To the Editor: I drove out to Jacksonville from Medford. A native of Montana, I do [not] have the spirit or hold the position of a native Oregonian, having a ten-year-old root in the soil of Oregon. My heart went out in protest when I visited this completely neglected gem of Oregon history.
    It would seem that this ancient gold mining camp and metropolis of early days has been completely ignored by the mother state for richer diggings in the north.
    Priceless records and relics--a pair of gold scales that have weighed over $2,000,000 in gold dust, and by the irony of time, Oregon's first fire engine--all are housed in a firetrap that God alone protects.
    Is Oregon so poor or so careless it cannot take care of and protect this priceless history?
Oregonian, Portland, August 12, 1948, page 18

Last revised December 29, 2024