Making the Beekman House more visitor-friendly
by Amelia Chamberl ain
f you've driven by the comer of • provide access to the Laurelwood and California streets summer kitchen; in Jacksonville lately, you've • adjust thresholds in probably noticed something new doorways to allow at the Beekman House. Accessible easier passage by parking and walkways are being built to wheelchairs; make the site available to more people. • create a video to The interior of the "woodshed" has been provide an alternate remodeled to provide an mientation space form of access to for visitors to Beekman House, and the the second floor of bathrooms are being updated. Eventually, the house; we'll connect to the trail system recently • provide a place to developed behind the Beekman House view the video; and by the city of Jacksonville and the • remodel bathrooms Woodlands Association. to current ADA The remodeling project began with standards. a Facility and Program Accessibility All of this is being Evaluation done in November 1995 for done with minimal all Society sites. Several situations were impact to the historic identified and have been corrected at the integrity of the site. History Center. A chair lift was installed During its days as a The Beekman House appears today much as it did in this last year at the U.S . Hotel. (Above A.D. home for Jacksonville 1926 photo. The challenge is to maintain the home's historic A. Compliances made possible through banker C. C. Beekman character while making it more accessible to disabled visitors. theW. E. Thomas bequest.) Other and his family, the lot situations at the museums in Jacksonville consisted of three acres inside a fence and The yard has also undergone a number are being evaluated and addressed as another ten beyond. A two-story barn of changes over the years. The Society resources permit. stood much farther back on the southwest laid a brick sidewalk in 1966, using bricks Early last year, the Society made corner of the lot. The structure appeared fired at a late 1800s Kanaka Flats plans to address the following situations at on Sanborn Insurance maps for the first brickyard just west of Jacksonville to Beekman House: time in 1898. The barn remained on the give the look of an early brick walkway. • create an accessible parking space; lot for many years - well into the (In 1967, the Society began offering • correct the slope of the brick walkways twentieth century. guided tours of the Beekman House, and to make them less steep; The site of the building currently in 1984, the first living history tours being remodeled has had other began.) In 1974 a new fence was placed modifications. From the 1880s through around the property, and in 1978, the back at least 1907, there appears to have yard was terraced and bricked in around been a somewhat primitive wooden the well to correct a drainage problem. structure surrounded first on two sides, You're invited to see the new visitor and then on three, by lean-to awnings facilities and to visit with the Beekman or additions of some kind. In 1913, Mr. House living history family daily from Beekman paid $21.55 for the building 1:00 to 5:00p.m. beginning opening day of a woodshed at the house. of the summer season, Saturday, May 29, through Labor Day. Volunteers are currently being recruited to serve as greeters and act the parts of the Beekman family, friends, and relatives. Call 541-773-6536 for more information Visitors unable to reach the second about this program. I floor of the Beekman House can still take a peek at these nineteenth Amelia Chamberlain is programs century bedrooms on a videotape director for the Southern Oregon shown in a wheelchair accessible Historical Society. outbuilding on the Beekman grounds.
2 VOL . 1, NO. 5 Vol. 1, No. 5 May 1999 SOUTHERN OREGON HERITA FEATURE Frenchglen the Hard Way .••••••• 8 A road trip to remember in Eastern Oregon by Pat Paeper Our Own Voices: Feature: Frenchglen The Beekman House is getting the Hard Way easier to navigate DEPARTMENTS Our Own Voices . . . . . • . • . • • • 2 Making the Beekman House more visitor-friendly by Amelia Chamberlain Sunday Driving • • . . • . • . • • • • . • • • 4 Table Rock Challenger by William Alley Sunday Driving: From the Collections: From the Collections...... 5 Table Rock Challenger The Beekman House Welcome to the Beekmans' home by Mary Ames Sherret The SOHS News and Notes ...•.. 6 Rooted in Pioneers : Exhibits and program updates and calendar History: Mysterious Manzanita William Rooted in History • . • . • ...... • • 14 Bybee Manzanita: the "little apple" by Donn L. Todt and Nan Hannon SOUTI-IERN OREGON HERITAGE TODAY Members' and Donors' Corner. 15 Editorial Guidelines ature articles average 3.000 to 4,000 (pre-ed ited) words. Olher materials range from 500 to I ,000 words. RElectronic submissions are accepted on 3-1/4-inch disks The Pioneers • . •• • •• 16 and should be accompanied by a hard-copy printouL Cite all sources and construct endnotes and cutlines using the Chicago Manual of Style. The author is responsible for verification of Bybee of bridge fame cited facts. A selection of professional, unscreencd photographs and/or line rut should accompany submission byJamee Rae black-and-white or color. The Southern Oregon Hi storical Society reserves the right to use Society images in place of submiued material. All material should be labeled with author's name, mailing address, and telephone number. Manuscripts will be returned if accompanied by a self· addressed envelope stamped wilh sufficient postage. Authors ON THE COVER should provide a brief autobiographical note at lhe end of manuscripts. The Southern Oregon Historical Society secures rights to Society living history volunteers David Rishell full and final editing of all manuscripts, layout design, and one·time North American serial rights. Aulhors wi ll be and Jean Ayers portray Cornelius and Julia notified of acceptance of manuscripts within ninety days of receiving materials. ln most cases, payment is upon publication. Somhem Oregon Heritage Today takes great care Beekman, giving visitors a warm welcome at with all submitted material, but is not responsible for damage or loss. Only photocopies of irreplaceable original historical the Beekman House and adding a personal documents should be submitted. Facts, views, and opinions expressed in signed submissions are lhose of lhe author and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints or opinions of dimension to this historic home. See articles Sowht m Oregon Heritage Today or the Southern Oregon HistoricaJ Society. on pages 2 and 5. Southern Oregan Historical Society Ann Moore, Medford, ~KOND \1CE.WESo;DfNr Magazine StaH Southern Oregan Heritage Today is produced Board af Trustees Alice Mullaly, Central Point, TREASuRER Cynthia Wicklund, mcurr.1 AKJSIANI/CO.'MUNGJIONS using Quark XPress on Macintosh computers and is Stuart Allan, Medford Marjorie Overland, Medford ((X)I;:DHAIOR printed by Rom Offset lithographer!. Allen Alsing, Ashland, 11Rsr VlCE.f'I At left, Medford photographer Burhl Harwood recorded