'Grace's Visit' To Be Shown

    Jamison: Grace's Visit to the Rogue River Valley, scenario by A. C. Allen and Holbrook Withington. And there she is, Grace Andrews as she visits the Rogue Valley. Where is this, Grace?
    Fiero: This is the railroad station when I just arrived visiting Susan Deuel, who's now Mrs. Gain Robinson--and that's Conro Fiero, and I have a romance with him all through this picture. We were married at that time.
    Jamison: Whose car, A.C.?
    A. C. Allen: The car [a Peugeot] belonged to Mr. George Carpenter, who was an orchardist down near Phoenix.
    Jamison: You're arriving where, Grace?
    Fiero: Woodlawn Orchards, which is now Mon Desir [Restaurant]. This is my old home, and that's my sister-in-law, Emily Fiero, greeting me, and there's Susan Deuel again, who I'm supposed to visiting.
    Jamison: Presently Mrs. Robinson.
    Fiero: Oh, yes, [Mrs.] Gain Robinson.
    Jamison: And there's Mrs. [Artinecia Riddle Chapman] Merriman.
    Fiero: Mrs. Merriman tells me stories of the olden days, which are enacted in just a few minutes as the film unfolds
    Jamison: The scenario for acting this out: "At Gold Hill, salt was then worth its weight in gold," according to Mrs. Merriman. Where was this taken, A. C. Allen?
    Allen: This was a stage station on the Rogue River, just above Gold Hill, and remember, this is over fifty years ago!
    Jamison: Did you have any trouble recruiting actors and actresses?
    Allen: At first, they didn't believe it was movies. Now, after later on, when they really found out, it was hard to keep them out of the picture. They all volunteered.
    Jamison: There's a scene of weighing salt worth its weight in gold, and here comes the buggy up to the old stage stop. Any identification on any of these people, A.C., or has it been too long?
    Allen: I don't know any of them. I did know them, but I've forgotten their names.
    Jamison: Again, this was fifty-year-old film, filmed originally by A. C. Allen, on [a] thirty-five-millimeter hand-cranked camera. There's the sign.
    Fiero: Where was this taken?
    Allen: Up near Foots Creek, at that old stage station there.
    Jamison: [Reading sign] "Beware, don't carry treasure on the stage; Black Bart is loose again." What about this?
    Allen: [Referring to exposure of a feminine ankle.] This is a daring scene.
    Jamison: Now Mrs. Merriman, what she--
    Fiero: continues her story--what happened in the olden days.
    Allen: This was taken on the Jacksonville-Medford high--er, railway [on April 20, 1915], owned by Mr. Barnum and family and run by him. You'll see his train come along.
    Jamison: The actors were very authentic; they put railroad ties on the track.
    Allen: And Barnum was running the railway, and notice the speed at which he approaches that tie.
    Jamison: He was being especially careful. They're hiding in those bushes. Some of this film was damaged in the flood, wasn't it, A.C.?
    Allen: No, this is mostly age.
    Jamison: Just age.
    Allen: Fifty years.
    Jamison: Even by those standards in those days that was an old train, wasn't it?
    Allen: It was.
    Fiero: He was a funny-looking old man.
    Jamison: Was the line currently in operation at that time?
    Allen: Yes, he was running trains between Medford and Jacksonville and carrying passengers.
    Jamison: Here come the passengers. We'll have some closeups now; see how many you can identify, Grace and A.C., over fifty years ago, recalling in 1965.
    Allen: That is Mr. [William] Barnum, the owner of the railroad, being held up.
    Jamison: Now the conductor being robbed. All volunteer actors--
    Allen: Every one, without rehearsal.
    Fiero: There's Uncle Ed, Ed Andrews, that's being held up. There he is.
    Jamison: Quite reluctant.
    Fiero: Yes.
    Jamison: Reluctant participant.
    Fiero: There's Josephine Root, the tough girl in the play, and Gerald Sooysmith, with his hands up. With the top hat on. [Root was Grace's cousin. Josephine's mother's sister was married to Ed Andrews.]
    Jamison: Geraldine [sic] playing the very tough lady, right?
