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PODCAST

Offbeat Oregon History podcast

www.offbeatoregon.com (finn @ offbeatoregon.com)

A daily (5-day-a-week) podcast feed of true Oregon stories -- of heroes and rascals, of shipwrecks and lost gold. Stories of shanghaied sailors and Skid Road bordellos and pirates and robbers and unsolved mysteries. An exploding whale, a couple shockingly scary cults, a 19th-century serial killer, several very naughty ladies, a handful of solid-brass con artists and some of the dumbest bad guys in the history of the universe. From the archives of the Offbeat Oregon History syndicated newspaper

history places & travel

All Episodes

00:10:03

In gold-rush Jacksonville the bank ‘robbed’ you

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/04/08

Everybody had gold in Jacksonville, and nobody wanted to pack it around, and the bank had no access to outside markets where it could be invested. So, instead of paying interest, they charged a storage fee on all deposits. (Jacksonville, Jackson County; 1850s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1611a.jacksonville-where-bank-robs-you-416.html)

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00:11:52

Col. Hogg’s war record: Marine highway robbery

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/04/07

Corvallis/Toledo railroad tycoon T. Edgenton Hogg (pronounced “Hoag”) was always a little reticent about his past. Especially the Civil War part. To some extent, that was understandable. “Colonel” Hogg had fought with the Confederacy in the Civil War. His side had lost, so, sure — better not to talk about it, right? Nevertheless, the real story is so much more bonkers than that, that one wonders why the rumor-passers even bothered with making things up. His story was unearthed somewhat

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00:12:52

Frederic Balch’s dreamy mythology came to define Oregon

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/04/04

What comes to your mind when I mention the name “Balch”?For most of us, it’s the sordid, nasty tale of Danford Balch, the first Portland resident to be hanged for murder, a fate he earned in 1858 by reacting to his stepdaughter’s elopement by chasing the young couple down with a shotgun and murdering his new son-in-law on the Stark Street Ferry (here’s a link to the Offbeat Oregon article about that). And yeah, that’s one way to make it into the history books! Half a century ago, though, most

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00:10:13

In 1960 primary, Oregon was JFK’s make-or-break state

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/04/03

A defeat in the Oregon primary, for candidate John F. Kennedy, would have sent the message that his Catholic faith was a deal-killer; a win would signify that it was not. The task of sending that signal fell to Oregon voters. (Statewide; 1950s, 1960s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1806d.oregon-was-JFKs-make-or-break-election-501.html)

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00:09:09

The Berry Way 'trial' and execution: 'Perry Mason'...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/04/02

The miners believed Berry Way had murdered a man while robbing him. So they kidnapped the sheriff so he couldn't interfere, then empaneled their own DIY court of law, with the stated purpose of finding him guilty ... which, of course, they did. (Canyon City, Grant County; 1860s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1806a.berry-way-perry-mason-paint-your-wagon-498.html)

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00:09:03

U. of O.’s founding father was once its #1 opponent

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/04/01

Oregon's official state university got off to a rocky start, in part because in 1859 Judge Matthew Deady thought it was a bad idea to have one ... (Eugene, Lane County; 1870s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1805d.matthew-deady-opposed-university.html)

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00:10:20

Anarcho-communist editors jailed not for sedition,...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/31

Portlanders tolerated three years of strident calls for revolution and regime change, but when The Firebrand started saying mean things about marriage, the gloves were off. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1890s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1803c.firebrand-newspaper-shut-down-for-smut-487.html)

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00:11:52

World’s first gas tax made state a driver’s paradise

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/28

(NOTE: This episode is being posted two days early just in case we lose connectivity in the forecasted thunder/hailstorm later today.) Today, as travelers outside the Beaver State’s borders know well, Oregon’s roads are merely average, or maybe slightly above average, in terms of crowdedness and quality. Certainly other states tend to have more and wider interstate freeways. But you don’t have to go too far back into the past to find a time when Oregon’s highway system was something rather special

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00:10:18

‘Temporary Insanity’ plea didn’t prevent murder rap

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/27

Wild with grief over the death of one daughter, and convinced he had seduced her other daughter, Caroline Briggs attacked schoolteacher John Dalmater in front of his class, shouting 'Shoot the son of a bitch' -- and her son, who'd accompanied her, did so. This episode is being posted a day early just in case we lose connectivity in the forecasted thunder/hailstorm later today. (Kerbyville, Josephine County; 1870s) (For text and pictures, see

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00:10:01

Trove of ‘hoarder’ George Himes is now historical...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/26

Printer George Himes saw the historical value of the everyday things around him, and although that made for some very unsuccessful publishing ventures, his collection is the heart of the Oregon Historical Society's archives today. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1870s, 1880s, 1890s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1512b.george-himes-history-hoarder.html)

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00:08:34

Oregon has been peopled since at least 12,400 B.C.

