Harriet Beecher Serve with brandy sauce. Stowe, who made her reputation with Uncle P BRANDY SAUCE Tom's Cabin, earned her living writing for women's !It cup butter magazines. She and her mother, Catharine Beecher, in 1 cup powdered sugar 1869 wrote a book called The American Woman's 2 tablespoons brandy Home: or, Principles of Domestic Science; Being a yolks of two eggs Guide to the Formation and Maintenance of \12 cup milk or cream Economical, Healthful, Beautiful, and Christian whites of two eggs Homes, in which they expounded on plum pudding: Cream the butter, add sugar gradually, then brandy "Take a pound of every indigestible substance you can very slowly, well-beaten yolks, and milk or cream. think of, boil into a cannon-ball, and serve in flam­ Cook over hot water until it thickens as a custard, 2 ing brandy." pour onto beaten whites. 4 • The famous Fannie Merritt Farmer, in her 1897 Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, suggested this Perhaps elaborate dinners were a real possibility menu for a typical Christmas dinner: consomme, back in the comfortable East, where the privileged bread sticks, olives, celery, salted pecans, roast goose, classes could look out through their lace curtains potato stuffing, applesauce, duchess potatoes, cream onto civilized scenes of gas-lit streets, sleighs of lima beans, chicken croquettes with green peas, decorated with bells and bows, and wagonloads of dressed lettuce with cheese straws, English plum pud- food being hawked on the street for Christmas din-

14 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1992 TABLE ROCK SENTINEL ners. Plenty of back-of-the-house help, generous kit­ brought with me, was therefore a source of great joy chens, and budgets guaranteed the mythical Christmas to both parties. The natives smoked the much-loved the women's magazines have been touting for a hun­ weed for several days successively. Our hunters killed dred years, from Harriet Beecher Stowe, to Fannie a few mountain sheep, and I brought up a bag of Farmer, to Martha Stewart. flower, a bag of rice, plenty of tea and coffee, some It also is possible that elaborate Christmas feasts arrow-root, and fifteen gallons of prime rum. We spent a comparatively happy Christmas, and by the have lived more in the imaginations of women's side of a blazing fire in a warm room, forgot the suf­ magazine editors and writers than they ever did in ferings we endured in our dreary progress through the actuality, regardless of the locale. We do know from woods. 6 diaries that life on the frontier was a bit different. Christmas still centered around food. But in many Warren Angus Ferris spent the winter of 1833 in cases, feast hardly was the appropriate word. On the Kootenay Mountains in the northeastern corner of Lewis and Clark's first Christmas in 1805, spent near the old Oregon country with Nicholas Montour and the mouth of the Columbia River, Captain Clark, his Native American wife and family. Montour was who was better at exploring than spelling, recorded in employed by Hudson's Bay Company. Of Christmas his journal: Day Ferris wrote:

At day light this morning we we[re] awoke by the Christmas was passed agreeably with the family of discharge of the fire arm[s] of all our party & a mine host, and we were rather more sumptuously enter­ Selute, Shouts, and a Song which the whole party tained than on ordinary occasions. Our bill of fare joined in under our windows, after which they retired consisted of buffalo tongues, dry buffalo meat, fresh to their rooms were venison, wheat flour chearfull all the cakes, buffalo marrow morning. after (for butter), sugar, brackfast we divided coffee, and rum, our Tobacco which with which we drank amounted to 12 car­ a variety of appro­ rots one half of priate toasts ... 7 which we gave to the men of the party y 1849, gold who used tobacco, seekers had and to those who rushed from doe not use it we the East to make a present of a B Oregon and California. handkerchief. The Two recorded their ver­ Indians leave us in the evening all the sion of Christmas din­ party Snugly fixed in ner on that first fateful their huts .... holiday away from their families. Joseph We would have Spent this day the McCloskey, who had nativity of Christ in been born in Greenwich feasting, had we any Village and came to the thing either to raise gold fields as a young our Sperits or even man, recalled in a 1909 gratify our appetites, interview with the San our Diner concisted Francisco Call that rain of pore Elk, so began on December 21 much Spoiled that and flooded his camp we eate it thro' mear at Wood's Creek in nor­ necessity, Some spoiled pounded fish thern California. By and a fiew roots."5 Christmas morning the miners had lost nearly But by Christmas 1813, things began to look up. all their provisions except a side of bacon and pound Twenty-year-old Ross Cox, from Dublin, had been of hardtack and one rusty frying pan. Once they sent into the region to establish an American Fur realized it was Christmas, the three miners felt sorry Company post. While camped near present Thomp­ for themselves. McCloskey said: son Falls, Montana, Cox observed: "Look here boys," I said, "this is playing it pretty low The Indians were much in want of ammunition &c. down on each other. I'm ready to celebrate. Merry My appearance, or I should rather say, the goods I Christmas, Steve. Merry Christmas, Mat. Here, you two