    Fiero: Yes. Don't recognize any others.
    Jamison: He got his tie clip on that one.
    Allen: This fella in the middle with a shovel was a stranger, a prospector, who had strolled down the track and was jammed by the actors, who pulled him and made [him] stay, and he thinks it's real.
    Jamison: They finally had to pull him away. Now he [unintelligible] that his money was safe; it was hid under his foot.
    Fiero: Now it's back at Woodlawn Orchard; Mrs. Merriman continuing the story of the old days.
    Jamison: Now see the difference now, she's saying, look how modern it is in [1915]. Where's this, A. C. Allen?
    Allen: This is the premium railway station in Medford. We were very proud of that in those days.
    Jamison: Even had train service. [Passenger service had ceased in 1955.]
    Allen: Even train service, and I'd like to travel on one now.
    Fiero: There's the French car again, the chauffeur. Now I'm being taken all over the valley and shown the places of interest.
    Allen: This is Mr. [Frank H.] Madden's residence, an orchardist in the valley.
    Fiero: That's on Old Stage Road isn't it?
    Allen: On the old stage road between Jacksonville and Gold Hill.
    Jamison: Now over the Siskiyous, the old, what--the old Pacific Highway?
    Allen: This is the old Pacific Highway, and [it] replaced the toll gate that used to be on part of the road and cut down lots of the grade, a modern new highway at that time.
    Jamison: Had some rather severe grades even for that day, didn't it?
    Allen: Yeah, much more than they have now.
    Jamison: An old touring car with the entourage going over the Siskiyous. Do you remember the day that that picture was filmed in [1915], Grace?
    Fiero: Yes, we had many wonderful trips over that Siskiyou. That was one of our trips that we took very often. It was a beautiful drive. We'd go over to Hornbrook.
    Jamison: Parts of that road are still passable today, aren't they?
    Allen: Part of them are still passable and they're being used!
    Jamison: I understand in this film you had a rather primitive method for developing the film, too, A.C.
    Allen: Yeah, I had no machinery whatever; I had to make racks and develop by hand in trays that I had to make myself.
    Jamison: The printing was done within the camera, wasn't it?
    Allen: It was done through the camera, and done at the rate of taking one picture at one turn of the crank. So you can figure out how many turns it had to make; they say sixteen turns to the foot, and six thousand feet.
    Jamison: A most interesting project in [1915], on a rather limited budget too. Now this is where, A.C.?
    Allen: This is climbing Grizzly Peak, opposite Phoenix, and the Grizzly mountain climbing team [on May 30, 1915].
    Jamison: Now, Grace Fiero, you're downtown as Grace Andrews, rather, visiting the valley.
    Fiero: Yes, this is East Main [in Medford]. That was the Andersons' old home. And there here we are at the Elks Lodge.
    Jamison: Present Elks club, currently standing today, rather new at that time, wasn't it?
    Fiero: Yes. [It was completed in the spring of 1915, when filming began.]
    Jamison: Everyone was proud of it. Remember, these pictures were taken for showing at the exposition in San Francisco, right?
    Allen: Yes, and they run every so often during the whole fair.
    Jamison: 1914 and '15. Roosevelt School at the time. What about the day that you took these pictures, A. C. Allen?
    Allen: This lives in my memory very distinctly, because at this time, for some reason or other, I had a very bad case of hay fever, could hardly see what I was taping. I'll remember it.
    Jamison: We will too, because you recorded on film the old Roosevelt School, and compared to today, no vegetation growing around. And now, Grace--
    Fiero: All right, this is [unintelligible] attacking, that we're about to see now
    Jamison: Mr. Payne was a rather elderly man at that time, wasn't he?
    Allen: Yes, he was an old man, and well known in this country, he and his family, an old prospector.
    Jamison: [Reading] "Sixty years ago" reenacting now. Who's this?
    Fiero: That's Josephine Root with Sprague Riegel.
    Jamison: Reenacting a scene of sixty years ago fifty years ago [on April 18, 1915].
    Fiero: [Laughing] Yes, a hundred and ten, isn't it?
    Jamison: That's what I make it. Now, there she comes.
