Offbeat Oregon History podcast

Offbeat Oregon History podcast


Latest Episodes

After 80 years, Oregon Vortex still keeps experts guessing
August 23, 2023

Water seems to run uphill, and people's height appears to change from one end of a plank to another....

America’s first highway rest area had marble walls
August 22, 2023

Legendary Crown Point Vista House looks out over the Columbia River and was the highlight of the Columbia Gorge Scenic Highway...

Alcoholic shipmate guzzled naturalist's snake-preserving whiskey
August 21, 2023

Stranded for the winter on Sauvie Island, the members of Nathaniel Wyeth's trading post struggled to get enough to eat. But for some of them...

Oregon’s Doolittle raiders and their startling stories
August 18, 2023

Two of them had movies made about their wartime exploits 30 Seconds over Tokyo and The Great Escape...

The Oregonians who flew over Tokyo with Doolittle
August 17, 2023

Robert S. Clever, Everett Brick Holstrom, Henry Hank Potter and Robert G. Emmens were four Oregon aviators who did the Beaver State proud...

Famous ‘Doolittle Raid’ roots in Pendleton air base
August 16, 2023

Oregon played a vital role in America's answer to Pearl Harbor...

Corvallis man found out that cows make lousy boat engines
August 15, 2023

The Genius of Corvallis hoped his cattle-powered riverboat would give the upper-Willamette sternwheelers a run for their money; but ...

Schemers’ plans to exploit Multnomah Falls failed
August 14, 2023

Original owners of the falls tried for years to log it, but the steamship and railroad moguls were making a lot of money on excursion trips...

First policewoman was a municipal Rescuer
August 11, 2023

BY THE TIME Walt Disney Productions released The Rescuers in 1977, the idea of a Rescue Aid Society dedicated to the eradication of kidnapping felt quaint, old-fashioned, and fun. But not many yea

Dispute over reservation land lasted a century
August 10, 2023

Warm Springs Indians struggled from 1871 to 1972 to get back a piece of land taken as a result of a survey everyone admitted was in error.