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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

00:09:49

Fish wheels a legacy of Columbia’s salmon days

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2024/12/03

As the fishery collapsed, canneries on the upper river near Cascade Locks and gillnet fishermen on the lower river near Astoria blamed one another; both were right, but the biggest culprit was Grand Coulee Dam. (Columbia, Multnomah, Hood River, Wasco County; 1880s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1609b.fish-wheels-and-gillnetters-408.html)

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00:12:34

The old violin maker's story (WPA oral-history...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2024/12/02

WPA writer Sara B. Wrenn's oral history interview with Robert Robinson, master violin maker and repairer, talking about his memories of the professional musicians of Portland in the late 1800s. (For the transcript, see https://www.loc.gov/item/wpalh001994/ )

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00:19:06

OSU’s world-record laying hen sparked a 'fowl' feud...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2024/11/29

OCTOBER OF 1913 was a triumphant time for Professor James Dryden, the poultry specialist at Oregon State University (or Oregon Agricultural College, as it was then called). His name was in newspapers nationwide, in glowing tribute after glowing tribute to his success. One of his experiment-station hens had just shattered the world record for egg production with a stunning 303 eggs in a year. There was, however, one exception to the “glowing tribute” pattern in newspaper coverage of Dr. Dryden’s

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00:10:58

Did Oregon’s notorious supervillain-politician...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2024/11/28

Governor Charles Henry “Iron Pants” Martin may have saved the world from a Nazi nuclear holocaust by outplaying President Roosevelt, essentially forcing him to finance a hydroelectric dam that he thought was superfluous. (Bonneville, Multnomah County; 1930s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1609a.bonneville-wins-ww2-407.html)

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00:07:44

Little-known hero of Silver Lake fire died saving...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2024/11/27

When the packed community center caught fire, Lucinda Schroder ran back inside and blocked the door open with her body, enabling dozens who otherwise would have been pinned and crushed against the closed door to escape. (Silver Lake, Lake County; 1900s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1107b-schroder-hero-of-silver-lake-fire-died-saving-lives.html)

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00:08:57

‘Graveyard of the Pacific’ was not easily tamed

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2024/11/26

The century-long quest to make the Columbia River Bar reasonably safe got off to a rough start in 1853, when the ship bringing construction materials for its first lighthouse became one of its early victims. (Columbia River Bar, Clatsop County; 1850s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1608d.taming-the-bar.405.html)

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00:12:43

Horses and horse racing in VERY early Portland (WPA...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2024/11/25

WPA writer Sara B. Wrenn's oral history interview with tinsmith and horse enthusiast J.J. Kadderly, who arrived in Portland in 1876 and set up a store there. 'I bet I've sold more cookstoves to brides and grooms than anyone in this town,' he boasted. He also has a lot to say about his favorite hobby, racing horses. (For the transcript, see https://www.loc.gov/item/wpalh001969/ )

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00:09:57

Oregon’s biggest uranium mine found by a hobbyist

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2024/11/22

During the go-go years of the uranium-mining rush of the early 1950s, the character of the uranium prospector became iconic. He was basically the gold-seeking “miner 49er” updated for the atomic age: in lieu of a mule, he rode an Army-surplus Jeep; in place of pick and gold pan, he carried a Geiger counter and ultraviolet flashlight. So it’s ironic but maybe not surprising that Oregon’s biggest uranium strike was made by an everyday rockhound - a guy who didn’t even own a Geiger counter

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00:08:36

Former Albany newsman saved Crater Lake as park

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2024/11/21

He couldn't claim all the credit for it, although he sometimes tried; and his attitude toward Native Americans was unfortunate. But those who love Crater Lake, in large part, have William Gladstone Steel to thank for it. (Crater Lake, Klamath County; 1880s, 1890s, 1900s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1609cT.crater-lake-will-steel-409.html)

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00:09:13

The wreck of the Glenesslin: Insurance fraud, or just...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2024/11/20

Windjammer still holds a world speed record for sailing ships, but by the time of her demise, had been losing money for years; the age of steam had made her obsolete. So when she sailed onto the rocks, insurance adjusters smelled a rat. (Neahkahnie Mountain, Tillamook County; 1910s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1107a-glenesslin-wreck-insurance-fraud-or-drunken-incompetence.html)