Hugo Lange's progress as he climbed Table Rock in his 1929 Essex Challenger. The route to the top of Lower Table Rock is now a popular hiking trail (see map below). he usual tranquility of Table At 7:30 in the morning of June 25, actual elapsed running time of a mere Rock was disrupted early in Lange, at the wheel of the Essex, left thirty-five minutes. At no time, it was the morning of June 25, 1929, Medford for Table Rock. Upon reaching reported, had the water temperature in the by the unfamiliar sound of an the base of Table Rock, final preparations radiator exceeded 108 degrees. internal combustion engine. were made for the ascent up the steep and Once on top, Lange drove his car to the TThe cause of this raucous intrusion on the difficult track, little more than a rutted trail rim, crossing 100 yards ofrock-strewn butte's usual serenity was a 1929 model in some spots. Among those along to ground "while the COPCO movie camera Essex Challenger stock sedan climbing the witness "the greatest test on motor ground out foot after foot of hair raising steep trail in an effort to become the first stamina ever accomplished in southern action pictures." At the rim the Essex was automobile to reach the summit of the Oregon," were Ernest White, shop parked and Lange and the others posed for locallandrnark. The Roaring Twenties was foreman for Armstrong Motors, present in the photographers. Sadly, the motion a decade rife with stunts. Flagpole sitting case the car required any mechanical picture footage taken by Bromley has was a common occurrence, and "Human work, and Herb Alford, local been lost. Flies" would travel from town to town representative of the Associated Oil It is not known if Lange's advertising scaling local buildings. In the large cities Company and a noted local jazz musician. stunt had any immediate impact on his of the East, it was not uncommon to Also along were Hugo Lange's son, Luke, dealership's sales. Lange would repeat his witness a daredevil perform stunts on the Jack Wirth, William Brockman, and automotive feat in September 1930, this open girders of a skyscraper under Elaine Crawford. To record the event an time behind the wheel of a bantam construction. During this period the unnamed reporter from the local paper American Austin, a much smaller nation's advertising industry was also was also along, as well as Medford automobile. i experiencing a new ascendancy, assisted photographer BurhJ Harwood. Rounding by the phenomenal growth of two popular out the group was Horace Bromley, William Alley is the archivist/historian for media: movies and radio. American advertising manager for the California the Southern Oregon Historical Society. Oregon Power Company (COPCO). advertisers wasted little time in developing ENDNOTES the publicity stunt into a major facet of Bromley was perhaps better known as 1. Medford Mail Tribune, 25 June 1929. For their product. "the COPCO Cameraman," and was there Additional information on Horace Bromley and The driving force behind the publicity with his seemingly ever-present 16mm the COPCO Current Events Newsreels, see the stunt on Table Rock was Hugo F. Lange, movie camera to record the event for the author's article in Vol. 4, No. 1 of Southem Oregon Heritage. vice president of Armstrong Motors. COPCO Current Events Newsreel. 1 In order to showcase the qualities of the Lange began his ascent at 8:15 in the Essex automobile, one of the more morning, with the coterie of witnesses popular and reliable machines of its day following along on foot. The Essex and holder of several speed and endurance plowed its way through the thick brush records, Lange came up with the idea of and over countless large rocks on the dtiving one of the unmodified, stock rough trail up the hill, estimated in places Directions: Take I-5 exit 32/33. Drive north on cars in his inventory to the summit of at a grade of up to 38 percent. Lange Table Rock Road to Wheeler Road. Tum left Table Rock. reached the summit of Table Rock after an and follow the signs to the Lower trail head. 4 VOL. l, NO. 5 The Beekman family home by Mary Ames Sheret The Beekman family, shown clockwise left to right, Cornelius, Ben, Julia, and Carrie. he Beekman family home and its original contents were rescued from the auction block nearly 40 years ago by the Siskiyou Pioneer Sites Foundation. TSummer visitors to this ca. 1870 Gothic Revival style home see how a prosperous The Beekmans' circa-1870 Gothic Revival-style home has a front porch (left) at the banker once lived in Jacksonville. When entrance on Laurelwood Avenue and a side porch facing California Street. the Beekmans moved into the home, Cornelius C. Beekman was already established in his downtown bank where medicine. Ben was instructed in Latin he bought, sold and shipped gold, served and high mathematics. He earned two as the Wells Fargo express agent, sold degrees from the University of Oregon school supplies, and dealt in real estate. and a law degree from Yale. He became He was married to Julia Hoffman and had an attorney in Pmtland and visited his three children: Ben, Carrie and Lydia. family often in Jacksonville. Education was important to the Carrie attended Mills Seminary in Beekman family. Shelves are filled with California where she studied history, books on literature, history, religion, French, music and literature, but an eye languages, music, nature, poetry and problem forced her to leave before graduation. When not traveling, Carrie played the organ at the Jacksonville Perfume bottles, silver-plated brushes Presbyterian Church, taught Sunday and a painted glass jewelry box adorn school, gave piano lessons, and was Carrie's dresser. active in the local Reading Circle along with her mother. The Beekman home was filled Assorted spices, with music. The first floor boxes and canned contains an organ, piano, a goods line the "Victrola" phonograph, and pantry shelves. many classical records. Life for the Beekman family was not without tragedy. Shortly after moving into the new home, five-year C. C. Beekman probably spent long hours Mary Ames She ret old Lydia died from measles. in this plush adjustable chair reading and is curator of smoking his pipes. This innovative piece of Her portrait still hangs in the collections and furniture was advertised in the 1890s as the master bedroom as a constant exhibits for the "best chair in the world. It combines in one reminder that life in early a Parlor, Library, Smoking and Reclining Jacksonville was not easy, Southern Oregon Chair, a Lounge or a full size bed." even for a prosperous banker. !1 Historical Society. SOU THERN OREGON HERITAGE TODAY 5 M a y I 9 9 9 HISTORY IS ALIVE BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING Coming in June eginning May 26, 5:30 pm B on May 29 TWO-WAY SEEING: the Beekman CINCO DE MAYO PIONEERS AND NATIVE Living History Wednesday, May 5 OREGONIANS program opens Children's Museum, Jacksonville Saturday, June 5, Free its doors where 3:30 to 4:30p.m. History Center, Medford costumed $3 members/$4 non-members 2:00p.m. characters