TABLE ROCK SENTINEL NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1992 15 kids, Santa Claus has come." They stared at me as if I'd be so delicious? Let us take peaches." The boys rode lost my senses, but I hadn't. I took out of my belt two all night and arrived at home Christmas morning. heavy little nuggets I'd been saving to send back to New York and gave one to each of them. It was a poor enough We sat about preparing the Christmas dinner with gift. Gold was a common commodity with us. They'd have great secrecy and care. Jacob fried the flapjacks and appreciated a hot biscuit a lot more. made coffee. I mixed flour and water for biscuits. We had not known salt since our arrival and we used a The party began to walk out of their washed-out substitute which was commonly adopted among the camp. They were all hungry. About three in the after­ forty-niners, gunpowder. It gave some little savor' to noon, they heard someone singing "Adeste Fideles" the food, though I should scarcely recommend it as a ("0 Come, All Ye Faithful") and found four young condiment. men from Boston who were well-supplied with When everything was in readiness we set out an provisions- flour, sugar, and bacon. They welcomed empty box between the pallets on which our parents them joyfully. lay. This was the table. We had two pails which served well enough for chairs for Jacob and myself. You may be assured we were grateful. . . . In the evening We brought in the hot meal on tin plates and we built a gorgeous fire, and one of the singers, who arranged everything neatly where father and mother had a knack, cooked marvelous flapjacks in bacon could reach without getting up. We both left the tent grease. Then we had bootleg coffee, so called by its then and ran to where we had hidden the peaches. We color, and the chef finally achieved his greatest triumph opened the can with a knife and Jacob, as the elder, and our undying admiration by producing a rough sort had the honor of carrying it in ... . Jacob placed the of johnny cake, baked on a shovel. can on the box with great dignity and looked at ... There never was a more successful Christmas dinner, father and mother for applause. And then we had our and when we sat back, replenished, warm, filled with the crushing disappointment. Neither of them could glow of good food and touch the delicacy kindly company, we nor could either three strangers had taste the meal which thankful hearts for the we had arranged cheer and shelter to with so rriuch pride. which we had been led We both cried a lit­ on this day of days. tle, but our mother Grouped about the fire, comforted us and we all sang the old told us we should Christmas songs again eat their share for and again, the eyes of them. So we sat each man seeking and down and divided finding in the flames the peaches. . .. familiar scenes of home Our hunger and the far back in the east. 8 rare treat before us made us forget the Hermann J. Shar­ sorrow of the futile mann, born in Germany gift and we ate until and brought to the not even a trace of United States as an syrup was left inside infant, came west for the can. 9 gold in 1849 as a child with his family. He y the time the remembers that settlers began Christmas near Marys­ establishing ville, California, when B homesteads in both of his parents were Oregon and other parts sick in the tent and it of the West, Christmas was up to him and his began taking on a older brother Jacob to semblance of the make the Christmas mythical Christmas we celebration. They rode like to conjure up. A to town with $10 in their pockets, hoping to find a 1979 article on Christmas remembrances in the Med­ delicacy that would break the monotony of soggy ford Mail Tribune recounts Harriet Nesmith McAr­ flapjacks and salt meat that had been their meals for thur's Christmases in the 1860s on Rickreall Creek in several weeks. Jacob spied the treat: "Hermann," he Polk County: cried. "Look at this. Canned peaches! Could anything

