[Heritage] Oregon Heritage News 2012-01-12

[Heritage Info]

In This Issue:
1. Lake Oswego Opens Historical Oswego Iron Heritage Trail
2. Linn County Historical Society Sets Speaker in Albany
 
 
LAKE OSWEGO OPENS HISTORICAL OSWEGO IRON HERITAGE TRAIL
 
The City of Lake Oswego recently announced the opening of the Oswego
Iron Heritage Trail, a tour route that guides walkers along existing
streets and pathways to sites associated with Oregon’s pioneer iron
industry. Built in Oswego in 1866, and the first iron furnace on the
Pacific Coast, today, it is the only surviving historic furnace west of
the Rocky Mountains. 
 
Funded by the City of Lake Oswego and created under the auspices of the
City's Historic Resources Advisory Board, the Oswego Iron Heritage Trail
features colorful interpretive signs at each site, offering a glimpse of
mining and iron making in nineteenth century Oswego. A map at each stop
shows the route and featured sites. Three of the seven destinations are
located along the Willamette River: the 1866 blast furnace in George
Rogers Park, the site of the 1888 furnace in Roehr Park, and the site of
the pipe foundry in Foothills Park. The Iron Mountain Trail follows the
rail bed of the narrow gauge railroad that transported ore from the
mines to the furnace. The Prosser iron mines are located in Iron
Mountain Park, although the mines are no longer accessible. 
 
In Tryon Creek State Park the trail passes an old charcoal pit that
once produced fuel for the furnace. At one time, charcoal pits dotted
the landscape between Dunthorpe and West Linn and filled the air with
smoke. Two sites focus on the lives of the workers: the Worker’s Cottage
on Wilbur Street and the Oswego Pioneer Cemetery, the resting place for
some 90 workers. An Opportunity Grant from Clackamas County Tourism and
Cultural Affairs supported the interpretive display in the cemetery. 
The Friends of Tryon Creek, in partnership with the Oregon Parks and
Recreation Department, created and funded the sign in Tryon Creek State
Park. 
 
Heritage trails focus on a specific aspect of a region’s history and
combine outdoor activity (hiking, biking, boating, way marking) with a
tour of related historical sites. Heritage trails are one of the most
popular forms of cultural tourism. They foster pride in local history
and bring economic benefits to local businesses by attracting visitors.

 
For information about the trail, visit
www.ci.oswego.or.us/parksrec/OIHT.htm . For further information,
contact project historian Susanna Kuo, (503) 636-4833 or 
susannakuo at comcast.net ; City of Lake Oswego Parks and Recreation
Director Kim Gilmer, (503) 675-2545 or kgilmer at ci.oswego.or.us ; or
Richard Santee, Manager, Oswego Pioneer Cemetery Association, (503)
890-3462 or rsantee at comcast.net .
 
 
LINN COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY SETS SPEAKER IN ALBANY

The Linn County Historical Society will sponsor a presentation by Dr.
Paul VanDevelder on his book “Savages and Scoundrels: The Untold Story
of America's Road to Empire through Indian Territory” at 2 p.m., Jan. 15
at the Lakeside Center of the Mennonite Village, 5353 Columbus St., in
Albany. Learn about the pattern of broken treaties between the Federal
government and Native American tribes of the West during the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries. 
 
An investigative journalist, photographer and Corvallis resident,
VanDevelder is the recipient of the 2011 Frances Fuller Victor Award for
General Nonfiction Oregon Book and the author of “Coyote Warrior”, for
which he received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for literature. For
further information, contact Glenn Harrison, (541) 619-7596 or
gr.harrison at comcast.net .


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Save the dates for the 2012 Oregon Heritage Conference: April 26 - 28!

Oregon Heritage News is a service of the Oregon Heritage Commission.
Contact us by emailing heritage.info at state.or.us .
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