play oin the fiesta! Ages 3-6 are invited ark your calendars for Shannon the parts of Cornelius and Julia Beekman Jto create traditional Applegate and Esther Stutzman's and their family. in the year 1911. Located M Mexican decorations and outstanding presentation exploring the on the comer of California and swing at our colorful relationships between, and experiences of, Lam·elwood streets in Jacksonville, the pinata. Preregister by Native Americans in Oregon and Oregon house and visitor center will be open April 30 by calling Trail pioneers. (Made possible by funding daily 1:00-5:00 p.m. 773-6536 or email us at from the Oregon Council for the Humanities, [email protected]. an affiliate of the National Endowment for the he History Store in Jacksonville Humanities.) Twill re-open on May 29 at the comer GOOD CLEAN FUN of California and 3rd streets. Thanks to Saturday, May 8 PHOTO PRESERVATION TIPS overwhelming support, the History Store Ashland Branch AND TECHNIQUES in the Mall is to remain open, contrary to 2:00 to 3:00p.m. Saturday, June 12 our previous announcement.. $3 members/$4 non-members History Center, Medford o the delight of many children, baths 1:00 to 4:00p.m. Program Schedule Twere once reserved as a once-a-week $10 members/$15 non-members event. During this workshop youth ages T)erfect for the genealogist but also 3 to 6 will explore the art of making soap CONVERSATIONS WITH •.. geared toward anyone interested in of different colors, shapes and sizes. r Saturday, May 1, Free learning how to effectively store, handle Preregister by May 5 by calling 488-4938. Ashland Branch and display family photographs. 1:00 p.m. ASHLAND BRANCH Preregistration and prepayment are "l"'eiTY Skibby, is well known for OPEN HOUSE required. Call 773-6536 for more 1 his extraordinary commitment to Saturday, May 15 infmmation. preserving Ashland's photographic 208 Oak Street, Ashland history. Terry will be on hand to share 1:00 to 3:00p.m. his collection of prints in a very Historic Preservation Week informative and entertaining way. oin us for a short program and check Jout our new facilites. For information ake some time this month to discover MAY DAY AT THE MALL call Jay Leighton at 488-4938. Tthe Valley's rich pioneer heritage. Saturday, May 1, Free Three cemetery tour brochures have just WASN'T THAT A TIME Rogue Valley Mall, Medford been completed in time for National Saturday, May 22 11:00 to 2:00p.m. Historic Preservation Week, May 9 Ashland Branch amilies are invited to come and through 15. Available at Society sites in 1:00 to 2:00p.m. Fdiscover the fun of weaving colorful Ashland, Medford, and Jacksonville. ribbons while dancing around a maypole. rop in for a light-hearted overview Family members can also make their own Dof Rogue Valley history featuring ANNUAL MEETING paper crowns, scepters and May Day historical quotes and portraits of some of June 25 baskets to celebrate spring's arrival. the area's most noteworthy characters. For more information about the Southem Oregon Historical Society, contact !IS ~II: . 106 North Central Avenue . Medford, Oregon 9750 I • Phone 541 · 773 · 6536 • Fax 541 · 776 · 7994 • Emml mfo <''sohs.org • Website www.sohs.org VOL. 1, NO. 4 Volunteers Needed ummer is corning and so are the Stourists! Volunteers are needed to greet and share local history with visitors in the Miner, Baker, Furniture Maker exhibit upstairs at the Jacksonville Museum. Training is provided. Volunteers are asked to give a minimum of 3 hours one day per week for the summer season. For more information, contact Dawna Curler at 773-6536. Get Ymr History IRe! MYSTERY OBJECT OF THE MONTH roduced by t~e Soci~t~ and Southern POregon Public TelevisiOn, the video his "MA" and "PA" have a special pril's Mystery Object was a ''An Air Minded City" is available at the Tpurpose at the dining table. They A Balance Scale. It was used by the History Center, the History Store in the measure 2-1/2" by 2-114". A winner will Chinese to weigh gold, teas and possibly Mall, and beginning May 29, the History be drawn from all correct answers herbal medicines. Congratulations to Store in Jacksonville. Member p1ice is received by May 31 and will be awarded February's Mystery Object winner, $19.95; nonmember price is $24.95. Film $5 in "Applegate Scrip," good toward any Carolyn Watson, Medford, Oregon. footage and photographs from the Society's Society purchase. Send your answer on a njoy the Mystery Object feature? collection b1ing to life development of 3 by 5 card with your name, address and Then be sure to watch "Kid's Q&A" aviation in the Rogue Valley. phone number to: News and Notes E on KTVL-TVlO. Each month Jackson Mystery Object, SOHS, 106 N. Central eproduction maps: 1910 Jackson County youth will try to stump viewers Ave., Medford, Oregon 97501. County, $5.95; 1910 City of Ashland, with different Mystery Objects. R $7.95; and 1904 Mining of Southern Oregon, $9.95. Now available at the History Center, the History Store in the IN JACKSONVILLE Mall, and beginning May 29, at the isit the Third Street Artisan Studios History Store in Jacksonville. AT THE HISTORY CENTER V in Jacksonville and learn more about overshot weaving in the exhibit uring the months of May, June NEW VISITOR INFORMATION featuring traditional and contemporary and July, the Community Collects SIGNS IN JACKSONVILLE D weaving. Demonstrations on Fridays and corner, presented by the Southern A series of colorful signs highlighting Saturdays from 11 :30 a.m. to 4:00p.m. Oregon Antique and Collectibles Club historic sites in Jacksonville has been through May 22. will feature "Celebration of Life" ritu~ls made possible through a grant of Oregon and rites of passage. Items on display he Beekman Living History State Lottery Funds. The signs are located will include a hope chest and bridal Tprogram begins its 16th season with at the Jacksonville museums on 5th Street baskets. a new visitors' orientation center and at the Jackson Creek junction behind the ' Visitors' Center on Oregon Street, Doc ome and take a peek at military exhibit. The exhibit features artifacts unique to the Beekman family and the Griffin Park on 4th Street, the U.S. Hotel Cstyle during the month of May at on the corner of California and 3rd streets the History Center. United States Navy early community of Jacksonville. A video will highlight the house and the and the Beekman House on the corner of and Marine Corps uniforms from the California and Laurelwood streets. past and the present will be on display. Beekman family. Hours are 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. daily, beginning May 29 through This exhibit is presented by the Camp Labor Day. Museum summer hours, White Historical Association. daily 10 a.m.