Jo Brew's Blog

A MISSING LINK

joheron — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:45:40 +0000

Pulling together pieces of Oreon history has taken me in directions I didn’t expect nor did I have the right resources to do the research. One of the most critical has been the right map for each job.

I did gather the road maps I thought I would need. Highway 99 through Oregon, even after early realignments, was my starting point. I didn’t realize I would need a map that showed how close the forests came to the road, or the elevations of the mountains. Then there needed to be one that let me see where the ferries that were replaced by bridges crossed the streams or rivers. A few stories from people who lived up a particular creek when the map showed the path of the creek was south, or down, almost making a circle. Did the creek flow uphill?

Now I”m looking for a map that shows the plat of the origninal donation land claims. Difficult in Oregon since some were filed and granted before the territory had been surveyed.

Even a bigger problem, I’d need help to read many of those maps. The letters, symbols and strange marks are not easy for a “word” person. Some become more clear as I study them but I will probably end up trying to locate an interpreter.

Another I badly need to find and haven’t yet is the map of the original north-south railroad planned by the Oregon and California Railroad. It’s out there somewhere so my quest continues as my stack of maps grows.

UNACKNOWLEDGED HEROS

joheron — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 20:12:29 +0000

Since we just passed the 70th anniversary of the beginning of World War II, a story I discovered while I was doing research on stories of Highway 99 is stuck in my thoughts.
This story began much sooner. Robert Kinoshita was born in Honolula, Hawaii to Japanese parents. He graduated from the University of Nebraska Medical School then interned at Emanuel Hospital in Portland, Oregon. There he met and learned to love a nurse named Evelyn.
Overriding objections to the inter-racial marriage by both their parents and the State of Oregon, they married. Dr. Kinoshita was soon an Army Reserve doctor with the Southern Oregon District Civilian Conservation Corps, the CCC. He, his wife, and son Bobby, moved into a house on the South Umpqua Road, close to the South Umpqua Falls CCC camp, CO 2904 at Tiller, Oregon.
He and his wife looked after the boys of Co 2904, taking care of their medical needs and listening to their problems. He also treated the residents from surrouning communities when he was needed. In 1939, he was appointed District Surgeon and became responsible for the health care of 44 CCC camps working out of Medford.
The beginning of World War II ended the CCC program and Dr. Kimoshita was reassigned to Fort Omaha, Nebraska. While the family was in Portland for a visit before leaving for the new assignment, the mandate was issued for all people of Japanese Descent to report to collection centers for removal to Relocation Camps. The center in Portland was the former Portland Livestock Pavilion. Evelyn, pregnant a second time, gave up her civil rights and the family entered the “stinking” horse stall together.
Dr. Kinoshita and his family were sent to live behind barbed wire in a concentration camp at Heart Mountain, Wyoming.
On hearing the news, the people of the South Umpqua Valley prepared and signed a petition asking for their release.
It’s not known if the petition helped but the Dr. and his family were released in March of 1943. Still in the Army he was called to active duty serving in the European war theater. He crawled on his belly, dragging his medical kit to any of our wounded still alive, dragged them to safety and gave them first aid until they could be picked up. He survived time behind the German lines in Holland and the war, returning with a long list of honors for hes bravery and dedication. The family returned to the Portland area where he and Evelyn set up a family medical practice.

Resource–PIONEER DAYS IN THE SOUTH UMPQUA VALLEY Vols 27, p.25 and vol. 34 p. 26 published by the South Umpqua Historical Society

