エピソード

  • Space-age whalers help grow fur coats, put a man on the moon

    Space-age whalers help grow fur coats, put a man on the moon
    2025/02/06
    Few people know a small whaling venture was launched in Astoria in 1961 — seeking whale oil for the space program and whale meat to feed to hungry minks. But breakthroughs in synthetic oil made whale oil unnecessary, and they stopped. (Hammond, Clatsop County; 1960s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1108a2-astoria-whaling-operation-was-helping-with-space-program.html)
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    7 分
  • Oregon embraced Carnegie Libraries like no other state

    Oregon embraced Carnegie Libraries like no other state
    2025/02/05
    Of the 32 towns in Oregon offered a grant to build a library, not one failed to raise its matching money; no other state was as successful. Today, the distinctive looking split-level edifices are architectural treasures in their communities. (Statewide; 1900s, 1910s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1109d-carnegie-libraries-in-oregon.html)
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    8 分
  • Shevlin was Oregon’s own wandering timber town

    Shevlin was Oregon’s own wandering timber town
    2025/02/04
    The little logging-company town, owned by the Shevlin-Hixon Company of Bend, was fully portable. When the timber was all gone from an area, the company simply loaded the houses on railroad flatcars and moved on. (Shevlin, Deschutes and Lake county; 1920s, 1930s, 1940s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1308d-shevlin-oregons-wandering-timber-town.html)
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    10 分
  • Gold Rush driver One-Eyed Charley had a secret

    Gold Rush driver One-Eyed Charley had a secret
    2025/02/03
    Only after the body was handed over to the undertaker did the truth come out: The roughest, toughest, most skillful “whip” on the West Coast was not what he appeared to be. (Siskiyou Pass, Jackson County; 1850s, 1860s, 1870s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1610b.legendary-one-eyed-charley-412.html)
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    9 分
  • Watching bugs in a stump led to modern chainsaw

    Watching bugs in a stump led to modern chainsaw
    2025/01/31
    Logger, watching 'timber worms' chew through a log, wondered, 'How do they do that?' So he took some home, figured it out, and invented the modern chisel-toothed cutting chain. (Tillamook County; 1940s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1809b.joe-cox-invents-bug-inspired-chainsaw-512.html)
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    7 分
  • First real portable chainsaw invented in Oregon

    First real portable chainsaw invented in Oregon
    2025/01/30
    Joe Wolf invented it for loggers, but they wanted nothing to do with his electric saw. Luckily for Joe, the construction and shipbuilding industry loved it. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1920s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1809a.wolf-electric-chainsaw-511.html)
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    9 分
  • Ship sailed across two miles of sandy beach, rescued itself

    Ship sailed across two miles of sandy beach, rescued itself
    2025/01/29
    Stranded four-masted schooner North Bend, the last sailing ship ever built in Oregon, was stranded on Peacock Spit; it worked its way through and, a little over a year later, launched itself in Baker Bay on the other side. (Columbia River Bar, Clatsop County; 1920s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1108d-last-sailing-ship-crossed-a-beach-relaunched.html)
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    8 分
  • Murderer shocked when ‘unwritten law’ plea fails

    Murderer shocked when ‘unwritten law’ plea fails
    2025/01/28
    R. Thomas Dickerson, after gunning down the chief witness in his wife's upcoming suit for divorce, clearly expected the jury to buy his claim that the man was a “home-wrecker” and deserved what he got. He miscalculated. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1900s)(For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1510a.dickerson-UnLaw.html)
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    11 分