- 5 p.m., beginning May 29 For many readers, a favorite way to enjey our region's history is to pile into the family car and visit a historic town such as Jacksonville, a museum in Eagle Point or a mining trail in the Applegate. But now that it's May and the weather is warmer, some of us feel the urge to travel toward a wide-open horizon and see some country. It's a time of year when the roads to far off Frenchglen beg to whisper their secrets ofadventure . . For people who appreciate history, the stark landscapes of the Great Basin invite interpretation. Take good maps and a copy of Oregon Geographic Names and find out how that big alkali lake off to the south got its name. Stop for lunch on the pass and ask yourself how you would cross this escarpment with horses and wagons, and maybe you'll make out a long-ago track still sketched in the sagebrush at just that-spot. Often times in the high desert, the history isn't so subtle. In fact, the dilapidated remains of long-gone coq:munities are pm1 of the charm. And when you've gone for hours without seeing a trace of humanity, then round a bend and come upon a lush hay bottom and a cozy ranch house, there's almost a sense of relief that somebody here is making a go of it. And so this month's Heritage Today presents a story about a trip thirty years ago into the wide-open lonesome of s€Jutheastem Oregon, where both the people and the place make history a continuing adventure. It's a triP. ou can still make today. Southeastern Oregon is still ranch country, and visitors must be prepared to brake for cowboys and cattle herds. At top, Steens Mountain rises to an elevation of9,773 feet to the east of the Catlow Valley plateau. Second from the top, breathtaking Kiger Gorge, cut by a glacier; falls away to the north from the summit of Steens Mountain. Above, the view of the Warner Valley wetlands from the road up the face of Hart Mountain is one of Oregon's most memorable vistas. 8 VOL. 1, NO. 5 n the late 1960s, at the foot of Hart and lived all his life. This house is about Mountain Antelope Refuge, on the far five miles south of the original homestead. shore of a dry lake bed named Guano, Charlie's parents had wanted to raise their a precisely squared white post stood as growing family closer to the Adel school, proper and out of place as a Victorian and water from Deep Creek, where they Idowager at a rodeo. It held a pointed state relocated, was much clearer than the highway sign. There was no road, but the mineral-laden water around the lake. They black lettering on the sign labeled the two homesteaded on the new property in parallel ruts that headed out through the 1900, and Charlie Crump was born that sagebrush as going to "Frenchglen 75 same year. Most of the Charlies' eleven miles" thataway. Clearly this situation children eventually moved on, but after qualified as a candidate for another round their father's death, nineteen-year-old of our favorite game, "Staying Off the Charlie bought the ranch from his mother, Blacktop." and with the help of his brother, Leland, A few months later, the spare time made ranching his way of life. 2 opened up, and the weather promised '.'Leland is away," Charlie told us. sunshine. We packed our four-wheel drive 'There's no one but me staying at the house with everything we thought necessary to right now, and I could use the company." survive in the lonesome high desert of No trip to the ranch was complete southeastern Oregon and drove away from without a visit to Crump's geyser. In 1959, suburban Portland. the Nevada Thermal Power Company, We pulled onto Charlie Crump's ranch looking for suitable sites to tap into the Crump Geyser, the result of exploratory near Adel in Warner Valley in late geothermal activity that lies beneath drilling just north ofA del, now only afternoon. Crump's family was so much Warner Valley, contracted with Charlie to sporatically erupts. a part of the land that state highway maps drill an exploratory well. They went down show a lake that carries their name - 1,684 feet and hit hot water, but it wasn't 150 to 200 feet for most of the following given after 1885, when Charlie's parents, hot enough to meet their specifications. year. 3 Charlie had a lot of visitors during Thomas and Johanna Crump, became the So, on June 29, 1959, the company that display. first family to homestead along the lake. 1 released its interest in the well, packed up Unfortunately, crime interfered. Early We had planned to camp in his yard, and moved on, leaving Charlie with a new in 1960, vandals piled large boulders and but Charlie, a quiet, hospitable man, hole in his ranch. Two days later, on July debris in and around the well casing. In wouldn't hear of it. He invited us into his 1 sometime between noon and 1:15 p.m., spite of the obstruction, the geyser house, the house where he had been born the well erupted with considerable continued to erupt nonstop until June, violence, spewing out when it slowed to a 30-second eruption drilling mud and debris. every two minutes. The intervals between Charlie went to see what all eruptions gradually increased until July 20, the commotion was about when they stopped.4 and found water still boiling At the time of our visit, only the at the top of the well. When rumblings of boiling water could be heard it exploded again, Charlie down in the bowels of the well. However, put the time at 1:55 p.m. Charlie found the geyser could usually be This time, without stopping, triggered by lowering a rock-filled coffee the geyser blasted 400 to 600 can down the shaft and waiting until steam gallons of water to heights of pressure built to just the right point. Then, SOUT HERN OR EGON HERITAGE TODAY 9 the trick was to grab the rope and run, pulling the can quickly out of the hole. If the coffee can operator had waited the proper amount of time since the geyser's last eruption, the can would shoot into the air, and a dazzling column of steam and water would erupt high into the desert sky. Through long experience, Charlie was an expert. We told him about the sign at Guano Lake, and he gave directions and landmarks with the ease of someone long familiar with the territory. But .. . "Since you won't be struting out until the morning, how about joining me and a few neighbors on a porcupine hunt"? Charlie had been a sheep man most of his life, but in the 1950s he decided to run Angus cattle. Recently, several head of his stock had put their curious noses too close to a porcupine. If the injured cattle weren't The struggles of ranchers and homesteaders in the basin and range country of southeastern found quickly and the quills removed, Oregon played out over some of the most spectacular landscapes in the West. 1930 Map. infection could be fatal. Charlie wanted to cut down on the porcupine population, expected to do anything, which was good. should be fine. Just ease it along. That's and our van with its box-like rack on top I had no intention of helping them, though good. A little more. Good. You can all would provide a higher lookout for the I hadn't wanted to be left behind. spread out now. See anything up there?" hunt than the bed of a rancher's pickup. However, the dike was a narrow, earthen He had his head out the window again. Night was the best time; the ranchers berm in need of maintenance after some The hunters raised their guns to several could immobilize porcupines with their recent