16 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1992 TABLE ROCK SENTINEL Christmas was a day set apart, to which we children Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a looked forward with eager anticipation. There were 9" x 12" baking dish. Set aside. In large bowl, cream no shining lights nor glittering ornaments, in fact they together butter, sugar and eggs. Into a medium bowl, were not to be had. Neither did we have a tree, but sift flour and soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. Add our simple gifts gave us pleasure: a highly polished flour mixture to the butter-egg mixture and stir hard red apple, nuts, raisins, a much prized sweet of pure to blend. When thoroughly mixed, fold in apples, white sugar in the shape of fruit and animals, quite raisins, and nuts. Turn into prepared pan. hollow, and with a splash of color on the fruit. Once Bake until cake is well-risen, golden brown, and firm I had a beautiful dog, with a few touches of green to to the touch, about 50 minutes. Remove from the represent grass, where he stood on a little base. Being oven, cool in the pan on a wire rack. Serve plain or of a miserly turn, I placed my prize in a safe place, with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream. 12 to my thinking. My sister found it and visited the delectable sweet for delicious sugary licks. Alas, one This holiday, as you are thumbing through day it was licked once too often and it collapsed. I magazines and wondering if you could ever create a wailed loudly. Added to the other gifts were usually a feast as elaborate as the ones you see pictured, think gay handkerchief, a bottle of cologne, and some little back to those hardy pioneers who took comfort in a toy.Io can of peaches or in a bit of gunpowder to salt the . . ~ blSCUltS. :m A Christmas dessert enjoyed from the nineteenth ENDNOTES .!!.!!. century to the present can be found in the flour­ I. "Christmas Table Basket," spattered recipe box of Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine, vol. 63 (December Jane Watson Hopping. 1861): 522. From her Country 2. Catharine E. Beecher and Mothers Cookbook Harriet Beecher Stowe, The comes: American Woman's Home: or, Principles of Domestic Science; Being a Guide to the Our mother, who Formation and Maintenance loved Christmas, of Economical, Healthful, often told us stories Beautiful, and Christian of her childhood Homes (New York: J. B. Ford home: of decorated & Co., 1869), 190. trees, ribbons and 3. Fannie Merritt Farmer, wreaths, and of "Menu for Christmas Din­ ner," The Boston Cooking­ course of the family School Cook Book (Boston: all together, admir­ Little, Brown, and Company, ing the great oak 1897), 520. table laden with 4. Farmer, Boston Cooking­ ham, fresh pork School (1898), 338, 343. roast, wintertime 5. Ella E. Clark, "Some vegetables, mince­ Christmas Holidays in the Oregon Country," Oregon meat pies, apple Historical Quarterly, vol. 60 desserts of all kinds, (December 1959), 448. and pitchers of cold 6. Clark, 453. milk. 11 7. Clark, 453-454. 8. Joseph J. McCloskey and GRANDMA'S Herrmann J. Sharmann, CHRISTMAS Christmas in the Goldfields, CAKE 1849: The Reminiscences of Joseph 1 McCloskey and Yz cup butter or Hermann Sharmann (San margarine, softened Francisco: California at room temperature Historical Society, 1959), 2 cups sugar 12-22. 2 eggs, beaten to a froth 9. McCloskey and Sharmann, 27-33. 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour 10. Ralph Friedman, "Memoirs Recall Christmas Celebrations a 2 teaspoons soda Century Ago," Medford Mail Tribune, 20 December 1979, D3. 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon II. Jane Watson Hopping, The Country Mothers Cookbook: A Celebration of Motherhood and Old-Fashioned Cooking (New 1 teaspoon ground ginger York: Villard Books, 1991), 263. Y2 teaspoon salt 12. Hopping, 269. 4 cups peeled, cored and diced tart, fresh apples (Jonathan preferred) Ashland resident Linda Eckhardt, a food columnist for 1 cup golden raisins the Mail Tribune and Oregonian, is the winner of the 1 cup chopped pecans International Association of Culinary Professionals' sweetened whipped cream Cookbook of the Year 1991 for Bread in Half the Time.

TABLE ROCK SENTINEL NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1992 17 by Paul Richardson ince its inception with the cultivation of wheat to feed hungry gold miners in the 1850s, com­ mercial agriculture has played a prominent role in Jackson County's economy. SWheat growing, cattle ranching, and sheep raising all have been important contributors to this region's prosperity; but nothing exemplifies the significance of agriculture better than the fruit industry. The first orchards to appear in the Rogue Valley were planted by the Billings family in 1854. Their early crops of black walnuts and pears soon were followed by other orchards producing a wide assortment of pears, apples, cherries, peaches, and plums. With the access provided to worldwide markets by completion of the railroad in 1887, local orchardists were able to take advantage of southern Oregon's unique climate to produce fruit rivaling that of orchards around the world. Jackson County has grown more diversified in the last century, but agriculture continues to play a prom­ inent role in its economy and culture. 1:1:' ~ Paul Richardson is research historian and special pro­ jects coordinator for the Southern Oregon Historical Society. A traveling exhibit, The Good Earth, featur­ ing these and other photographs, is available from the Society by calling 773-6536.