    Fiero: On her way to get--a bucket of--oh!
    Allen: She discovers the Indians.
    Jamison: Uh-oh. Panic. What to do? Mr. Payne continues the story. Who are the actors acting as Indians?
    Allen: This is the Redmen Lodge of Medford, and they did a pretty good job of it. One member especially was very proud of his fall, which you will see presently near the cabin.
    Jamison: Payne's Gulch out in Sams Valley near Mr. Payne's cabin. And there comes the rescuers. And the man falls, and the heroine comes out. And again the heroine is--
    Fiero: Josephine Root, and Sprague Riegel.
    Jamison: And a very colorful gentleman there, Mr. Payne.
    Fiero: Wasn't he, though?
    Jamison: The old Rogue River Valley Country Club, built on property that belonged to Conro Fiero.
    Fiero: Yes, he had eighty acres out there which he gave to the country club at that time.
    Jamison: Predecessor to the present Rogue Valley Country Club.
    Fiero: Yes. And Chandler Egan laid out the golf course at this country club, as well as the new one.
    Jamison: [Reading} "Former national amateur golf champion, H. Chandler Egan." Demonstrating his drive, and there's another character in this. Who is that?
    Allen: Lord Algy [E. W. Carlton]. He was a sort of contender for Conro's girl's hand. But he had no chance.
    Jamison: You were actually married to Conro at the time.
    Fiero: Yes.
    Jamison: Fanciful story between you and Conro and Lord Algy.
    Allen: Vint Beall was one of the old-time ranchers, near Central Point, and he tells of the old times.
    Jamison: Methods were crude in the mining days. It's interesting to note that the Beall Lane was named for the Beall family, wasn't it? Commonly referred to as "Beel" Lane, I think, sometimes.
    Allen: But Old Man Beall said, "My name is 'Bell,' B-E-double-L. Bell!" [Apparently Allen meant to say "B-E-A-double-L."] But this was a scene in Payne's Gulch, with volunteer miners, who'd never used a shovel before or since on such things. And the foreman is one of the big ranchers, Mr. Pelton, who didn't like the work that was being done.
    Jamison: Now Mr. Beall continues in telling his story. This is very reminiscent, it looks authentic today, and probably looked crude in those days, didn't it?
    Fiero: Yes.
    Jamison: Those were the early days of mining. Now Mr. Beall continues with his story. Are those gold?
    Allen: Those are real gold nuggets, taken from the museum of Jacksonville at that time, the bank of Jacksonville. And the mine was run by the Bullis giant washing down the gravel with the gold in it. And you'll soon see quite a big wash come down from the bank.
    Jamison: This is the old Sterling Mine, and remnants of that mine, of course, are still in evidence, and it was one of the largest mines in this area, owned by the Bullis family. The flume contains the riffles which gather between the riffles and there's the gold. Sounds simple, doesn't it?
    Fiero: You know we all had such a lark taking these pictures that I don't think we really realized that it was to be shown at the Panama exposition. And afterward I was in San Francisco and went in to see the Oregon Building down there, and this film was running. And I was so surprised, and of course very thrilled to see the film of "Grace's Visit to the Rogue Valley."
    Jamison: There's a big hydraulic jet getting ready to wipe out a cameraman.
    Allen: Yeah, the cameraman is put off; they just figured to give him a little kick. Watch him.
    Jamison: Uh-oh. He gives up. As the hydraulic jet comes closer he leaves. Now this is the huge undercut that you're talking about, isn't it.
    Allen: This is the one. This is one of the largest they've ever made.
    Jamison: How many feet of film in an old thirty-five-millimeter hand-cranked camera.
    Allen: The most the magazine would hold would be two hundred feet.
    Jamison: I'll bet you were a little fretful lest you not get the rest of this scene, then.
    Allen: We were afraid that they wouldn't get through before the film ran out.
    Jamison: The old Sterling Mine, hydraulic mining in [1915]. Very soon, the ledge above, at the top of the picture, will come tumbling down. The mine was actually in operation at the time, wasn't it.
    Allen: At that time it was in active operation. In fact, my son, who was always with me on these pictures, picked up a gold nugget that he found on the ground. They took it away from him.