flooding, and as we crept along, I false alarms that night, but never fired a spot lights, making for an easy shot. began to question my determination to be shot. This time, the porcupines of Warner It was black dark when we headed out. a part of this macho undertaking. Valley were safe. My husband drove, and Charlie took my I knew I should have stayed at the ranch As we left Charlie's the next day, place as navigator. We had removed the house when Charlie told my husband, surrounded by dramatic country, we back seats when we loaded for our trip, so "Go real slow now, and stop the minute I climbed ever higher, the air so crisp and I sat in back on the van floor along with tell you to. There's a little washout up pure it seemed we had to be close to the the rest of the hunters. here, and we'll have to be careful." top of the world. The land appeared Charlie thought he knew where to find His "Stop!" was quiet and abrupt as he empty and untamed; it fell away behind porcupines, and getting to them involved leaned his head out the window and us in waves of seemingly barren hills and driving along an irrigation dike. When we looked up. "OK. Everybody move to the isolated buttes. As our four-wheel drive reached the dike, all but two of the high side." He pulled his head in and ground and jolted on up the incline, we ranchers climbed into the top rack with turned to look down at the three of us on too felt isolated, the only living creatures their guns and flashlights. The two men the floor. "You too. All get over against in existence. left in the back of the van poked their that side." Then Charlie moved himself Then we rounded a curve, and a guns out side windows. Apparently, as the closer to my husband. "All right, just ease pewter-gray stallion stood on the rocks only woman on this expedition, I wasn't her gently around that washout there. You above us. Tense. Alert. His stocky power posed against the sky. The silken blacks, browns, and russets of his mares were scattered up the hillside behind him; they didn't look up. Content in the stallion's protection, they continued browsing on clumps of dry grass. We had that moment, that memory etching instant. Then the stallion made his decision and snorted a command. With hooves pounding and manes and tails streaming in the sunshine, the wild band flowed into a hidden canyon. Beyond the horses, the track began to descend, then leveled out onto a plateau. According to our map, we were in Catlow Valley. Only in relation to the buttes and Looking north from Long Hollow, Catlow Rim defines the eastern edge ofCatlow Valley, mountains in the distance could this place once an ice-age lake. The ancient, wave-cut shoreline is still visible along the rim at right. be called a valley. The plateau rose nearly 10 VOL. 1, NO . 5 5,000 feet in elevation, and the wild land ran flat for miles, dry and cracked Chester Nye between the widely separated, stunted stops with his clumps of vegetation. A pluvial lake pack string for during the last ice age, the valley was now supplies at the only a thin layer of volcanic soils covered Frenchglen sediments compacted into hardpan.5 general store Except for the indistinct track we in the I 940s. followed, it existed for us as a land so innocent of man's intrusion it could have been an island on Mars. The wind took advantage of the limitless space, and we ate lunch in the van to avoid the dust. following the 1909 Homestead Act, you stay here, as long as you leave things It was impossible to recognize this as settlers began swarming onto the land. the way you found them and make certain the place David Shirk described as a By 1914 the population had grown to 500 your fire is out." cattleman's paradise. In 1873, when he - some accounts say 700 - and for a few Later, I found little information about drove a large herd of cattle onto what was years Catlow Valley hummed with the origin of the town, or why, even then an unnamed plateau, he found tall activity. However, when a warmer, drier though it is in the Catlow Valley, it was grass waving on the foothills and the floor weather cycle began, it soon proved that named after the nearby Blitzen Valley. covered with white sage, good forage for the rich land could not produce without Apparently, like so many small towns in cattle. Shirk, foreman for a rancher named readily available water. By 1920, the that country, it began sometime after the John Catlow, named this new grazing land census takers found only 178 people. 1909 Homestead Act and just grew in 6 after his employer. Now, only a few ranches remain.7 answer to the settlers' needs. I found As the ranchers moved in, the area was When we moved on, the dust got Blitzen first anchored in hist01y when the used primarily as range land for both worse. The vague track dissolved into a post office was established AprillO, 1916. cattle and sheep. The lush grazing was fine powder that billowed chalk-white There had been a post office down in the already showing signs of depletion when, behind us, and the wind worked to drive Blitzen Valley from 1888 untill892.8 alkali dust into our van. By late afternoon, Perhaps, when the new post office was we were out of the alkali and we were established up on the plateau, wondering about a place to camp out of approximately thirty-five miles south, it the wind. carried the name with it. In its glory days, On the horizon, like a mirage, we saw Blitzen boasted two stores, a hotel, a buildings, the skeletons of poplars - and saloon, a school and several residences in corrals. Hooray! A ranch. There was life addition to the post office. By the 1920s, on the planet, but it was much farther nearly all the settlers in Catlow Valley had away than it appeared. The desert night been starved out, and Blitzen remained as chill was corning down fast by the time the only settlement. It lingered on until we arrived and found the place as empty the last store shut its doors in November as the land around it. 1942.9 The post office closed on January Strange looking for a ranch, the 31, 1943. 10 buildings were lined up in what, at one The Blitzen Valley is named after the time, had been fairly straight rows along Donner und Blitzen River, which flows each side of the road. The fences were in good repair, but most of the building walls Until his killing in leaned crookedly in on sunken roofs. Only I 897, Peter French, a couple of the buildings were clean and left, supervised well-maintained. One contained a wood ranching operations burning cook stove and an old wooden on 200,000 acres table with mismatched chairs. Our home in the Blitzen for the night, it held the wind and dust at Valley and bay, and the stove warmed us while it surrounding area. cooked our dinner. The wind calmed by morning, and we went out to explore while our breakfast i .'