The hillsides around Jackson­ ville were the site of southern Oregon's first vineyard (right), planted by pioneer photogra­ pher and horticulturist Peter Britt. Strawberries are just one of a diverse spectrum of crops that have been cultivated in the Rogue Valley (below), which is known primarily for its pear orchards. Southern Oregon Historical Society #67 18, #8440 in the Past Lane -----• by Brad Linder

THE CATHOLIC RECTORY IN JACKSONVILLE

ost people associate historic preservation pro­ The grounds at the Catholic Rectory in Jacksonville are being patterned Mjects with old buildings. after a typical 1870s landscape. Photo by Douglas Smith, illustrati on by Natalie Brown . But in recent years, landscapes and plant varieties have been receiving restoration as well. In 1986 the Guzowski included guidelines for National Park Service published a maintaining the lawn. Historically, set of guidelines for nominating property owners may have planted historic landscapes to the National perennial rye or Kentucky blue­ Register. Previously, landscapes grass; and because the lawn mower were included only by their was not prevalent until after 1870, association to a building or the grass was allowed to grow long historic district. and frequently contained wild Preserving and restoring land­ flowers and unwanted plants. scapes is complicated, many times Lawns were cut with sickles and including heritage plant varieties, scythes and occasionally supplied structures, and landforms. Natural pasture for sheep. Long grass and elements of landscapes particularly "weeds" often are unattractive to are susceptible to alteration and the contemporary visitor, so destruction; historic varieties of Guzowski suggested some com­ flowers, trees, or vegetables can promises. He recommended that disappear in a single season of because of the rampant nature of neglect and be gone forever, no dandelions they be removed, but longer able to contribute to the that some small plants-such as gene pool. Bellis perennis, clover, and vernacular landscapes may be The Gold Diggers Guild of the violet-remain to give character to appreciated the least by the local Southern Oregon Historical the lawn. people who live and work in it, Society recently hired Ken An interesting variety of plants but where local support for preser­ Guzowski, a landscape historian, was chosen for the project, ranging ving landscape values has devel­ to draw plans and make recom­ from the common to the rare. oped, it acts to enlarge the scope mendations for landscape inter­ Ornamental shrubs such as Pacific of historic districts. This can take pretation at the Catholic Rectory dogwood and common lilac (cho­ the form of recognizing in Jacksonville. The Society sen as the official city flower of agricultural patterns, the associa­ approved the plans, and the Gold Jacksonville in 1940) were easy to tions of families, stonework, Diggers embarked on an ambitious find, but varieties of Euonymus fences, and other components of project to recreate a typical Americanus such as the bursting the district as significant, integral historic landscape of Jacksonville heart were more difficult. Samples elements of the entire landscape. It in the 1870s. Guzowski recom­ of perennials chosen include: is hoped that this project will help mended only historic plant species hollyhock, common foxglove, to focus attention on other historic be installed and cautioned that larkspur, English lavender, Oregon landscapes in and around the ~ some of the rare varieties may be oxalis, wild sweet William, hairy historic district of Jacksonville." !!!! hard to find. Guzowski researched phlox, and sweet-scented violet. early horticultural endeavors in In his study, Guzowski sum­ Brad Linder is historic resources Jacksonville, most notably through marizes the art of historic land­ director for the Southern Oregon the diaries of Peter Britt. scape preservation: "Historic Historical Society.

TABLE ROCK SENTINEL NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 1992 21 eflections R on the Past •••••••••by Dr. Joseph Cox J:\ M E::.RRY C f-I R ISTrviAS HOLIDAYS PAST