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/25

Fourteen thousand years ago, in a cold dry cave deep in the “Oregon Outback,” someone answered a “call of Nature” — leaving behind a hefty load that, today, is the oldest evidence of human habitation on the West Coast. (Fort Rock, Lake County; 1839s, 2000s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1610a.prehistoric-oregon-sandals-coprolites-411.html)

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00:16:43

Minor political hack became opium king of West Coast

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/24

ONE OF THE most significant events in the history of the world took place in 1892, when a corrupt political hack named James Lotan managed to land a cushy government job as the head of the customs inspection service for the Port of Portland. Believe it or not, Lotan’s landing that job led directly to Pearl Harbor and eventually Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and indirectly to the defeat of Nazi Germany in Europe. Not bad for a small-time white-collar criminal in a tiny backwater seaport town on the far

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00:11:46

Deadly forgotten tornado was worst in state history

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/21

THE TOWN OF Long Creek developed in the late 1870s and early 1880s on the banks of Long Creek, one of the tributaries of the John Day River. It was, and is, a little north of the center of Grant County, a few dozen miles north-northwest of John Day and Canyon City. It was a prosperous little town, well positioned, and it grew relatively quickly to become one of the most promising settlements in Grant County, so much so that in 1891 the residents incorporated the town and started the process of

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00:10:02

Researchers solve mystery of “Beeswax Shipwreck”

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/20

For centuries, mysterious chunks of beeswax have been washing up on Oregon beaches. Scholars have finally learned, with about 99 percent certainty, that the ship it's coming from was the San Cristo de Burgos, a Spanish galleon that disappeared in 1693. (Nehalem Spit, Clatsop County; 1600s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1807d.beeswax-wreck-mystery-solved-505.html)

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00:10:24

Cockiness, incompetence, and labor strike sank ship

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/19

Passengers on the speeding liner said an incompetent crew and disappearing ship's officers contributed to a shocking death toll after the liner Alaska crashed onto the rocks in the fog; the captain blamed an “uncharted current.” (Portland, Multnomah County; 1920s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1512a.alaska-shipwreck-368.html)

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00:08:42

Getting shipwrecked was luckiest break of his life

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/18

Taken to Ocean Park after being nearly killed in the wreck of the Glenmorag, William Begg was nursed back to health by Maude Taylor - who turned out to be the love of his life. (Columbia River Bar, Clatsop County; 1890s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1804b.william-begg-lucky-shipwreck-glenmorag-490.html)

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00:13:37

The one and only Sammy Davis Jr. once called Portland...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/17

Back before World War II, when racism was still a mainstream attitude with little or no social stigma attached, Portland was not a very friendly town for Black people.It’s not that way any more, of course. There’s still racism; but the toxic race-hierarchalism that winked at lynchings and enabled the rise of the Ku Klux Klan — that, thankfully, is a distant and uncomfortable memory today. And one has to wonder how much of that transformation — not just in Portland, but around the nation — can be

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00:10:49

How a dead man led a wagon train to Oregon

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/14

THE YOUNG U.S. Cavalry captain was getting a little frustrated. He was explaining to the short, fireplug-shaped German man with the serious mouth and commanding eyes why he really, really should turn around. It was the spring of 1855, you see, and the Oregon Trail had been going full steam for about a decade. The Sioux tribes, along with other Plains Indian tribes, had been nonplussed at first by the torrent of travelers, but by now they were really alarmed, and they had started attacking wagon

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00:10:37

The all-night municipal gunfight in frontier Ione

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/13

Holed up on a nearby hillside clutching a stolen shotgun, local drunken rowdy Charlie Earhart held the whole town at bay until dawn, when he finally gave himself up; surprisingly, no one was killed. (Ione, Morrow County; 1900s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1511d.ione-all-night-gunfight-366.html)

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00:09:25

The REAL story of Charity Lamb, Oregon's most...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/12

Abusive husband Nathaniel Lamb probably didn't really plan to kill his wife, but when he aimed his rifle at her that morning, he clearly wanted her to think he did. That night, over supper, he learned the hard way how successful he'd been. (Oregon City, Clackamas County; 1850s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1511e.charity-lamb-murder-367.html)

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565 results

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