POWS AND PEARS

joheron — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 22:41:12 +0000

So often when I’m doing research, I discover a fascinating story that has nothing to do with Highway 99, just that it happened during that time period or maybe near the highwy.
This time the story that got my attention was from Camp White, out of Medford, Oregon, several miles from Highway 99. I had known that most of the troops had trained and left Camp White fairly early in World War II. I had even been aware that German Prisoners of War were held there toward the end of the war. That was all I knew.
Begun as a secret mission, an elaborate plan was launched to reeducate German prisoners held in the United States. The hope was they might be prepared to take part in a different post war Germany.
Seventy U.S. military officers were sent to New York for twelve intense days of clandestine training in the fall of 1944. They were distributed to the 150 camps with 350,000 German prisoners scattered across the United States. Approximately 2000 at Camp White, Oregon.
English language, American history and civics classes were offered. Not greatly successful early on but Frank Capra’s Hollywood produced series, Why We Fight was translated into German and caught the interest of many.
The prisoners were allowed access to a well stocked library without restrictions, they had radios which were kept repaired and uncensored. A few took correspondence courses through the University of Oregon. Life magazine and others were available and the Oregonian newspaper had 100 personal subscriptions while another 50 copies were made available for general distribution.
Prisoners were allowed to work if they wished as long as it didn’t aid the war effort. The prisoners would be paid 80 cents a day for labor. The pear orchards of Southern Oregon and fields of Northern California were a popular diversion for Camp WhitePOWs.
Longer-range strategies enabled prisoners to print their own uncensored news magazine and freely elect their own spokesman to deal with their American jailers. Some of the classes were taught by the POWs themselves.
Both American and Swiss representatives visited Camp White and filed written reports on prisoner treatment, specifically addressing the “Intellectual Diversion Program.”
The Camp White German prisoners of war, finally repatriated in the spring of 1946, by rail and then by ship back to Germany. “What a far cry from what happens now.” These are excerpts from SOUTHERN OREGON HERITAGE TODAY,The Magazine of the Southern Oregon Historical Society, Vol 8, No.2 Spring 2006 p.18,19

LINES AND SYMBOLS

joheron — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 21:29:37 +0000

Working on a writing project based on a highway obviously needs to involve a map, or more than one. I certainly have a growing file but I hadn’t given any thought as to how they began–a drawing of a line and some kind of symbol — that was about it.
Then a friend told me about a NPR broadcast that featured author Ken Jenning and his book called MAPHEAD.
According to him, in the early days of motoring, the only maps for routes between cities were flip books of text and pictures. One page would say “turn left at the red barn” and there would be a picture of a barn. The next page would say something like “go 3 miles and turn right at the grove of poplars” and there would be a picture of the grove.
The Mc Nally people wanted to sell highway maps but text and pictures weren’t going to work. They sent out crews to paint signs with road numbers and colors and then made maps based on the signs.
The states caught on and began numbering important connecting roads. Later the federal roads were also numbered– but on a shield based on the one used by the railroad.
As I study the maps showing up in my file, how complicated they have become over time, it’s fairly easy to see why we
now need computers in our car to interpret all the symbols and give directions to get us from one place to another.

A DIFFERENT APPROACH

joheron — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 23:33:41 +0000

A week with a writing time shortage pushed me toward internet research. This time it paid off, a treasure trove of history. The story of the growth of a city as the Southern Pacific plotted the best route for the tracks through southern Oregon.
Where there was no settlement, not even a house, Medford was formed and grew as an upstart business entity; a place for farmers to ship out products and very rapidly, to buy what they needed. One of the few train stations where there hadn’t even been a stage stop or tavern. With business as it’s base, the city grew differently than other southern Oregon towns, bringing in a core of twenty-five businesses within just a few months. The town was founded in 1883 and called itself a metropolis by 1926. It still draws business from most of the Rogue River Valley.

A FRESH APPROACH

joheron — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 02:53:37 +0000

A different kind of research last week, having an unexpected conversation with an involved person, or even a group of people. I do enjoy the reading about the way a place grows and developes, but it’s more fun when I’m talking to someone about the place where they live.

I made the trip to southern Oregon again but this time I visited the Phoenix museum and talked with the three volunteers sho were there. I came away with pictures and stories. I especially liked one of a man who shared special memories of his grandfather. Then there was a story of a couple who left the east coast, visited the major cities and historic sites as they crossed the country to Oregon with a wagon and oxen more than twenty years after the automobile was invented. I admit, I wonder how the people caught in the traffic of New York City reacted to that scene. Or maybe the early trucks coming over the Siskiyou.