    Jamison: Now, Grace?
    Fiero: This is at Jack Morrill's ranch near Gold Hill. He and Sprague Riegel were running this ranch together. We had many marvelous parties there. They were two bachelors, of course.
    Jamison: Any of the individuals identifiable in the picture now, fifty years later, Grace?
    Fiero: Fern Hutchison was there, a minute ago. They're going too fast to identify.
    Jamison: You might just note that the film in those days was at sixteen frames a second and present equipment at twenty-four frames per second. It gives the effect of a rather rapid movement, doesn't it. The old residence--the remnants are standing today, of the place, I understand.
    Fiero: Yes, the house burned down, but the remnants of the place are still there.
    Jamison: Now, who is this?
    Fiero: Why, that is Lord Algy.
    Jamison: Making a play for Grace's hand.
    Fiero: Grace'll have none of it.
    Jamison: Has eyes for--
    Fiero: Conro only.
    Jamison: Now at the Rogue River ranch.
    Allen: This is the old Horace Pelton place.
    Jamison: I think Mrs. Pelton is on the--
    Allen: Mrs. Pelton was one of the riders.
    Jamison: Some of the actors and actresses don't look too secure behind that horse. How about the cameraman?
    Allen: He wasn't happy either; those horns didn't look good.
    Jamison: This is a fanciful trip of Grace Andrews in a trip around the Rogue Valley, and now a haying scene.
    Allen: This is on the old Ish property, or Gore property, near Medford. And [William] Lewis, he was--the only sheep on the desert out here, near the Agate, in that country.
    Jamison: Quite a herd of sheep. You don't see very many sheep out in that district, at least anymore.
    Fiero: And Lord Algy being very brave.
    Jamison: In amongst the sheep, and young Jim Allen, isn't it?
    Allen: Yes, that's young Jim Allen, my son. This is a prize pig that was on the orchard owned by Potter Palmer of Chicago at the time, and very high-bred pigs; we had to sterilize our shoes before we were allowed to go near 'em.
    Jamison: And we conclude Act One of "Grace's Visit to the Rogue Valley" as everyone is enjoying dinner.
   
    Jamison: Our guest now is Mr. A. C. Allen, the man who made the film you have seen, and there's more to come. Mr. Allen, did you have any previous film-making experience?
    Allen: None whatever.
    Jamison: All you had was the camera. What kind?
    Allen: I had a German make, wooden, Ernemann motion picture camera.
    Jamison: Hand-crank variety.
    Allen: Hand-crank variety.
    Jamison: Mr. Allen, how did you get into the project of making a film about the Rogue Valley?
    Allen: Well, I had a friend by the name of Dr. Lewis Bundy, a dentist, and he was very anxious to get pictures of the Rogue River Valley sent to the Panama-Pacific Exposition at San Francisco. And he in turn asked me if I'd be interested in taking the pictures.
    Jamison: I understand you had a little trouble even after you were commissioned to do this with the county warrants that were paid to you.
    Allen: They finally--somebody finally got the check from the county and handed it to me. I don't know how I got it, but I had a $600 warrant. I took it to the bank, and they refused to cash it. They didn't cash the county warrants at that time, but they recommended me to another citizen, who discounted it ten percent, and I got $560 [sic] out of it.
    Jamison: And you were off and running in making a film about the Rogue River Valley.
    Allen: And I was off to making the film.
    Jamison: Well, we know that this was made originally in [1915], filmed on a nitrate-based thirty-five-millimeter film, over the years deteriorated rather badly, didn't it?
    Allen: It did that, but I was really surprised after all it had gone through that its condition was really as good as it was.
    Jamison: And now it's finally transferred to modern sound-on-film sixteen-millimeter, and our thanks to you, Mr. Allen, for letting us know you, and also for future generations that might be able to enjoy this picture of the Rogue River Valley.
    Where was this, A. C. Allen?
    Allen: This is the [James and Horace] Pelton ranch, and there was one of the largest cherry trees I ever saw. Good cherries, and that's Pelton's daughter.
    Jamison: Now you meet some successful women orchardists.
