Offbeat Oregon History podcast

Offbeat Oregon History podcast


Latest Episodes

Boss shanghaier Sullivan’s mining-stock fraud career
February 10, 2023

For anyone interested in the shanghaiing of sailors on the old Portland waterfront, the name Larry Sullivan needs no introduction....

Is Central Oregon’s lost crystal cave just a legend?
February 09, 2023

Is there a lost crystal cave in central Oregon somewhere, lined with thousands of quartz crystals? Or is the whole thing just a legend?

Portland’s play to beat The Dalles literally cost Oregon a mint
February 08, 2023

Gasping for hard currency to finance the Civil War, and awash in raw gold from two Eastern Oregon gold rushes, the federal government tried to build a mint in The Dalles in 1863. But...

West Coast’s first female M.D. lived in Oregon
February 07, 2023

After Bethenia Owens divorced the frontier slacker she'd married at age 14...

Stubborn citizen teamed up with McCall on Bottle Bill
February 06, 2023

Litter enraged outdoor enthusiast Richard Chambers, so he launched a one-man campaign to pass a deposit bill. Then Gov. Tom McCall leaped aboard...

Boys' shipwreck adventure couldn't happen in today's world
February 03, 2023

They pedaled their bicycles from Portland to Astoria, snuck aboard a wrecked ocean liner, and spent the night marooned on board...

Wagon train to Oregon was led by a dead man: Willie Keil
February 02, 2023

The young man was the only person to have followed the Oregon Trail while dead...

Oregon crooks have always loved their dynamite
February 01, 2023

Extortionists, jailbreakers, safecrackers, jealous lovers and even truant students...

How to rob trains with dynamite: Tips from the Pros
January 31, 2023

Award-winning criminal mastermind/ motivational speaker Blackie DuQuesne shares a few key insights for aspiring train robbers on how to avoid n00b mistakes...

Dynamite used to be a regular part of Oregon life
January 30, 2023

Just a few dozen years ago, nearly anyone in Oregon could easily get all the high explosives he or she might want...