..,o&J·~ heated on the wood stove. The white car ~~~·~ with its pluming tail of dust corning in from the direction we had yet to explore surprised us. When it stopped by our van, Dr. Hugh Glenn, we saw the logo on the car's door. A game a California warden had come to visit. investor, provided In answer to my question, the warden the financial In this I 970s photo, rancher Charlie told us we were in the ghost town of backing for Peter Crump ofAdel tends the rock-filled coffee Blitzen. "Ranch hands come up and use French 's cattle empire. can he so skillfully employed to coax an the corrals and a couple of the buildings eruption from Crump Geyser. PHarOS FROM "CATILE COUNrRY OF PETER FRENCH," BY GlLES during roundup time," he said. "It's OK if FRENCH. COURTESY OF 8INFORDS & MORT, PuBLISHERS, 1964. SOU THE RN OREGON HERITAGE TODAY 11 Looking down on Frenchglen from the rim above town shows that it remains a very small community. Dating tol916, the Frenchglen Hotel is now owned by the people of Oregon and remains a favorite destination for travelers to Steens Mountain and the Malheur Wildlife Refuge. It has changed little since this photo was taken in the 1960s. along its floor. During the Snake War of moved about fifteen miles from 1864, Colonel George B. Currey led his Somerange to its present location in troops across the stream during a furious Frenchglen. Apparently it remained thunderstorm and named the river the registered as the Somerange Post Office Donner und Blitzen, using the German until October 1, 1930, when the name was words for thunder and lightning. Today officially changed to Frenchglen. The the river is frequently referred to only as Frenchglen post office was closed in 1941, the Blitzen. 11 then opened again March 20, 1947. 13 Frenchglen was named after Peter Frenchglen owes its longevity to the French and Dr. Hugh Glenn, the California attraction of nearby Malheur National investor he worked for. French arrived in Wildlife Refuge, which includes many the Blitzen Valley in 1872, and, until slain of the French-Glenn holdings that were by a settler "On December 1, 1897, he purchased by the federal government in operated one of the largest and most 1935. As the refuge gained fame and successful ranches in the valley. Ultimately, the spectacular vistas of nearby Steens his operation came to be known as the Mountain became known, visitors strokes, then scrubbed down and let the French-Glenn Livestock Company. 12 discovered Frenchglen and the layers of dust stream away. I doubt there are any historical accounts Frenchglen Hotel. Clean once again, we headed through of Harney County that do not give space The hotel was built in 1916 to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, to Peter French, Dr. Hugh Glenn, the accommodate teamsters and stagecoach north toward home. lil French-Glenn Company and the huge P passengers traveling between Burns and Ranch in the Blitzen Valley. However, like Winnemucca and was extensively Pat Paeper is a freelance writer the town of Blitzen, there seems to be no renovated in the 1930s by the Civilian and amateur anthropologist living near record of when the flrst buildings came to Conservation Corps. 14 Tucked in its grove Frenchglen, which is located only a few of poplars, with its screened porch and its Corbett, Oregon. short miles from the P Ranch. On promise of hot coffee, it still seemed December 1, 1926, the post office was ready to welcome the next string of Postscript: freight wagons from Winnemucca when During our visit, Charlie Crump spoke we arrived. I jokingly told the proprietor fondly about a woman he was "seeing that, after the alkali flats, I looked forward over near Willow Creek." We thought that to the public bath that every town in the Charlie, the perennial bachelor, was doing Old West offered. pretty well for a man in his late sixties. He grinned in delight. "We have one!" And he was; at the age of seventy, Charlie he said. "It's not in town, but about a got married. The couple had nineteen quarter-mile south. You'll see it, just right years together before his death in 1989. off the road. A rancher owns it, but he In 1991 , Charlie's niece and her leaves it open to everyone, no charge." husband purchased the ranch from What a treat. The water came directly Charlie's widow and now operate it with from a warm spring housed in a the help of Leland Crump's son, John. In weathered, bone-gray building, and 1995, the Crump Ranch received the constantly flowed through the four-foot designation of Centennial Ranch, one deep pool. We soaked and swam a few which has been owned and operated by the same family for at least 100 years. In 1973, the Frenchglen Hotel was deeded to the state of Oregon. Designated a State Heritage Site, it became a part of the Oregon State Parks system. 15 The famous round bam near bathrooms are still down the hall, and Diamond, north of dinners are still served family style. Frenchglen, to give his men Although battered and diminished by a covered place to work time and vandalism, a few buildings still horses during the long, cold show the location of the once-bustling winters on the P Ranch. town of Blitzen. 12 VOL . 1, NO. 5 GETTING TO FRENCHGLEN If you're thinking how much fun it would be to make the trip to Frenchglen, think harder about how you plan to get there, and allow most of a day's driving each way. Lakeview is 171 miles from Medford via Highway 140. Beyond Lakeview the travel choices multiply. For those uncomfortable with remote routes and rough roads, reach Frenchglen via U.S. 395 and U.S. 20 to Bums- about 140 miles - and another sixty-three miles south on Oregon 205 to Frenchglen itself .• I I < ~' I Or follow Highway 140 east from ' \ I ) Lakeview through Adel to Denio, Nevada l -about 100 miles- then take Oregon 205 north seventy-eight miles to Frenchglen. Bureau of Land Management recreation planner Trish Lindaman says she often sees wild horses on this route, particularly near the Nevada line. • For a more adventurous trip, tum nmth at Adel and drive past Crump and Hart lakes to Plush, about eighteen miles. Follow the signs to Hart Mountain Refuge. The pavement ends after fifteen miles, and it is another fifty-two miles of gravel to Oregon 205, then another 10 miles to Frenchglen. Snows can keep this route closed into May, says Steve Clay of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service .• And then there's the route Pat Paeper and her husband took by four-wheel drive many years ago. ELM road 6106 v leads north from Highway 140 about twenty-one miles east of Adel and skirts Guano Lake, then joins a network of back roads and two-tracks, many of them Before taking the back way into Wildlife Service at (541) 947-3315. unmarked .• Frenchglen, obtain up-to-date information Reservations are required at the Although these back roads start drying and maps at the ELM's Lakeview Frenchglen Hotel, and should be made out in May, the ELM's Lindaman warns Resource Area office at (541) 941-2177 well in advance. The hotel season is that it is still easy to get lost or stuck in or the Bums District ELM office at from March 15 to November 15. Call the back country, where cell phones don't (541) 573-4400. For road conditions at (541) 493-2825 for information. always work. Hart Mountain, call the U.S. Fish and ENDNOTES 5. Ferguson, Denzel and Nancy, Oregon's Great 11. McArthur, Lewis A., Oregon Geographic 1. Interview with Ed Stabb and JoAnne Crump Basin Country, (Bums, Ore.: Gail Graphics, Names, Fifth Edition, (Portland: Oregon Stabb, current owners and operators of the 1978) p. 8. Historical Society, 1982) p. 230. Crump Ranch. 