    Fiero: That's Mrs. Holloway, who had the orchard. She's the mother of Ruth Edgell, who's living here now.
    Jamison: Rather primitive spray equipment in those--
    Allen: At the back you see Holbrook Withington. She turns the spray on him. That was the director.
    Jamison: Somebody got tumbled. [Reading] "A trip on the Pacific & Eastern Railway." To where, A. C. Allen?
    Allen: From Medford to Butte Falls. This picture was taken with me riding on the cowcatcher of the engine, and it wasn't very pleasant.
    Jamison: We remind everyone that this film was shot in [1915] with an old hand-cranked thirty-five-millimeter camera by A. C. Allen, and developed by hand and printed by hand. Remarkable photography. How many feet of film total in the film, A. C. Allen?
    Allen: There was five thousand feet of negative and five thousand feet of positive.
    Jamison: This is Mount Pitt. . . . This is Mr. Howard.
    Fiero: Yes, he is at our old house there again.
    Allen: He was one of the old surveyors, one of the first surveyors in Southern Oregon.
    Jamison: Called the "Father of Medford," and this is the first store [in Medford]. It's located down at the present Sims Cycle across from the Jackson County Federal parking lot, isn't it? [J. S. Howard's store, 21-23 South Front, burned in 1894. The store used as a stand-in is unidentified. In 1965 Sims Cycle was at 41 South Front, on the corner of Eighth.]
    Allen: I don't know.
    Fiero: Yes.
    Jamison: Now the fire engine, and for those days it were very speedy. And horse-drawn ones, too.
    Allen: He was late getting aboard.
    Jamison: Did they stage this especially for you?
    Allen: Yes, this was staged especially [on April 3, 1915].
    Jamison: Out on East Main. Somebody got their lawn watered that day free. ["East Main" refers to the scene of the fire engines speeding down the hill. The "lawn-watering" scene was filmed elsewhere.]
    Allen: This was--they were very proud of this new pump. It hadn't been in Medford very long.
    Jamison: What location for downtown Medford?
    Allen: This is on the Front Street and Main [on April 10, 1915], with the Nash Hotel on the right. Charlie Chaplin happened to be an advertising stunt put on by the Page Theater. [The Chaplin short subject "A Jitney Elopement" was playing at the Page.]
    Jamison: The Jackson County Federal building [at 2 East Main, Medford] would be on the right of this picture presently, and the bank on the left; this is looking down Main Street east. Looking east, now; of course Main Street is presently a one-way going west.
    Allen: Yeah.
    Jamison: And there's the train depot. [It isn't the train depot; he's looking at the exhibit building.] How about the cars? This is normal traffic?
    Allen: Well, it may have been raised a little. [Chuckles.]
    Jamison: Now where is this trip?
    Allen: This is the Gold Ray Dam, near Gold Hill.
    Jamison: And Table Rock in the background, and rather a substantial amount of photography along the Rogue River. It wasn't too well known in those days, was it?
    Allen: No, it wasn't. It was nice, clear water, and lots of it.
    Jamison: And this picture, shown in San Francisco, probably enticed many a person to come to the bountiful Rogue River Valley, perhaps even to meet the Grace Andrews of the picture.
    Fiero: Yes, there were a number of people that moved up here from San Francisco and had summer homes after seeing this, I believe.
    Jamison: This is the falls--
    Allen: That was Mill Creek Falls, on the road to Crater Lake, and Barr Creek Falls coming just into the picture now. They're both close together, emptying into Rogue River.
    Fiero: That's a beautiful picture, isn't it.
    Jamison: Remarkable for fifty-year-old film. This has been reconstructed on sixteen-millimeter silent film; the coordinator of that project was Robertson Collins, at his insistence, and many Rogue Valley residents made this film possible for presentation to the Southern Oregon museum. How long did it take you to go to Crater Lake on that trip, Mr. Allen?
    Allen: The first trip by automobile took two long days. Then later we could make it in one day.
    Jamison: Making a speed run to Crater Lake, taking all of one day.
    Allen: That was with a car. Three days with a team.
    Jamison: Along the Gorge, isn't it?