ith the merciful conclu­ sion of fall elections we can turn our attention to W:\h,-rfriendly iliou9hrs at" Cl.ri s-rrn a s W W i ffi VJa.rm remembra.nce.too, the holiday season, which, thank­ .And '-Jishe s th a t'" the Nec..J Y ear may fully, is not yet politicized. No Be -v e ry ~ o o d -fo yo <-< . more ten-second sound bites. No more negative television adver­ tisements from candidates who had promised us they would not stoop This ca. 1930 postcard gives the simple message of Christmas, which today .can to such baseness. (It's enough to get overlooked amid commercialization. Southern Oregon Historical Society 64-204 make us wonder about the rest of their campaign promises.) gas rationing and cost, we took there, but modern liability and Though free of politics, the the train, an enormous black safety regulations have made the coming holidays are bound to be steam engine pulling a line of Christmas Garden obsolete. trivialized once again by over­ shiny green coaches and a red The entire day occurred on a commercialization. The genius of caboose belonging to the Western cash basis, for there were as yet no American advertising will not be Maryland Railroad. We were there credit cards. If we didn't have denied. Having warmed to the task in less than forty-five minutes. We much, we weren't that much in of selling candidates and ballot disembarked downtown, because debt, either. Christmas still was measures with such alacrity, the that is where all the stores and very special, even if there was only advertising world now may focus customers were in those days. one "big" present-especially if it full-force on selling us that electric Outlying areas were exclusively for was a Flexible Flyer sled or a Red shaver for Uncle Harry, the Civil War battlefields, cows, and Ryder air rifle. Cuisinart for Aunt Louise, and cornfields. Both the trains and the In retrospect, the olden times r.~.... that outrageously expensive per­ depot are gone now. weren't so bad. :::: .!!!!. fume or cologne for one's spouse. I got to remembering a Sufficiently bundled up in hats, Dr. Joseph Cox is a historian and Christmas long ago, which, in ret­ coats, gloves, and galoshes, we president of Southern Oregon State rospect, seems so ancient as to be made our rounds through the College. nearly an anachronism- and a snow, the carolers, the Salvation perfect subject for these meander­ Army kettles, and the Christmas ings. It was during World War II, outdoor displays which unabash­ and I was about seven. That edly were religious in theme. We Christmas was so different it might bought a pen for my dad, an addi­ be difficult to explain it to even tional piece or two for my prized my own three children, who think Erector set, and a sweater for my Dad is quaint anyway. mother, all at different stores that We lived in a small town in are gone now as well, replaced by western Maryland, a part of the new malls outside the city. Appalachia hit hard by the Depres­ The high points of the day for a sion. I was lucky. My dad was seven-year-old had to be the train past military service age and had a ride, dinner at a real restaurant job, so we were together as a fam­ (the Green Gables, also gone), and ily. Many of my second-grade a visit to the Antietam Street Fire classmates were not so lucky. Station, where the most wonderful One day shortly before model train extravaganza-in Christmas, we packed ourselves off Maryland, such displays were to the nearby, larger community of called Christmas Gardens­ Hagerst<;>wn for our thirty-five-mile lovingly was created each year by annual shopping trip. Because of the firemen. The firehouse is still

22 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1992 WHERE'S WALDO? t is hard to imagine, driving along Waldo Road south of I Cave Junction, that this rocky, brush-covered landscape once sprouted a town of several hundred people- complete with bowling alley and skating rink. Waldo was a mining settlement supply store (above), at one time that began with the gold rush in Josephine County's largest store. 1852 and faded along with the ore The only evidence of the town to deposits in the late 1920s. Finding travelers today is a historical marker on Waldo Road (left). Waldo today can be as challenging Southern Oregon Historical Society #2088, as the children's picture books by photo by Catherine Noah. the same name. A historical marker defining the town is easy enough to spot-just follow of California in 1853. (Waldo, before he was killed by another Highway 199 southwest of Grants which is near the California­ gunman in a barbershop in Walla Pass about ten miles past Cave Oregon border, was thought to be Walla, Washington. Junction and turn left on Waldo a part of California at the time; a In 1856 the people of Sailors' Road. You'll see the marker in a year later Waldo was discovered to Diggings were warned of an immi­ clearing on the left several miles be in Oregon. Miners before that nent attack by a "band of two to from the highway junction. voted in both states and paid taxes three hundred Indians within the But locating any remains of in neither.) next 24 hours," according to a let­ Waldo proves more difficult, as Waldo sported cobbler, butcher ter reprinted in the Crescent City most of the site was washed away and blacksmith shops, a brewery, Herald. "You must get together by hydraulic mining in the 1930s. stores, hotels, several saloons, a within this day and do the best A book on the history of Waldo bowling alley and a ballroom­ you can to prepare for a vigorous published in 1973 (Sailors' Digg­ skating rink. It also boasted defense." Other newspaper ings, by Willard and Elsie Street) Josephine County's first cour­ accounts tell tales of Indian said parts of the Waldo cemetery thouse and its largest supply store. assaults on saddle trains and of and the foundation of the town's Chinese miners resided in several the settlers' retaliations. But the largest supply store still can be buildings known as Chinatown. town of Waldo, apparently, never seen; it takes a tenacious explorer, Like most mining towns, Waldo suffered an attack by local Indians. however, to find them today. had its share of trouble. In the After World War I, mining Waldo was the largest settlement 1850s its precinct constable, George activity declined, and Waldo in an area encompassing twenty to Wells, and a notorious gambler gradually died. The last store twenty-five square miles known as and gunman named Fred Patterson closed in 1928. Mining, which gave Sailors' Diggings, probably named had a shoot-out in the doorway of birth to Waldo, also washed it after sailors who discovered gold Wells' cabin. Wells suffered away, thanks to hydraulic giants there on their way from the coast nothing more than a broken arm, looking for gold in bedrock in the while Patterson had several ribs 1930s. to established mines in southern 1~~II II Oregon. The town itself was shot out and nearly died. Patter­ 1111 named after William Waldo, Whig son recovered, however, and went Catherine Noah is editor of the party candidate for the governor on to shoot several more men Sentinel.