6. Harney County Chamber, A Lively Little 12. French, Giles, Cattle Country of Peter French, 2.Ibid. History, p. 59. (Portland, Ore.: Binfords & Mort, 1964) 3. Peterson, Norman V., "Lake County's New 7. Hatton, Raymond R., Oregon's Big Country, pp. 89-93, endpaper map. Continuous Geyser," The Ore-Bin, Oregon A Portrait of Southeastern Oregon, (Bend, Ore.: 13. Helbock, Oregon Post Offices, p. 41 , 94. Maverick Publications, 1988) pp. 105-109. Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, 14. Gulick, Bill, Roadside History of Oregon, September 1959, p. 83. 8. Helbock, Richard W., Oregon Post Offices, (Missoula, Mont.: Mountain Press Publishing 4. Peterson, Norman V., "Vandalism Kills Crump 1847- 1982, Second, Revised Edition, (Lake Company, 1991) p. 314,323. Geyser," The Ore-Bin, Oregon Department of Oswego, Ore. : Raven Press, 1985) pp. 15-16. 15. Merriam Jr., Lawrence C., Oregon Highway Geology and Mineral Industries, August 1960, 9. Hatton, Oregon 's Big Countly, p. 109. Park System 1921-1989, An Administrative p. 83. 10. Helbock, Oregon Post Offices, p. 16. History (Salem, OR: Oregon State Parks Department) p. 183. SOUTHERN OREGON HERITAGE TODAY 13 Manzanita: the ""little apple" by Donn L. Todt and Nan Hannon anzanita. The syllables roll As summer comes, manzanita's off the tongue, recalling adaptations to drought become the influence of Spanish more obvious. Manzanita leaves colonists on the character have a thick surface layer that helps of the Far West. In prevent moisture loss. The plant California, Spanish names preceded holds its leaves canted away from English names for plants and landscapes: direct sunshine, lessening the heat madroiia, pinon, toyon, charniso, yerba load on the leaf. Manzanitas also santa, yerba buena, chaparral. Plants have roots able to penetrate small characteristic of the California Floristic cracks in rock and draw out Province extend into Southern Oregon, but moisture unavailable to many north of the Umpqua River drainage, the other species. character of the landscape changes and few Like many chaparral plants, plants bear Spanish names. Manzanita is manzanita is fire-adapted. Wildfire one that does. assists manzanita in its competition Manzanita means "little apple" in with conifers. Unchecked by fires, Spanish and refers both to the shape and conifers will overtop and shade out color of the fruit and its apple-like flavor. shrubs. Fire opens the landscape, Clusters of reddish-orange fruit ripen in allowing manzanita seeds to early autumn, offeting a warm contrast to germinate and spread. Numerous the clean curves and cool green color of species of manzanita also resprout the foliage. Chipmunks, ground squirrels, from the base after fire consumes birds and bears relish the fruit. In the fall in the aboveground portion of the manzanita country, bear scat is often plant. Rapid growth from an composed of a good percentage of partially already-established root system .llliillll~~--, ~ digested manzanita fruit, ..i z indicating how much bears z 8 rely on manzanita. The Latin f;; genus name for manzanita, Arctostaphylos, actually j means "bear grapes." The manzanita's cheeiful Native American peoples flowers and coloiful orange of southwest Oregon bark obscure the fact that this gathered the fruit in the hardy plant encourages wildfire autumn to store through the as a part of its survival strategy. winter. Women made a refreshing cider from the pulp, and also used the tart Because of their volatility, fruit to flavor bland foods. manzanitas may be a fire hazard Shasta Indians added dried when growing in dense stands and pulverized manzanita as close to homes at the rural-urban a flour to acorn meal and boundary. In these situations, Takelman people added it to cooked sugar gives these manzanitas a head start in thinning reduces fire danger. Pruning the pine seeds. Manzanita flour was also used dominating fire-cleared ground. small, dry branches from the interior of the to sweeten the tart fruit of elderberries, Since fire ensures the long-term manzanita reduces its flammability and three-leaf sumac and wild plums. 1 continuity of many manzanita stands, it accentuates its intrinsically beautiful Euroamerican settlers used the flavorful is not surprising that the shrub evolved structure. t fruit to make jelly. mechanisms to encourage fires. The It surprises some people to learn that manzanita's branching pattern produces a Ethnobotanist Donn L. Todt serves as manzanitas are members of the heath large volume of small twigs - what fire horticulturist for the city ofAshland. family, which includes such moisture specialists call "fine fuels." As the twigs Anthropologist Nan Hannon is education loving species as rhododendrons and die in the interior of the plant, they remain coordinator for the Mail Tribune. huckleberries. When manzanitas flower attached to the shrub. In a fire, they ignite in early spring, the family relation is quickly and bum fast and hot. As they ENDNOTES apparent. The small pink and white flowers bum, manzanitas also release a volatile gas l. Roland B. Dixon, " The Shasta," Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. 17, closely resemble heather blooms. Since that gives the fire an explosive quality. A No. 5, p. 48. Dennis J. Gray, "'The Takelma and manzanitas are among the first of the hillside of manzanitas can bum quickly, Their Athapascan Neighbors," University of native plants to bloom, hummingbirds with up-slope fue velocities exceeding the Oregon Anthropological Papers No. 37, p. 31. and honeybees seek them eagerly. speed at which a person can run. 14 VOLUME 1, NUMBER 5 PATRON Gloria M. Wood, Central Point Mr. and Mrs. C.H. Verdell S. Coleman, Medford Gertrude C. Woods, Ashland Herman, Medford Mr. and Mrs. Richard Schultz, *Mr. and Mrs. John D. Hopkins, Ashland PIONEER/FRIENDS Applegate Suzanne L. Watkins, Medford Bertha L. Bennett, Grants Pass Julia Ann Horton, Medford Mr. and Mrs. Edward Bennett, Robert W. Sage, Medford DIRECTOR La Quinta, CA Mr. and Mrs. Tim Root, Ashland Kay Green, Central Point PATRON BUSINESS Mr. and Mrs. James C. Hayes, Mr. and Mrs. I vend Holen, Medford LTM, Inc., Central Point Medford *Sue Smead, Medford Members Arlene E. Hoffman, Eagle Point Joan D. Williams, Medford Renewing Members Lillie Myers, Phoenix Dr. and Mrs. Kenneth E. Wyatt, Sidney, BC FRIENDS Mr. and Mrs. Robert Nelson, Medford New Members Joyce Abrams, Cave Junction Dutch Offenbacher, Jacksonville PIONEER/PATRON Mr. and Mrs. Chris Barker, Medford Leah Ritchey, Medford H. L. Bush, Medford FRIENDS Mr. and Mrs. Everette Christian, June Slay, Riddle Dorene Cantrall Fisher, Sisters Ashland's English Country Cottage, Medford Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Stephenson, Ashland Mr. and Mrs. Roy G. Kimball, Mr. and