    Allen: That's the Rogue River Gorge.
    Fiero: One of the hills we had to go over going to Crater Lake then was called Pumice Hill, or Pumee Hill, and it was just thick pumice powder; it was just terrible going through that.
    Allen: And a twenty-four percent grade.
    Jamison: So people didn't make too many fast trips to the Crater Lake, did they, in those days. Again I would comment on the clarity of some of the pictures, and some of it has deteriorated. Is it just age, or heat?
    Allen: It's hard treatment by different operators and--the old age.
    Jamison: This is the very same print, the original of this, was the one that was shown in San Francisco, wasn't it.
    Allen: The same one, yes. I never had money enough to get over one print.
    Jamison: These scenes taken on the road to Crater Lake, right?
    Allen: Yes, near Prospect.
    Jamison: A wide thoroughfare up there now.
    Allen: In fact, that piece of road is almost the same, only it has been straightened and rebuilt.
    Jamison: Are the people there identifiable?
    Allen: That is Jim with a gun.
    Jamison: [Reading] "Some sugar pine! This tree 28 feet in circumference 5 feet from the base, 230 feet high, contains sufficient lumber to completely build and furnish a nine-room house." And that old sugar pine is still there, isn't it, A.C.?
    Allen: It's still there, and seems to be doing fine. [The pine was dead by 1965; it was cut down in July 1966.]
    Jamison: It hasn't grown much, though, I know. It took quite awhile, even at sixteen frames a second, to go to the top of that tree. Do you recall any unusual experiences in the filming or the processing of this film, A.C., that might be humorous? I understand you had to build most of your equipment, didn't you?
    Allen: Oh, yes, I had to build it; in fact, after I got the film and started taking the pictures, it was a puzzle to know how to develop them. I had to build my own racks they had to be developed on and to be dried on and so forth. This is the Crater Lake from the top of the rim, and that is Mr. Ben Sheldon that is on there. Now from here this is the Phantom Ship, and just to the left of that in the cliff is a cavern, in which we rowed--you could row a rowboat, and one day while I was taking other pictures of the lake one of the so-called "eruptions" occurred, an enormous one; it put a cloud up into the sky like an atomic bomb, and I think it was the same kind of eruption they've had ever since. It was nothing but a big landslide. The dust looked like smoke, and the rocks churning into the water like boiling water, but it was only a landslide.
    Jamison: The man on that peak up there, was that the ranger?
    Allen: No, that was Ben Sheldon, and he came--he made a cut across instead of following the path, and he was--he nearly fell over the cliff. This is The Pinnacles, on Sand Creek.
    Jamison: Again we comment on the clarity of the film after fifty years of being tucked away and used, and I think we're very fortunate to be able to have these recorded on film, some of the earliest motion picture film ever taken of the Crater Lake, and The Pinnacles, wouldn't you say?
    Allen: Yes, they were the most--they were the first successful motion pictures taken of the park. Of course the cameramen didn't understand the lighting changing at that altitude, and most of them were spoiled in exposure. This is the first real successful pictures taken.
    Jamison: Now a trip to Ashland, and Ashland park, Grace. Did you enjoy this--reminiscent?
    Fiero: This is the only one I really remember. I'd never tasted the sulfur water; you see me being presented with a drink very shortly.
    Jamison: A drink of lithia water?
    Fiero: Lithia water. And it was quite a surprise.
    Jamison: Do you recall the social life of the day--was it much as depicted in this film?
    Fiero: Yes, very much.
    Jamison: There was much time for picnicking and parties?
    Fiero: Yes, parties at the country club all the time, and at the different homes. And we thought nothing of motoring twenty, thirty miles from one house to another for a dinner party, and--
    Jamison: Life at a much leisurely, more leisurely pace than today.
    Fiero: Oh, much more.
    Jamison: Any identifiable people there, Grace?
    Fiero: Well, that's my sister-in-law, Emily Fiero, and my husband--my suitor [in the film] at the moment, Conro Fiero.
    Jamison: Pictures of where Ashland gets its water. The residents around Ashland will be interested in seeing these pictures, also downtown.