TABLE ROCK SENTINEL NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1992 23 TABLE ROCK SENTINEL INDEX FOR 1992 AGRICULTURE, Nv. 18-20 HISTORIC PRESERVATION, Ja. ARTISTS, Su. 34-44, Se. 2-10, Se. 31, Ma. 30, Su. 46, Se. 24, Nv. 11-14 21 ASHLAND, ORE., Su. 24-33, JACKSONVILLE, ORE., Ma. 31 Su. 45 Just a Clown with a Pencil, Se. Azure Allure, Se. 11-14 2-10 Book Review-An Arrow in the Kerr, Molly Walker, Su. 24-33 Earth: General Joel Palmer and KLAMATH FALLS, ORE., Su . ii the Indians of Oregon, Ma. 27 Korbuli<;, Mary, Nv. 2-11 BOOK PRICES, Nv. 11 Life in the Past Lane, Ja. 31, Ma. A Brief Bloom: The Tragically 30, Su. 46, Se. 24, Nv. 21 Career of Jacksonville Artist Linder, Brad, Ja. 31, Ma. 30, Su. Regina Dorland Robinson, Su. 46, Se. 24, Nv. 21 34-44 LINKVILLE, ORE., Su. ii Brown, Natalie, Ja. 32, Ma. MEDFORD, ORE., Se. ii 16-20, Ma. 31 Meek, Janette, Ja. 30. FROM THE COLLECTION BUCKSKIN, Ma. 11 MOUNT ASHLAND, Ma. ii Buffalo Bill: Stampeding into MOVING PICTURES, Se. 2-10 by Steve M. Wyatt Southern Oregon, Ma. 2-10 Mullen, Jay, Se. 15-22 BUTTONS, Ja. 30 Noah, Cathy, Ja. 16-27, Su. 45, FROHLICHE WEINACHTEN Chautauqua: The Cultural Spark Se. 11-14, Nv. 23 That Ignited Ashland, Su. Novak-Cronin, Maria, Ja. 2-11 If this German-crafted Weinachtsmann 24-33 OPP FAMILY, Ma. 12-26 (Santa Claus) could speak, he surely would CHRISTMAS, Nv. 12-17, Nv. 24 The Party of Hicks and Hayseeds, wish us a merry Christmas. That this Santa Christmas on the Frontier, Nv. Se. 15-22 12-17 PAYNE, CHAMPION T., Su. 47 has but one reindeer may be based on the Clan of the Cavemen: Grants Poet & Pioneer: C.E.S. Wood & 1820s book A New Year's Present to the Little Pass' Boisterous Prehistoric Bill Hanley in the Oregon Ones from Five to Twelve. In this work, a Boosters, Su. 2-13 Desert, Ja. 2-11 single reindeer was incorporated into the Santa CLOWNS, Se. 2-10 POETRY, Ja. 2-11 CODY, WILLIAM FREDERICK POPULIST PARTY, Se. 15-22 legend for the first time. Shortly thereafter "BUFFALO BILL," Ma. 2-10 Powell, Bill, Ma. 27 Clement Moore published A Visit from St. COLVIG, VANCE DEBAR RACISM, Su. 48 Nicholas. Moore gave Santa more speed to "PINTO," Se. 2-10 RAILROADS, Ja. ii COOLIDGE, ORLANDO, Ma. RANCH LIFE, Ja. 2-11 make his rounds from rooftop to rooftop when 28-29 Reflections on the Past, Ma. 32, he boosted Santa's team from one to twelve County Byways, Ja. 28-29, Ma. Su. 48, Se. 23, Nv. 22 reindeer. In 1939 Robert L. May added yet 28-29, Su. 47 Richardson, Paul, Ja. 12-15, Nv. another reindeer to Santa's team. May, an Cox, Joseph, Ma. 32, Su. 48, Se. 18-20 23, Nv. 22 ROBINSON, REGINA advertising copywriter, created Rudolph the CRATR LAKE, Se. 11-14 DORLAND, Su. 34-44 