Mrs. Vincent Claflin, Phoenix Grants Pass Medford Heidi Ansell, Jacksonville Bill Dugan, Medford Dale Throckmorton, Hillsboro Mr. and Mrs. A.E. Piazza, Medford Nina K. Bunnell, Phoenix Marshall Ferg, Brookings Mary A. Trim, Medford Jean E. Cook, Ashland CURATOR Barbara Hanel, Medford Verity Day Dierauf, FAMILY Britt Festivals, Medford San Francisco, CA John Harmon, Medford Mr. and Mrs. David Close, Medford *Dr. and Mrs. Laurence Ware, Margaret Eagan, Ashland Dr. Susan MacKinnon, Medford Mrs. John F. Daley, Jr., Medford Medford Dale A. McCay, Jacksonville Mr. and Mrs. RobertS. Miller, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Day, Medford PIONEER/CURATOR Alfred R. Mercer, Medford Carmichael, CA Ramona Keams, Medford Mr. and Mrs. Bob Dreiszus, Talent Mary R. Niccolls, Jacksonville Dr. Emmy Lou Merriman, *Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Luschen, Medford Central Point Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Sargent, Ashland Mr. and Mrs. Tony Ramsey, Medford LIFETIME Robert S. Saunders, Ashland Bettie Newland, Medford *Lois Smith, Central Point *Robert M. Hight, Medford Susan Reynolds, Ashland Dr. Robe1t M.Weiss, Medford Mr. and Mrs. Steven Swartsley, BUSINESS Mr. and Mrs. Frank H. Richard, Mr. and Mrs. Brian Wilby, Medford Abell Architectural Group, Medford Medford Fort Jones, CA Dr. and Mrs. John Traynor, Medford Double Tree Hotel, Medford Rogue River RV Park, Shady Cove *Ciaude-Ma.J.ie Ward, Ashland PIONEER/FRIENDS Mr. and Mrs. Jim Root, Medford PIONEER/BUSINESS Erline Gault, Talent Jean Smith, Central Point PIONEER/FAMILY Larry Rogers, CPA, PC, Medford Betty Alvord Johannson, Medford Paul Sotos, Ashland *Winifred Birdseye Becker, Spokane, WA Kermit Stevens, Medford FAMILY *Mr. and Mrs. Bill Breeden, Medford *Indicates upgraded membership Mr. and Mrs. Robert Bills, Medford Laurie Teply, Medford Mrs. Monte Campbell, Eugene category or monetary contribution in Dome School, Cave Junction Mary Vandenberg, Medford addition to membership dues for Mr. and Mrs. Alex Hamilton, Jr., Bend Society programs. Would you like to see Donors your name here? ANNUAL SPECIAL CONTRIBUTIONS CONTRIBUTORS FUND Gold Diggers' Guild of the L.D. Josephson Southern Oregon Historical Society By becoming a member of the Beverly S. Morris Mr. John Purcell Mr. and Mrs. C.W. Naas Southern Oregon Historical Society, Clyde Shoemaker IN-KIND GOODS & you play an important role in SERVICES MEMORIALS Avista Utilities continuing to make history matter. in memory of Walter Bacigalupi Rogue Disposal & Recycling, Inc. Peggyann Hutchinson Valley Web Printing Membership is essential to the Southern Oregon in memory of Frances Neil Vawter Peggyann Hutchinson Historical Society. It allows us to present important SOUTHERN OREGON educational programming for students, preserve the HISTORICAL SOCIETY priceless collections, publish history magazines for GENERAL COLLECTION FOUNDATION Bonnie Bayard youth and adults, organize and create exhibitions Ralph Emerson Hibbs Endowment Fund that interpret Southern Oregon history, and enrich Bruce McGarvey Contributors our collections with new acquisitions. Ann Moore Mr. and Mrs. Robert Bills Marian T. Place Mrs. Mary Delsman We invite you to join us. Aubrey Sander Circles of Giving Call Membership Coordinator Susan Cox-Smith Ben Truwe Cheryl Breeden at (541) 773-6536 Charles T. Sears Dr. and Mrs. A.L. Clay Dean Truscott Visit our website at www.sohs.org Marga.J.·et Richey SOUTHERN OR EGON HERITAGE TODAY 15 WILLIAM BYBEE A man of prominence and mystery by Jamee Rae illiam Bybee was a pioneer, an adventure seeker, a landowner Wand a shrewd businessman who liked nothing more than William Bybee married to turn a profit. But this man Elizabeth Walker in 1854, who figured so prominently in and a year later inherited Jackson County's history was 2,000 acres from his once indicted for the murder father-in-law. of a distant cousin. At the peak of Bybee's But two William Bybee influence in the Rogue Valley, mysteries remain: Did he his family was one of the shoot and kill his cousin, county's largest landowners. Thomas T. Bybee, in cold The empire included about blood in 1886? Records 7,000 acres in Jacksonville, show that at the time of the Rogue River and along murder, Bybee was awaiting Antelope and Evans creeks.' The Bybee House on Old Stage Road, built in 1868 on the land trial for shooting that same While historians hail Bybee of a former thoroughbred race track, has been named to the cousin in the leg. The as Jackson County's first land National Register of Historic Places. Josephine County grand jury baron, they also remember declined to indict on the him for raising livestock and murder charge, but the cloud as owner of a fording and ferry service left his home state of Kentucky and of suspicion against Bybee remained. And in the late 1850s that crossed the Rogue headed west. The pioneer stopped briefly why did Bybee sell off all his assets, River at the current location of Bybee in California, then traveled north to leaving only his Jacksonville home at the Bridge at Tou Yelle State Park. Portland before settling in Southern time of his death? While there are no From 1878 to 1882, Bybee served two Oregon in 1854. records indicating bad investments, some tetms as Jackson County sheriff. During That same year Bybee met and married believe Bybee was forced to sell his his heyday, Bybee also operated a resort Elizabeth Ann Walker, the daughter of holdings because he had overextended at Evans Creek and a placer mine in Captain Jesse Walker. In 1855, Captain his assets. Josephine County, grew mission grapes in Walker died and left about 2,000 acres of Elizabeth died at the age of sixty-one, Jacksonville and built one of the longest undeveloped land in Jacksonville to the after fotty-five years of marriage. William mining ditches in Southern Oregon. He couple. This real estate was the was seventy-eight when he died at his reportedly owned most of the hogs in the foundation of Bybee's fortune. Jacksonville home in 1908.1 Rogue River Valley for a forty-year Elizabeth bore eleven children. Six pe1iod, moving up to 600 animals at a died before or during their teens. None of Jamee Rae is a local freelance writer, time through the Siskiyou Mountains to the surviving three sons - James William editor and proofreader. She does business mining camps in California and Nevada.2 (Billy), Francis (Frank) or Robert- as "Writing For All Reasons." Traveling through rough terrain was • married or had children. Daughters Effa ENDNOTES: nothing new to Bybee. In 1851, at the age and Minnie married and raised families. 1. The Table Rock Sentinel, July 1981 of twenty-one, he joined a wagon train, 2. The Table Rock Sentinel, August 1981 Non·profit Org 1l~l::l:::1:l:l:: = f::l ll: ::::H:!!l!i :i !J,l,~!~ll:!!! ! ~~!! l i!i! US POSTAGE PAID MR. R.U. MCBAINE Perm it No. 164 :i .300 OREGON :=;T Medford, OR ASHLAt··iD DR 3?.520-3.3.38 ltf.!~ SOUTHERN llll OREGON llll HISTORICAL .!!!!. SOCIETY 106 N . Central Ave. Medford, Oregon 97501-5926 SOUTHERN OREGON HERITAGE TODAY