    Allen: This is the square in Ashland, and for this picture they were to have a sort of an Ashland Day, with a lot of cars out, and the busy scenes and so forth, but you can see what came out. Watch these cars.
    Jamison: Looks like you had a few cars that they just kept going around.
    Allen: We did.
    Jamison: I thought that was Lord Algy going across.
    Fiero: There's Conro.
    Jamison: And this is the Ashland School, still presently standing today.
    Allen: This is the busy street we got.
    Jamison: The old Vining Theater on the left, the Lyric Theater, going east toward the college. The college would be on the--further out this boulevard, Siskiyou Boulevard. Not too much traffic to hinder your photographic efforts.
    Allen: Not much to bother us in those days. This is the--one time where the citizens all turned out [on June 2, 1915] to celebrate the completion, or near completion of a new Ashland highway [Glenview Drive] around, above Ashland.
    Jamison: Now I think we'll very soon see Grace Andrews, Grace Fiero, taking her taste of lithia water. Did you enjoy it?
    Fiero: Should I be truthful? [Laughs.] I'll not be popular in Ashland.
    Jamison: I noticed you smiled on camera.
    Allen: I'm sorry I didn't get the rest of the shot of her after I had turned the camera [off], but it was worth taking.
    Jamison: Those are scenes now high above Ashland. About what point?
    Allen: I don't know Ashland well enough to know the names of points, but this is at the--around the mouth of the Ashland Canyon, I think they call it.
    Jamison: From the far side.
    Allen: From the far side.
    Jamison: At the top of the picture at the right is the picture of the cut of the old road, or the new road that was being constructed earlier in the picture. Again, another remarkable photography for those days. [Reading] "Grace goes camping with her friends." Where was this?
    Allen: That was taken on Little Butte Creek.
    Fiero: Austin Corbin's ranch.
    Allen: Just above Eagle Point.
    Jamison: Who is that?
    Fiero: I think that was Chandler Egan. That's Marilyn Hayden.
    Allen: That is my son Jim.
    Jamison: Looks like he caught something.
    Allen: Yes, he's showing the decoys that he was going to use for his hunting. And here is Algy.
    Jamison: Lord Algy. Not your pick, right?
    Fiero: Right.
    Jamison: We have to continue to identify these people by their names in the film and their real names. Now what's going on here, Grace? I think I can--
    Fiero: [Laughs.]
    Jamison: Woodland tryst between Grace and Conro.
    Fiero: Right.
    Jamison: Now you're back at camp.
    Fiero: And it was always fun.
    Jamison: Rather--love to rough it.
    Allen: Jim was--
    Fiero: We did love to rough it, too, in those days.
    Jamison: And everybody says, "Where's Algy?" He's missing. Now they're signaling, right?
    Allen: That's the signal to see where he is.
    Jamison: Rather remarkable actors for their day.
    Allen: This is the way Lord Algy told it after he got back to camp.
    Fiero: I didn't believe him.
    Jamison: This is his story of what happened, right?
    Allen: That is right.
    Jamison: You must understand there were some unexpected actors, right?
    Allen: Yeah, unexpected to all of us.
    Jamison: [Reading] He says, "It was a deuced long tramp." He's hunting, obviously. He continues his story to Grace Andrews. He sees something, and he fires.
    Allen: He's lost his ammunition.
    Jamison: He continues his story to Grace and the rest of them, who were doubting a little bit, I think.
    Fiero: Yes.
    Jamison: Now what happened?
    Allen: A very brave hunter, as he told it, but watch what he saw.
    Jamison: He's lost. And apparently a little frightened.
    Allen: That dog was but one of the volunteers.
    Jamison: And approaching now--
    Allen: This is the big bear.
    Jamison: He's tired, and he's weary, and he's frightened, and there comes the bear out of the brush--and the "bear" turns out to be--a friendly old cow, an unexpected actor. You didn't expect to see that one in the picture, did you, A.C.? Now he stalks the camp; he sees it through binoculars. How did you achieve that effect, just as they do today, A.C.?
    Allen: Hmm?
    Jamison: The effect of the binoculars, how did you achieve that?
