Of the 46 presidents who have steered the helm of the United States, only one has ever hailed from the Pacific Northwest. The 31st president of the United States, Herbert Hoover, was born in West Branch, Iowa on August 10th, 1874 into modest beginnings; not so much because his family was poor, but because their beliefs honored humility. Herbert’s father, Jesse Hoover, was a blacksmith turned farm store owner who passed away in 1880. His mother, Hulda Randall Minthorn Hoover, who was a school teacher prior to marrying Jesse Hoover, died in 1884. Orphaned at the age of 9, young Bert was sent to ..read more

I have combined the three-part, referenced, photo enhanced series into the following one-part text- only Willamette Valley extravaganza. The Beautiful Willamette From the Cascades’ frozen gorges, Leaping like a child at play, Winding, winding through the valley, Bright Willamette glides away; Onward ever, Lovely river, Softly calling to the sea, Time, that scars us, Leaves no track or trench on thee— —Samuel L. Simpson (1845-1899) Seventy percent of Oregon’s residents live in the Willamette Valley, most within a 20 minute drive of the Willamette River. These Valley residents live in harmony ..read more

From 1942 to 1945 this U.S. Military’s WWII Cantonment near Corvallis was Oregon’s second largest city, after Portland. Camp Adair, butting up against Oregon’s HWY 99W, was a 56,000 Acre training facility which housed upwards of 40,000 personnel. The four infantry divisions which trained at Camp Adair, the 70th, 91st, 96th and 104th distinguished themselves in battle in WWII. Three fought in the European theater, one in the Pacific. The Trailblazers (70th), Timberwolves (104th) Wild West (91st) and Deadeyes (96th) each trained one year at Camp Adair, two divisions at a time. In 1947 the ..read more

Nearly 40 miles east of Salem along Highway 22,  there is a county park that in the 1890’s was known as the town of Niagara Oregon. The locals there began to build a dam for the purpose of harnessing the powerful flow of the Santiam river to power a mill to make paper from straw. As the river eroded the attempts at dam making, by 1912 the project was abandoned and the people moved on to other ventures. The area is now Marion County’s most popular park ..read more

The Oregon City Municipal elevator is the only outdoor municipal elevator in the United States, and there are only four such elevators in the world. It has been argued that this elevator is also the only vertical street in the United States because it carries people 130 feet up or down to the higher or lower street.. As Oregon City quickly outgrew the available land fronting the Willamette River, the people began to build more town up above the cliffs, building steps that they had to trudge along in order to get there. The steps were laborious and muddy and quite an ordeal, especially with an ..read more

Perhaps one of the most interesting endeavors I’ve seen local businesses and residents merge to accomplish is the Pringle Creek Community. It is as green a thing as a thing can get, as far as I can tell. It is an area with green streets, green buildings, green trees. This community is currently 32 acres, but slated to become larger as the old Fairview buildings are removed. The streets are named after some of the better known nature advocates; John Muir, Jane Goodall, Jacques Cousteau, John Audobon, and are paved by green street methods which include porous asphalt, gravel shoulders, bioswale ..read more

Photo by M.O. Stevens – Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7824319   The A.C. Gilbert Discovery Village in Salem is an exciting place for both young and old to visit. As the name implies, there are a lot of areas to explore within the confines of the “village,” and there are many experiments and projects to entertain and educate all. From building sandcastles, pretending to be a veterinarian, building a fort or playing on a life-size erector set, this place can keep people enthralled for hours on end.   Now, as for who A.C. Gilbert was, pl ..read more

A couple of years ago I took a picture of the barn, (“The Willows”) on the Sam Brown House property and posted it in one of the “Oregon” groups I enjoy on FB. One of the commenters mentioned that she had just photographed the house on that property and that she didn’t even notice there was a barn near it. I hadn’t even noticed there was a house! I finally made it back over there yesterday and found that, yes indeed there is a house. It is the Sam Brown House which is waiting urgently (not patiently as can seen from the above photo) for restoration. Also, you can see in the above photo that th ..read more

This is a memorial resting on the grounds of the Oregon State Hospital. Housed within this revamped BLDG 60 are over 3,000 copper urns which were moved around for many years on the Hospital grounds until finally resting within the walls of this building. At one time, building 40 was used to quarantine the terminally ill patients. Three sides of the memorial are surrounded by a wall which holds newer urns. Names and dates of birth and death, if known, are engraved on the caps of the urns. When a family claims the cremains, a copper tube is placed in the space to commemorate the homecoming. Be ..read more

  There are thirteen dams which make up what is known as the Willamette Valley Project; a series of dams built and operated by the Army Corps of Engineers. It is these dams which prevent (most years) the flooding of the Willamette River we knew in the past. From Cottage Grove to Detroit, these dams are: Cottage Grove Dorena Hills Creek Lookout Point Dexter Fall Creek Fern Ridge Cougar Blue River Foster Green Peter Detroit and Big Cliff Thanks to the work of these magnificent regulators of the currents which run into the Willamette River, the Valley floor has seen a lot less flo ..read more