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  • Marie Aioe Dorion was a wilderness-survival ninja (Part 1 of 3)

    Marie Aioe Dorion was a wilderness-survival ninja (Part 1 of 3)
    2026/02/03
    As the Native American bride of a French-Canadian interpreter, she joined the Astorian Party on its overland voyage to Oregon to set up a trading post on the Columbia River. Did she know what they were getting into? (Snake River area, 1810s - Part 1 of 3 parts) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1707a.marie-dorion-part1-450.html)
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    10 分
  • Legendary Civil War ship met a sad end in Coos Bay

    Legendary Civil War ship met a sad end in Coos Bay
    2026/02/02
    During its glory days, the Gertrude was the fastest blockade runner in the Confederate fleet. But just 17 years later, it was just another dumpy old steamer on a lowly coastwise run, wrecked in what was probably an insurance-fraud scheme. (Coos Bay, Coos County; 1880s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1310a-gussie-telfair-shipwrecked-warrior.html)
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    8 分
  • Dispute over 'McQuinn Strip' lasted more than a century (Part 2 of 2)

    Dispute over 'McQuinn Strip' lasted more than a century (Part 2 of 2)
    2026/01/30
    The dispute over the McQuinn Strip was no simple neighborhood kerfuffle. The amount of land in dispute was roughly 80,000 acres — close to 10 percent of the whole Warm Springs Indian Reservation. And the dispute burned hot for 101 years. Not until 1972 did Congress finally do the right thing and pass legislation giving it back. And even then, there were still people in the government (notably the Forest Service) who didn’t want to do it. (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/2410b1002c.mcquinn-strip-101-year-land-dispute-671.html)
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    8 分
  • Dispute over Indians’ land lasted for 101 years (Part 1 of 2)

    Dispute over Indians’ land lasted for 101 years (Part 1 of 2)
    2026/01/29
    IF THERE IS an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest active land dispute, it has to belong to the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Indians in central Oregon. But maybe it wouldn’t count for the record, as the land was only in dispute for the first 16 of those years. The whole rest of the time was taken up trying to get the government to follow the law and give the stolen land back. (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/2410b1002c.mcquinn-strip-101-year-land-dispute-671.html)
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    7 分
  • Bungling ex-crimps book-ended shanghaiing era

    Bungling ex-crimps book-ended shanghaiing era
    2026/01/28
    Bunco Kelley was out of prison, Mysterious Billy Smith was at loose ends, and Jumbo Riley was looking for something to do ... somehow, they ended up at a table at Erickson's Saloon with the Jost brothers, talking about getting back into the shanghaiing business. Alas, it was not to be ... (Portland, Multnomah County; 1907) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1906c.jost-brothers-the-last-shanghaiers-552.html)
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    11 分
  • Plan to stop shanghaiing: Give Sullivan a monopoly

    Plan to stop shanghaiing: Give Sullivan a monopoly
    2026/01/27
    Oregon's Sailors' Boardinghouse Commission seemed completely uninterested in any enforcement activity other than ordering Larry Sullivan's competitors to leave the business. Naturally, those competitors fought back as best they could. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1900s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1906b.mysterious-billy-part2of2-551.html)
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    11 分
  • World boxing champ by day, shanghaier by night

    World boxing champ by day, shanghaier by night
    2026/01/26
    After Jim Turk's death, former pro prizefighter Larry Sullivan virtually owned the shanghaiing business in Portland ... but there was one competitor he couldn't seem to shake: 'Mysterious Billy' Smith, boxing's Welterweight Champion of the World -- whose 'day job' was crimping sailors. (East Portland, Multnomah County; 1900s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1906a.mysterious-billy-smith-shanghaier-550.html)
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    11 分
  • Shanghaiing in Portland: P-town's time as shanghaiing capital of the world (2 of 2)

    Shanghaiing in Portland: P-town's time as shanghaiing capital of the world (2 of 2)
    2026/01/23
    AS OF THE time of this writing, there is some disagreement over the status of Oregon’s largest city. It all came to a head last month when the President of the United States referred to it as “war-ravaged Portland” in a Tweet, and locals responded by going on Amazon and buying every inflatable frog costume they could get their hands on. Interesting times, indeed! A little over 100 years ago, though, you could have made the case that parts of Portland were — not war-ravaged, exactly, but probably the most dangerous city in North America in which to go out drinking. But the risk you ran wasn’t getting killed, injured, or — uh, ravaged. It was the risk of waking up the next morning with a splitting headache and a bad case of seasickness, on board a barque headed for Liverpool. With an angry first mate screaming at you to get up and get to work and probably giving you a few kicks in the ribs to drive the point home that, whatever you thought your occupation was last night, this morning you were a sailor. (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/2511a1006c.portland-shanghaiing-capital-of-world-710.076.html)
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    10 分