    Allen: Through masks, on the lens.
    Jamison: Now Lord Algy is contriving his story to tell them back in camp, is that right?
    Allen: That's right.
    Jamison: I see. And now, Grace, you're being entertained at a reception, the caption said.
    Fiero: This is at the--George Carpenter's place, which is a beautiful house, and a swimming pool.
    Jamison: Where is that located?
    Fiero: Oh.
    Jamison: Out on the--
    Fiero: The south--above the Voorhies orchards.
    Jamison: And who is dancing?
    Allen: This is the--name is Swem, Katherine Swem. She was a very fine little dancer, and she had some help with some of her schoolmates; they were all schoolgirls.
    Jamison: Now did they have music, and was this staged and rehearsed?
    Allen: No, no rehearsal, no music. She just had to do it by counting. [The dancers were castmates from the Roosevelt School production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." See above.]
    Jamison: So all of her friends at the reception just grouped together on the lawn and [unintelligible] did the entertaining; is that right, Grace?
    Fiero: Yes.
    Jamison: Do you identify any others in the picture there, just offhand? Well, she received a nice hand from the crowd. I think we're extremely fortunate to, as we mentioned, to have this film after all these years, and to keep the film for posterity. Any other recollections that you might have of highlights of taking this film, Grace?
    Fiero: I remember this beautiful scene.
    Allen: Another volunteer, on the--in the water.
    Fiero: That was the Carpenters' little scottie dog; I remember that dog.
    Jamison: Now you're looking out over the valley, and the little butterfly girls are helping to set the scene. This venture to publicize the Rogue River Valley at the exposition in San Francisco in  1914 and '15. These scenes, taken from high above the valley, give a very glamorous picture of the orchards down on the floor of the valley, and now the entertainers again, the butterflies again, the dancers are--.
    Allen: The idea was that the dancers would gradually fade out, and then their--Katherine would make the final scene, and the slogan, "Come to Rogue River Valley" would appear in the sky. But in the long years of usage it's been cut off, that is, the sign has been--
    Jamison: Come to the Rogue River Valley, but apparently in 1914 and '15 a good many people got the message to come to the Rogue Valley, as Grace Fiero has indicated in the picture. Other recollections of the print? We're approaching the end of the scene now. In retrospect, do you have any nostalgic moments as you've watched the film, A. C. Allen?
    Allen: Well, only that I don't see how it was done. If I had to do it again, I wouldn't dare do it, don't you see. I didn't know anything about it; I'd never seen a motion picture taken. I'd seen plays in the theater, and it was really a staggering thing that I don't even realize yet.
    Jamison: How about you, Grace?
    Fiero: Beautiful view of the valley.
    Jamison: And it still is.
    Fiero: Yes.
    Jamison: In those days, in [1915] and even yet today. And we draw to a close as we reminisce with A. C. Allen and Grace Fiero [unintelligible] in 1914 [sic].
    Voiceover: Now this postscript to our story. The original negative, produced by A. C. Allen, was printed on thirty-five-millimeter silent film in [1915]. Over the years it had deteriorated rather badly. A project to restore the film and to preserve it for its historical significance was undertaken in 1965 by Robertson Collins, of Jacksonville. Funds raised at a private showing in that year helped offset the cost. The monumental task incurred by the laboratory can be realized when you consider that the original film had deteriorated to the point that each frame was transferred individually in the process. A television showing, at which time narration was added, converted this sixteen-millimeter silent film to a videotape recording. Television station KMED-TV underwrote the cost of making the final sixteen-millimeter sound film for eventual presentation to posterity through the Southern Oregon historical museum. Your gracious commentators, though fourscore in years, added to the historical value with their recollections of those earlier days, nearly hidden in the mists of fifty years. To Mrs. Grace Fiero, and Mr. A. C. Allen, Senior, goes our deepest appreciation. They have added immeasurably to our store of historical film data from the golden era in the Rogue River Valley. This showing by permission of the Southern Oregon historical museum, Jacksonville, Oregon, Miss Mary Hanley, curator.
DVDs of the film and interview are available from the Southern Oregon Historical Society Research Library.