Red-Nosed Reindeer to illustrate a Christmas Curler, Dawna, Se. 2-10 ROGUE RIVER, Nv. 2-11 pamphlet for Montgomery Ward shoppers. DIARIES, Nv. 12-17 Romancing the Rogue, Nv. 2-11 Doody, William, Nv. 2-11 SANTA CLAUS, Nv. 24 This holiday figure, which dates from about Eckhardt, Linda, Nv. 12-17 SOUTHERN OREGON SALES, 1900, features a hand-woven sleigh. The EVANS, DAVIS "COYOTE," Ja. Ja. 32 reindeer is equipped with bobbing head and a 28- 29 That's Fairly Interesting: Odds & key-wound music box. When this Santa was Fancy Fruit: The Colorful History Ends of History, Ja. 33, Ma. of Rogue Valley Pear Labels, Ja. 33, Su. 49, Se. 25 new, he may have been considered actual size, 16-27 Then & Now, Ja. 32, Ma. 31, Su. as Santa was an elf. It was not until the 1920s, FERNS FAMILY, Su. 47 45 , Nv. 23 when a series of advertisements by the Coca­ FIRES, Se. ii TRIVIA, Ja. 33, Ma. 33, Su. 49, Cola Company featured Santa sipping his FISHING, Nv. 2-11 Se. 25 Flopping to Fame: An Interview U.S. CIVIL WAR, Ja. 12-15 favorite soft drink, did he achieve human stat­ with Dick Fosbury, Su. 14-23 U.S. ELECTIONS, Se. 15-22, Se. ure. This Santa was purchased from Earl FOSBURY, DICK, Su. 14-23 23 Isaac's Store in Ashland. John L. Grubb From the Collection, Ja. 30, Ma. U.S. PRESIDENTS, Ma. 32, Su. 11, Su. 44, Se. 23, Nv. 24 2-13, Se. 23 donated this ornament to the Southern Oregon FRUIT LABELS, Ja. 16-27 WALDO, ORE., Nv. 23 Historical Society in 1961. tfiii' FRUIT PACKING, Ja. 32 1111 Waldron, Sue, Ja. 28-29, Ma. .!!!L GOLD MINES & MINING, Ma . 12-26, Ma. 28-29, Su. 34-44, 12-26 Su. 47 Steve Wyatt is collections manager for the The Good Earth, Nv. 18-20 Wegner, Samuel J., Ja. 33, Ma. Southern Oregon Historical Society. Owing to GRANTS PASS, ORE., Su. 2-13 33, Su. 49, Se. 25 limited exhibit space, the majority of the GREY, ZANE, Nv. 2-11 Why Didn't We Celebrate? Greys That Glitter, Nv. 11 Southern Oregon & the Coming objects in the Society's collection often are not Growing Up at the Opp Mine, of Statehood, Ja. 12-15 seen by visitors. "From the Collection" is our Ma. 12-26 WILD WEST SHOW, Ma. 2-10 attempt to provide an informative glimpse of HANLEY, WILLIAM WOOD, C.E.S., Ja. 2-11 the scope of the Society's collection. DANFORTH, Ja. 2-11 Working, Russell, Su. 2-13 HEALTH RESORTS, SPAS, Wyatt, Steve M., Ma. 2-10, Ma. ETC., Su. 45 11, Su. 44, Se. 23, Nv. 24 Heilman, Robert, Su. 14-23

24 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1992 TABLE ROCK SENTINEL ~-~----~------l

Bobbins and spools from old woolen mills, $1.50 - $16

Books for every buff, $5. $25.

Reproduction pear crates, $10.

Reproduction mechanical windup toys, $3 - $8.

Hand-crocheted rugs, $32.