The next day I visited with a long time resident of Talent and added more stories from there. From the beginning, Talent was a town focused on agriculture rather than business. Interesting to see pictures and samples of early inventions designed to make farming easier and more profitable. And to develop better crops.

A short visit to Ashland to add some details about an old race track, a stop in Medford for suggestions of more contacts and I headed back to Eugene and home with a head full of information and pages of notes to work with.

I know I’ll find gaps in the stories, things I misunderstood and questions I didn’t ask but this is still the most enjoyable way to do research. Hearing the stories from the people involved helps me see the picture I’ll try to paint with my words.

MORE OF THE STORY

joheron — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 04:52:50 +0000

Not long after I began work on the Stories of Highway 99, I visited Ashland, my home town, again– putting my memories in order to tell my part of the story. I did some local research and came back convinced I was ready- at least for my own part of the story.

When I began to write, I discovered I had gaps-often big gaps. I made another trip to visit places I remembered and then added a little more. Two more rips and I felt like I had a basic picture. After all, I’m not trying to cover the history of Ashland, just the stories of the highway through it–a span of forty years or so, from 1926 when Highway 99 officially came into being until 1966 when ir was replaced by the freeway.

About the time I finished my research and formed it into a picture of the time, I received a surprise. Another “Ashlander” had begun a Facebook page–Ashland Then and Now. He was posting wonderful old pictures and, even better, people were adding comments–their own memories.

Reading the comments swallowed up a fair amount of time and kept my interest but, for the most part didn’t add to my knowledge. Still, there are tidbits I haven’t found anywhere else. I knew Ashland was a sundown city, as were most Oregon cities, anyone of color had to be out-of-town by sundown, when I was in high school but I didn’t really think about what that meant. We had moved from a suburb of Pasadena and I had attended school with people of color although I can’t remember that there were any in our immediate neighborhood. It wasn’t talked about in my family or even when we moved to Ashland.

It was when I was doing the research on the Ashland part of the story, I had a question begin to bother me. Many of the pictures showing the passenger train service in Ashland showed people of color working as porters and even in the early large dining room where the passengers were served. I wondered where they lived. It was as comment on the historic face book page that referred to a train car parked on a siding just out of the city limits that gave me the answer. It also posed another question I haven’t had to deal with yet. I have seen photos of the KKK marching in Ashland but so far, none have been offered so won’t be included.

UNDER MY OWN NOSE

joheron — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 03:08:32 +0000

A week working close to home–Eugene and Junction City. One day on Highway 99 research in the Knight Library on the University of Oregon campus. Another doing an interview with a former trailer park owner from Junction City. Still another collecting a story from a local musician with a long history at The Embers, a nightclub and restaurant on Highway 99.

Even close to home, I find I’m taken in directions I didn’t expect. Out on Highway 99, between Eugene and Junction City, almost on the railroad tracks at the corner of Hwy. 99 and Meadowview, there is a disintegrating old railroad building. For all the years I’ve driven by it, I assumed it was one of those where equipment was stored. Now, with a couple of research books in front of me, I am almost convinced it was the Meadow View Depot for the passengers and freight of the Oregon Electric Railway. The almost is because the building is missing some of the decorative attributes in the picture which would have been taken before 1933.

I didn’t expect to be writing about the electric trains in Oregon, the precursors to both the Pacific Highway and Highway 99 but the electric cars are so interwoven with the growth of the city, they cannot b e ignored.

Although I’ve had several good meals at the Eugene Electric Station, I hadn’t paid a lot of attention to the history of the building. Since I’ve begun reading about the Oregon Electric Railway during its peak years from 1905 to 1925, it’s obvious I do need to revisit that time and place in my writing about the history of Eugene.

The depot itself was designed by A.E. Doyle of Portland, Oregon’s best known architect at the time and is a National Historic Site. The trains were plush and impressive. At this point in my research, it’s already very clear, I have an obligation to make a return visit to the Station for an in person study, and maybe another meal.

UNKNOWN WORLDS

joheron — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 19:51:41 +0000

Once in awhile the most interesting adventures happen close to home. This week included one of those.

