Offbeat Oregon History podcast

In Whale Cove, Canadian rumrunners lost their boat engine at the worst possible time and ended up on shore. So they buried the booze, burned the boat, and tried to get away ... and got caught. (Depoe Bay, Lincoln County; 1930s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1809c.whale-cove-rumrunners-shipwreck-513.html)

When the sheriff arrived to enforce the law, he brought with him a pro-temperance preacher from one of the local churches — whose presence seems to have sparked a murderous response from the man he'd come to arrest. (Plainview, Linn County; 1920s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1611d.sheriff-murdered-in-liquor-raid-gone-bad-419.html)

Crusty, spluttering city leaders, full of self-righteous outrage over mixed-race dancing that was going on at “The Dude Ranch,” found an excuse to order the West Coast's hottest jazz club shut down. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1940s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1203b-dude-ranch-portland-jazz-scene.html)

Logger, watching 'timber worms' chew through a log, wondered, 'How do they do that?' So he took some home, figured it out, and invented the modern chisel-toothed cutting chain. (Tillamook County; 1940s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1809b.joe-cox-invents-bug-inspired-chainsaw-512.html)

Joe Wolf invented it for loggers, but they wanted nothing to do with his electric saw. Luckily for Joe, the construction and shipbuilding industry loved it. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1920s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1809a.wolf-electric-chainsaw-511.html)

Dozens and dozens of mercury-laden purgative pills invented by Founding Father Benjamin Rush were an indispensible part of the Corps of Discovery's kit; the toxic-but-effective tablets helped explorers cope with a very-low-fiber diet. (Fort Clatsop, Clatsop County; 1800s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/H1006d_BiliousPills.html)

The little company town was located smack in the middle of the country's most productive tree-growing land; so, in the 1980s, the company drained its lake, bulldozed it into a pile, torched it, and replanted it with trees. (Valsetz, Polk County; 1920s, 1950s, 1980s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1611c.valsetz-company-ghost-town-418.html)

Fresh from breaking out of jail in Utah, Harry Tracy apparently came to Portland looking for a fresh start; he married, and then for three years kept his nose clean. But, it seems, the call of the outlaw trail was too much for him to resist, and he was caught and sent to prison. His prison break, and the subsequent two-month manhunt for him, became legendary. (Salem, Portland; Marion and Multnomah County; 1900s) (For text and pictures, see http://offbeatoregon.com/22-10.harry-tracy-wild-west-outlaw-jailbreak-614.html)

Willamette Valley town's mascot was the state's wealthiest housecat; he owned City Hall along with the farm it was built on, as well as an iconic red barn. Today, you can visit Kitty Kat's grave, but his barn has been moved to a new place. (Tangent, Linn County; 1980s) (For text and pictures, see http://offbeatoregon.com/1201b-kitty-kat-owner-of-city-hall-richest-cat.html)

Legendary physician Dr. Bethenia Owens-Adair was an unstoppable force battling to get a eugenic-sterilization law passed ... until she encountered the immovable object that was medical-liberty activist Lora C. Little. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1910s) (For text and pictures, see http://offbeatoregon.com/1808d.lora-little-vs-bethenia-owens-adair-eugenic-sterilization-510.html)

Bustling metropolis of 40,000 lasted just six years before being turned, by order of the U.S. Government, into a ghost town and cut up for salvage. (Adair Village, Benton County; 1940s) (For text and pictures, see http://offbeatoregon.com/H1004d_CampAdair.html)

A poorly engineered jetty was installed at the mouth of Tillamook Bay changed the ocean’s currents, and over the following three decades the sea relentlessly scoured away the town. Today, no trace remains of once-thriving Bayocean. (Tillamook County; 1910s, 1920s, 1930s) (For text and pictures, see http://offbeatoregon.com/1611b.bayocean-town-swallowed-by-the-sea-417.html)

On December 6, 1977, a car pulled past the conspicuous “No Trespassing” and “Beware of Dog” signs at the perimeter of Arthur Allen’s oceanside ranch, about ten miles south of Bandon. Three men got out and approached the house. Allen, who had obviously been watching them approach, promptly emerged from the house and ordered them off the property. “We’re from the Bureau of Land Management,” one of them said. “We wanted to talk to you about negotiating to buy an easement across your land so visitors can access BLM property on the New River.” Allen relented and let the men approach the house, where he demanded to see their identification. Two of them promptly whipped out their wallets and showed their badges; the third, whose name was Larry Gano, said he’d left his wallet at home. It was a lucky break for Gano that Allen didn’t push it. Because he wasn’t with the BLM. He was with the United States Customs Service. And he was there because he was pretty sure Allen was running a smuggling operation. Spoiler alert: Oh yes, he was.... (Bandon, Coos County; 1970s) (For text and pictures, see http://offbeatoregon.com/20-07.new-river-drug-bust.html)

They never did see any action against the Japanese spies and commando teams they expected. But the fact that they were on the job may have had something to do with the fact that none ever tried to come ashore. (Coast, 1940s) (For text and pictures, see http://offbeatoregon.com/1503c.sand-pounders-uscg-ww2-330.html)

After the rumrunner ship Pescawah responded to an S.O.S. from a sinking steam schooner, the Coast Guard pounced, arresting the crew and rewarding their heroism with prison sentences. (Offshore, Clatsop County; 1920s) (For text and pictures, see http://offbeatoregon.com/1808c.pescawah-rumrunner-rescuers-509.html)