Épisodes

  • Portland’s “Temperance War of ’74”: The backstory

    Portland’s “Temperance War of ’74”: The backstory
    Jul 14 2025
    Inspired by the successes of temperance activists back east, a group of Portland ladies decided to take their message of abstinance out of the churches and into the streets. They may have been surprised by the reaction they got. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1870s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1902a.temperance-wars-1of4-533.html)
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    13 min
  • Wife acquitted of murder after shooting husband

    Wife acquitted of murder after shooting husband
    Jul 11 2025
    DAWN WAS ONLY a couple hours away when 33-year-old lumber mill owner Gene Harington got home from a really long night. He pulled into the drive around 5:45 a.m., and immediately proceeded to wake up his pretty young wife, Virginia, along with their two babies (ages 1 and 2). Virginia tucked the two kids back into bed, and after that, an argument ensued. Virginia later said it was a bad one — at one point Gene threatened to kick her out of the house, and at another point he threatened to push her down the basement stairs. Finally, she said, around 7:45 a.m., he got undressed for bed. But then he got back up again, got into the closet, and got out his .38 Special. “I’m getting this so you won’t,” he said. Then he put it down on the floor beside the bed. The couple continued their argument. Virginia wanted Gene to stop drinking; Gene wanted Virginia to get off his back, and maybe have a drink or two herself (she was a teetotaler). She probably accused him of having an affair; after all, he had been out all night. Then — something happened. Precisely what, only Virginia really knew afterward — but after it was over, Gene Harington was dead, a pair of .38-caliber bullets buried deep in his brain.... (Eugene, Lane County; 1940s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/2504a.virginia-harington-shooting-696.517.html)
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    10 min
  • When Portland flooded, locals raised the sidewalks

    When Portland flooded, locals raised the sidewalks
    Jul 10 2025
    But in 1861, the worst floods in state history turned the Willamette Valley into one giant half-million-acre lake and swept several burgeoning towns away. And, despite our flood-control dams, someday it will probably happen again. (Willamette Valley; 1860s, 1890s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1704c.willamette-floods-1894-1861-439.html)
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    11 min
  • Huge 1934 P-town dock strike paralyzed the state

    Huge 1934 P-town dock strike paralyzed the state
    Jul 9 2025
    Half a century of winning labor disputes left the waterfront employers feeling overconfident. When the Portland longshoremen walked out, they expected it would be a repeat of earlier victories for them ... it wasn't. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1930s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1304a-1934-dock-strike-paralyzed-oregon.html)
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    11 min
  • How Portland and Kaiser helped ‘save the Empire’

    How Portland and Kaiser helped ‘save the Empire’
    Jul 8 2025
    Arguably, the outcome of World War II became inevitable on the day the S.S. Star of Oregon slid into the Columbia River. It was followed by a torrent of new ships — far more than the Nazis could ever hope to sink. (Vanport, Multnomah County; 1940s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1612c.portland-liberty-ships-saved-canada-422.html)
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    10 min
  • Stubborn citizen, McCall teamed up for Bottle Bill

    Stubborn citizen, McCall teamed up for Bottle Bill
    Jul 7 2025
    Litter enraged outdoor enthusiast Richard Chambers, so he launched a one-man campaign to pass a deposit bill. Then Gov. Tom McCall leaped aboard, and Oregon became the first state to ban nonreturnable bottles and cans. (Pacific City, Tillamook County; 1970s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1810c.1812.bottle-bill-tom-mccall.html)
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    10 min
  • Finn on KPNW's Wake Up Call: Klondike Kate and the Case of the Fake Katfight

    Finn on KPNW's Wake Up Call: Klondike Kate and the Case of the Fake Katfight
    Jul 6 2025
    A recording of an on-air conversation with Bill Lundun and Gerry Snyder of the Wake Up Call on Eugene's KPNW Radio AM 1120. Topic: There is a persistent myth that the 'real Klondike Kate' was a female Mountie named Kate Ryan, and that Kate Rockwell, the dancer, stole her name and reputation. It's a bogus story — the two women lived and worked on opposite sides of the Yukon Territory — but the real story of Klondike Kate, the Belle of Dawson who later took up a land claim near Brothers and became known as Aunt Kate of Farewell Bend, is way more interesting than the myth. (Brothers, Deschutes County; 1910s, 1920s) (For the full story, see https://offbeatoregon.com/2403d-1108b.klondike-kate-katfight-1of2-137.641.html)
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    22 min
  • Empty-nester’s ‘second act’: Riverboat bordello madam

    Empty-nester’s ‘second act’: Riverboat bordello madam
    Jul 4 2025
    Paddlewheel riverboats and fancy bordello girls seem like a match made in pop-culture heaven, don’t they? Plush “parlour houses” and luxurious riverboats both were common in the “naughty nineties,” and both represented probably the closest thing to luxury a working man or woman would find in a frontier waterfront city like Portland or San Francisco, or even St. Louis or New Orleans. And yeah, there were times when the twain did meet in real life. Naïve farmboy Aquilla Ernest Clark was lured into the clutches of Portland shanghaier Larry Sullivan by a flock of beautiful, friendly ladies obviously hired for the purpose, who joined him and eight other victims on a chartered riverboat for what they thought was a “birthday party” cruise. (Here’s a link to that story.) And who can forget Eliza “Boneyard Mary” Bunets, the 40-year-old solo practitioner who apparently entertained her customers aboard mothballed sternwheelers in the Oregon Steam and Navigation Co.’s “boneyard” at the foot of Flanders Street? (Here’s a link to that one.) But the combination seems to have reached its peak in the case of a Portland madam named Nancy Boggs, who actually operated a bordello aboard a 40-by-80-foot barge anchored in the middle of the Willamette River, in the early 1880s.... (Portland, Multnomah County; 1880s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/2502b1007d.nancy-boggs-floating-bordello-688.120.html)
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    15 min