It began because I had a gap of several years in the Highway 99 story. I knew when the road was built over the Siskiyou Pass, 1915, and I had the story of the maintenance foreman moving into the state owned house in 1939 but nothing between. No clues showed up in reference books or shared stories.

I began my quest seriously, knowing two things: the Transportation Commission was required to make a biennial report and that some of those reports are archived at The University of Oregon in the Knight Library. There must be a money trail.

Not having been a student at the University of Oregon, I wasn’t familiar with the very large campus but knowing it’s the week when students are gone or in the process of leaving, I decided it was my chance. My parking space, when I finally found one, was only a mile or so from campus. Map in hand, I started through the maze of student apartments surrounding the campus buildings. Amazing what departing students leave on curbs or by overflowing dumpsters. So much to see and absorb along the way. I guess I just didn’t have so much stuff when I finished.

Surprising one of the few students still walking through the grounds, I got directions to the entrance of the massive Knight Library building, then from the information desk to the Special Collections Room.

Very impressive with tall ceilings, walls lined with bookshelves, ornate wall carvings, big tables with a few serious people quietly sorting and reading a variety of materials. I could have been in Europe, or maybe an old church.

The businesslike and knowledable woman who helped me said she would be back and left the room for some unknown destination. I thought about a basement with numbered rooms–a cave wouldn’t have seemed inappropriate. Eventually a student assistant I’d noticed coming and going returned with a large cart–seven books of biennial reports and four large cardboard boxes. I didn’t get to the boxes. I’ll go back next week.

I did find a clue. In 1926, The Engineer’s report says there are six maintenance patrols in the state and housing for the foreman and helper is provided in isolated areas. Surely that would include the Siskiyou Mountain. (At that time the engineer was including only The Pacific Highway, (Highway 99)

I still don’t know where the housing came from. Did the State Transportation Commission build it? Move it? The secret must be in those four cardboard boxes–Next weeks excursion–or one of the excursions.

ALONG THE ROAD

joheron — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 04:04:14 +0000

U.S. Highway 99, which began its life as the Pacific Highway, was built to connect the three most western states to each other, California, Oregon and Washington. It did more than that, it connected the settlements and little towns to each other. Not near as efficient as the current Freeway but it gave us a way to travel between towns and areas and it allowed products to come into the towns from all over the country.

Businesses to meet the needs and desires of the local residents as well as passing travelers, were established and did well if the effort was expended.

One of those, with it roots on Highway 99 was celebrated in our local newspaper this morning. Jerry’s, our local Do-It-Yourself and home town lumber and hardware store is celebrating its fiftieth birthday. Not only has it been in business 50 years, it has been 50 years on Hwy 99.

Highway 99 through Eugene was moved from River Road and its flood problems in 1936. The new route was north on 6th St. through the city to the west side where it rejoined southbound 7th St. to become just Hwy 99 again as it headed north to Junction City.

It was on this north end of town, past many businesses and developments that Jerry and Merle Orem founded Jerry’s Ace Hardware Store on Hwy 99.

Ace Hardware was not a franchise but a centralized purchasing organization to supply members’ stores. It was founded in 1924, in Chicago, Illinois and named for the Ace fighter pilots of World War I. By 1949, the retail network had expanded to hundreds of dealers. In fact, in a drive along Hwy 99 there was hardly a town without an Ace Hardware and they weren’t limited to just the towns on the Highway. Now they are international although the structure of the company has changed.

During the 1980′ Jerry’s was facing major market changes. With big box stores and national chains crowding out many family owned businesses, the Orem family took the gamble, moved a few blocks down the road and built a new store that offers lower prices, more selection and a focus on do-it-yourselfers. We have been shopping at Jerry’s since we moved to the Eugene area in the sixties and gladly followed them when they moved into the new store. 50 years in a family owned business is rare and worthy of a celebration. ( They have also opened a second store-this one in neighboring Springfield. Although I hope it is successful, it is not of the same interest for me because it’s not on Hwy 99, not as accessible to the people from south, north, and west who come to shop, almost in their own expanded neighborhood.)