[Heritage] Oregon Heritage News 2011-11-14

[Heritage Info]

In This Issue:
1. Oregon Encyclopedia Sets Nov. Speakers
2. Covered Railroad Bridge Dedication Featured
 
 

OREGON ENCYCLOPEDIA SETS NOV. SPEAKERS
 
The Oregon Encyclopedia History Night series continues with Ray
Tercek’s talk, “Politics and Crime in Portland: Drug Enforcement in
the 1980s” at 7 p.m., Nov. 21 at McMenamins Mission Theater, 1624 NW
Glisan, Portland. In the 1980s, the Portland Police Department uncovered
a massive drug conspiracy headed by cocaine dealer Jose “Pepe” Chavez.
Part of what would become one of the largest drug trafficking conspiracy
investigations in the nation, Police Sergeant Ray Tercek shares his
experiences breaking the conspiracy and negotiating the politics of City
Hall.
 
Geologist Jim O'Connor will present “The Bridge of the Gods: Folklore,
Forests, and Floods” at 6:30 p.m., Nov. 29 at McMenamins Edgefield, 2126
SW Halsey St., Troutdale. Derived from a much larger Bridge of the Gods
that blocked the Columbia River in about 1450 AD, today’s Bridge of the
Gods is an 1800-foot-long bridge that spans the Columbia River at
Cascade Locks. The earlier “bridge” was the result of the Bonneville
Landslide, which almost certainly gave rise to the Native American story
of the Bridge of the Gods and how they “could cross the river without
getting their feet wet.” 
 
In Bend, Terry Krueger’s talk, "Buffalo Bill and the Origins of Pop
Culture” will begin at 6 p.m. Nov. 29 at McMenamin's Old St. Francis
School, 700 NW Bond St. Colonel W.F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody traveled
through Oregon beginning in 1902 with his Wild West show of cowboys,
Indians, Mexican “ruralies,” “Cuban Patriots,” “Roosevelt Rough Riders,”
and more. He became an icon of the Old West, largely shaped by his own
marketing, and his influence on western culture arguably helped shaped
our current culture of celebrity. 
 
For more information, visit: www.oregonencyclopedia.org or email Tania
Hyatt-Evenson at pdx05508 at pdx.edu or call (503) 725-3990.
 
 
COVERED RAILROAD BRIDGE DEDICATION FEATURED
 
The City of Cottage Grove will host an Open House beginning at 2:30
p.m., and Dedication ceremony at 4 p.m., at the newly restored Chambers
Covered Railroad Bridge Dec. 3 
 
Constructed in 1925 by the Oregon, Pacific and Eastern Railroad, the
Chambers Bridge accommodated steam engines pulling logging trains into
the J.H. Chambers mill. After the mill closed during the 1950s the
bridge languished until purchased by the city in 2006, which began
restoration on the bridge in 2010. The only remaining example of the
covered railroad bridges that used to dot the Oregon landscape, and the
only one west of the Mississippi, the Chambers Bridge has been a part of
the Cottage Grove community for over 86 years.  Named to the National
Register of Historic Places in 1979, and one of only eight bridges of
its kind in the United States, the newly restored bridge serves as a
reminder of Oregon's timber and railroad heritage.  
 To get to the bridge, exit I-5 at Cottage Grove, travel south on
Highway 99 to Harrison Avenue, turn west on Harrison to Old River Road,
and then turn south on Old River Road. Chambers Bridge is off of Old
River Road just south of Harrison. For more information, visit
www.cottagegrove.org/chambers.html or call (541)942-5501.




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