Offbeat Oregon History podcast

The alcoholic derelicts of on Burnside Street knew they could count on denatured alcohol for a cheap-but-nasty buzz; it might make them sick, but it wouldn't kill them. But then, one day, it did. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1930s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1404c.poison-dehorn-killed-28-hobos.html)

Why is there 5,000 acres of near-wilderness at the heart of Oregon's largest city? Because nobody could develop it — although many tried. So, all the land reverted back to the city for unpaid taxes, and the city turned it into Forest Park. (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1010d-family-camped-in-downtown-portland-for-4-years.html)

Today we're finishing up our list of six of the most iconic modern foods that have been invented in the Beaver State. Last time, we explored the first three; today we have three more. (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/23-12.oregon-food-inventions-628.html)

Oregon has been the birthplace of some of the world's most iconic foods over the years. Today and tomorrow, on the podcast, we'll explore six of the most influential ones. (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/23-12.oregon-food-inventions-628.html)

The masked outlaw planned the job out carefully, and thought he was ready for anything. But he met his match in the cool-handed express man, and had to leave almost empty-handed. (Saginaw, Lane County; 1900s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1501a.saginaw-train-robbery.320.html)

If so, the Linn County lad might have revolutionized air travel. But a launch-day disaster ruined his prototype, the Great Depression scared off all his investors, and the Hindenburg disaster ended the era of airship travel. (Linn and Benton county; 1910s, 1920s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1602c.pt2-slate-metal-airship-inventor-379.html)

Thomas B. Slate first invented the commercial production process for making dry ice, then took his new-made fortune and used it to re-imagine airship travel in an almost unbelievably “steampunk” way. (Alsea, Benton County; 1900s, 1910s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1602b.slate-metal-airship-inventor-part1.378.html)

The big sub was a key part of Oregon history; it fired on Battery Russell in June 1942, tried to light a forest fire with its on-board airplane that September, and sank several merchant ships. (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/2401d-1101e.i25-bombards-fort-stevens-108.632.html)

IN LATE AUGUST 1943, the crew of the destroyer U.S.S. Patterson scrambled to battle stations off the coast of what is now Vanatu, near Australia. The sonar operator had picked up the signature of a big Japanese submarine submerging close by. The Patterson steamed into battle, depth charges rolling off the deck and lighting up the sea below. Then, on the final depth-charge barrage, a deep undersea explosion could be heard, bigger than any depth charge. Oil and air bubbles boiled to the surface. The Patterson had found its mark. After that day, the most important submarine in the history of the state of Oregon — the Imperial Japanese Navy’s I-25 — was never heard from again. (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/2401d-1101e.i25-bombards-fort-stevens-108.632.html)

The case of John Ottoson (ne Otokichi) in 1832 illustrates what can happen: Blown off to sea by a gale, he and his comrades rode the Kuroshio Current to Washington State — much to the astonishment of Dr. John McLoughlin. (Oregon Coast; 1830s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1404d.japanese-junks-blown-across-to-oregon.html)