Offbeat Oregon History podcast

The myrtlewood "so-called dollars" are still legal tender there, and have been since they were made during the Great Depression — but not many are used today because coin collectors treasure them. (North Bend, Coos County; 1930s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1008e_north-bend-myrtlewood-money-still-legal-tender.html)

While the captain of the Emily G. Reed was sadly reporting the loss of 11 brave mariners, four of the missing were drifting northward, desperately bailing water out of a damaged and leaky lifeboat. Their journey's end: Puget Sound. (Rockaway Beach, Tillamook County; 1900s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1503a.shipwreck-emily-g-reed.328.html)

ON THE MORNING of Dec. 7, 1904, Stephen A.D. Puter had just arrived at the office of U.S. Marshal Jack Matthews. He was expecting some friends to come by … and bail him out of jail. Puter had just been convicted of masterminding a plan to swindle the U.S. government out of thousands of acres of prime timberlands. He had not yet been sentenced. Like all convicts, he had the option of either staying in jail until sentencing, or posting bail. In his case, bail was set at $4,000. He figured his friends — or, rather, unindicted co-conspirators — would be by shortly to help him raise the funds. No one came. It was starting to dawn on Puter that no one was going to come. He now realized he was to be sacrificed to appease the gods in Washington D.C. He was to be thrown under the bus, branded a “bad apple” and socially disowned in order to protect the bigger fish involved and enable them to keep the good times rolling. And how much bigger were those bigger fish? Well, several of them were out-of-state millionaires; two of them were members of the U.S. House of Representatives; and one was United States Senator John H. Mitchell. (Salem, Marion County; 1870s, 1880s, 1890s, 1900s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/23-01.land-fraud-trials-617.html)

Young cowboy David Tucker wanted a share of the loot so he could marry his sweetheart; after he got out of prison, he worked for decades to earn back the trust of both her and their community. (Joseph, Wallowa County; 1890s, 1920s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1305d-former-bank-robber-named-vp-of-bank-he-robbed.html)

Klamath County was about to move into a courthouse just outside town -- but downtown businesses, fearful they'd lose their status as county seat, fought the plan with every weapon they had ... and won. (Klamath Falls, Klamath County; 1900s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1812a.klamath-courthouse-battle.html)

A Native American story tells of a galleon coming to the bluff, just south of Astoria, and its crew burying a mysterious chest there — guarded by the body of a murdered crew member. Is it true? And has the treasure already been found? (Near Manzanita, Tillamook County; 1700s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1008d_spanish-gold-of-neahkahnie-mountain.html)

He might have accomplished it, too, but he lost friends when he tried to claim water rights to Bull Run, and when his primary investors went bankrupt in a bank panic, he was forced to give up the scheme and leave town. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1900s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1502d.lafe-pence-guild-lake-scheme.327.html)

One fine day in October of 1891, a teenage boy named Aquilla Ernest Clark left the farm in Scappoose where he’d been working, headed for Portland. He was going to see the sights and maybe show himself a good time for a few days. He wandered around the waterfront, taking drinks here and there and probably taking a hand in a card game or two; then, when it was getting close to evening, he met a pleasant fellow who happened to mention that he was staying at the sailors’ boardinghouse at Second and Glisan streets. “It’s the best place to stay in Portland,” he said. That sounded good; Aquilla needed a place to stay for the night. So he went with his new friend to the boardinghouse. It was good enough for Aquilla. He checked in. He didn't know it, but he was less than 24 hours away from a new career ... and it would be seven years before he'd see Portland again. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1891) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/20-10.aquilla-clark-shanghaied-590.html)

Had Edgar Rice Burroughs and his brothers been successful with their Snake River gold dredge, Ed likely would never have had the time or inspiration to start writing “John Carter of Mars,” “At the Earth's Core” and “Tarzan” books. (Snake River Canyon, Baker County; 1900s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1503b.edgar-rice-burroughs-in-oregon.html)

Someone killed Oliver Kermit Smith with a massive dynamite bomb planted under his car seat ... and police soon figured out who. But did Smith's wife really put the killer up to the job, like a real-life version of Nicole Kidman's character in 'To Die For'? (Portland, Multnomah County; 1950s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1811d.kermit-smith-murder-car-bomb-523.html)

Desperate for some ready cash after his steamer wrecked on the beach, the would-be magnate hastily built a “railroad to nowhere” over Santiam Pass in an attempt to swindle the federal government. It probably would have worked, but ... (Newport, Lincoln County; 1880s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1703a.hogg-railroad-yaquina-433.html)

Few people know how close Oregon came to officially becoming a British possession under the treaty that ended the War of 1812 — and the thing that "saved" the state was an expedition everyone thinks of as a disastrous failure. (Astoria, Clatsop County; 1810s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1008b_how-oregon-almost-became-part-of-canada.html)

Dreamed up by supporters of the old south, the plan envisioned an independent “Pacific Republic” as a slave state — to be stocked with slaves by a sort of bait-and-switch swindle. But the supporters misjudged public opinion badly. (Salem, Marion County; 1860s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1503d.pacific-republic-scheme-331.html)

Twenty years after he tried to light the surrounding forests on fire, Japanese pilot Nobuo Fujita returned to Brookings as an honored guest and presented the town with his family's Samurai sword. (Brookings, Curry County; 1960s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1305c-japanese-pilot-fujita-friendship-with-brookings.html)

After World War II started, submariner and pilot Nobuo Fujita hatched an idea: Use his tiny, rickety submarine-launched seaplane to attack an enemy 5,000 miles away from the nearest aircraft carrier. (Brookings, Curry County; 1940s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1305b-fujita-bombs-oregon.html)