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00:09:47

Wartime Japanese balloon-bomb damage was bad enough,...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2024/11/19

Loaded with ordinance and launched by the thousands on the jet-stream currents, the weapons were a much bigger threat to American citizens than most now realize — and one of them probably started the 1945 Tillamook Burn. (Salmonberry River, Tillamook County; 1940s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1608cT.balloon-bombs.405.html)

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00:11:37

The Cason family's experience on the Oregon Trail...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2024/11/18

WPA writer Sara B. Wrenn's oral history interview with Mrs. Annie Cason Lee, reminiscing about her family's Oregon Trail journey and some of the adventures and misadventures that befell them upon arrival ... including a rather priceless anecdote about her father, Hilary Cason, getting in a vicious fistfight with the owner of the Stark Street Ferry on his way to church! (For the transcript, see https://www.loc.gov/item/wpalh001961/ )

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00:15:37

Centennial celebration crowned Oregon’s age of innocence

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2024/11/15

ONE OF THE real privileges of being a lifelong Oregonian of a certain, er, vintage, is the opportunity to have seen this state in its golden age — roughly, 1946 through 1980 — through a child’s eyes.The basic style and culture of the Beaver State have changed a lot over the last 50 years. And, for the most part, it’s changed for the better ... but not entirely. Sociologists would say this change was the transition from a “modernist” culture — proud, conformist, and optimistic about the future —

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00:09:45

First youth symphony in U.S. came out of Oregon’s...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2024/11/14

Every youth orchestra in America today can trace its ancestry back to the a tiny, dusty town in Eastern Oregon, and one gifted, visionary violin teacher named Mary Dodge, founder of the Sagebrush Symphony. (Burns, Harney County; 1920s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1108c-sagebrush-symphony-first-youth-orchestra-in-us.html)

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00:09:05

Legendary gold-field bandits’ stolen loot still...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2024/11/13

According to legend, the Triskett Gang underestimated the citizens of Sailors' Diggins, which became a fatal error when they went on a shooting spree downtown. But the $75,000 they stole (if true) has never been recovered. (Waldo, Josephine County; 1850s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1106d-gold-field-bandits-loot-has-never-been-found.html)

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00:09:12

Supreme Court: Slavery OK, but only for sailors

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2024/11/12

Four mariners on the sailing ship Arago, in Astoria, tried to quit and were tracked down by police and forced to return to work, like runaway slaves. When they sued, the Supreme Court issued an astonishing ruling against them. (Astoria, Clatsop County; 1890s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1607c.slavery-ok-for-sailors-says-scotus.400.html)

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00:14:21

The maritime adventures and subsequent retirement of...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2024/11/11

The story of a young lad swept up in the romance of the sea — his maritime adventures and determination to settle down to a quiet retirement far away from home, in the Willamette Valley. From WPA writer Sara B. Wrenn's oral history interview with Frances Looney Cornell. This is part 2 of a 2-part reading of this oral history file. (For the transcript, see https://www.loc.gov/item/wpalh001970/ )

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00:12:30

Chautauquas: 'Most American' thing was basically...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2024/11/08

IN THE DECADES before the First World War, an organization called Chautauqua arose that was something like a summer camp for grown-ups.People would take vacation time and travel to the Chautauqua center and stay there in tents, either brought from home or rented on site, for a week, or two weeks, or even longer. There, they’d take classes, attend lectures, listen to band concerts, play baseball, and generally try to make up for the previous year’s intellectual deprivation. In Chautauqua’s heyday

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00:11:22

Oregon’s world-famous exploding whale, on the beach...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2024/11/07

The highway engineer in charge of getting rid of a big stinky dead whale on the beach miscalculated the amount of dynamite he would need. The result was a spectacular event that has become a true Oregon legend. NOTE: The 24th anniversary of this spectacular event is coming up on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024! (Florence, Lane County; 1970s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1608bT.exploding-whale.404.html)

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00:07:56

Tired of watching mariners die, lighthouse keeper...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2024/11/06

After finding a battered lifeboat washed up on shore from a fatal shipwreck, Joel Munson made it his life's mission to use it to start a life-saving service. Today, his creation soldiers on, as part of the U.S. Coast Guard. (Columbia River Bar, Clatsop County; 1856s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1106c-joel-munson-founded-lifesaving-service.html)

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613 results

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