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Oregon Times and Trails
History of Oregon pioneers for young readers and for use in schools. Illustrated with maps & photos.
Paperback
First published January 28, 1965
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March 21, 2020
The first part of this book was better than the last. Written in 1965, much of it is outdated, so the further into "modern" history it got, the more it became outdated. Still, it was fun seeing old pictures of Oregon before so many people and regulations came to the state---especially the photo of the road along the gorge before it was a freeway. The first few stories are a little folklorish; other than the story of Lewis and Clark, the others were not ones you commonly hear regarding the history of Oregon.
Unfortunately, enough of the book is outdated or, in some cases, inaccurate, that I won't be keeping this for our homeschool reference library. The Tillamook fire isn't even on the list of top five worst fires now. Authors predicted it would be a long time, if ever, that a woman would be allowed to be governor in Oregon. However, Oregon actually had the first woman governor in the whole US when Carrie B. Shelton served for 48 hours while the elected governor recovered from illness! The first elected female governor began her service in 1991 and the state currently has a female governor. Finally, my husband had never heard of the then-promisingly-sophisticated Vee-Ballon for logging. He says the work in remote areas is now done by helicopter lift. Still seems tedious and expensive to me for just a few logs at a time. One outdated thing that is really interesting to me is the price of gold. At the time of publication, the price of gold was fixed at $35 an oz. and the authors talked about how miners were lobbying for an increase. Now gold is $1,582.70 an oz. WOW! I'd say they got their increase!
Thought outdated, the book does serve to preserve some of the oral history and folklore of the state, as well as pulls together research in an understandable way. The book was written for youth but has an evolutionary perspective which is unfortunate. Page 183 is a great example of brainwashing propaganda: "We can't be absolutely sure that these conditions existed millions of years ago but wise persons wearing impressive titles like 'geologist', 'anthropologist' and 'archaeologist' have been studying the area for many years and then making a lot of educated guesses." Besides the "educated" part, it almost sounds like a Creationist being sarcastic...
It was kind of sad reading the, then hopeful, conclusion to the book. The authors talk about Oregon remaining as one of America's undiscovered wonderlands. (Now it's taken over by escaping Californians and too much regulation). It lists the total state population as 1.7 million (now it's 4.2 million). Only 14 cities had a population over 10,000 (now over 35 do and our hometown, considered a "small town", has 9,800). When I was little, I had a t-shirt that read, "Oregon is what America was." I think about that a lot....not really true anymore. Now it's more like, "Oregon is what most of America fears."
My favorite quote from the book is regarding the pioneering spirit of Oregon's early white settlers: "They were driven by optimism; life was good, but it could be better. They were driven by curiosity; life was interesting but what fascinating sights, do you suppose, lie beyond yonder hill? (Americans remain, to this day, the most travelling people on earth.)"
Unfortunately, enough of the book is outdated or, in some cases, inaccurate, that I won't be keeping this for our homeschool reference library. The Tillamook fire isn't even on the list of top five worst fires now. Authors predicted it would be a long time, if ever, that a woman would be allowed to be governor in Oregon. However, Oregon actually had the first woman governor in the whole US when Carrie B. Shelton served for 48 hours while the elected governor recovered from illness! The first elected female governor began her service in 1991 and the state currently has a female governor. Finally, my husband had never heard of the then-promisingly-sophisticated Vee-Ballon for logging. He says the work in remote areas is now done by helicopter lift. Still seems tedious and expensive to me for just a few logs at a time. One outdated thing that is really interesting to me is the price of gold. At the time of publication, the price of gold was fixed at $35 an oz. and the authors talked about how miners were lobbying for an increase. Now gold is $1,582.70 an oz. WOW! I'd say they got their increase!
Thought outdated, the book does serve to preserve some of the oral history and folklore of the state, as well as pulls together research in an understandable way. The book was written for youth but has an evolutionary perspective which is unfortunate. Page 183 is a great example of brainwashing propaganda: "We can't be absolutely sure that these conditions existed millions of years ago but wise persons wearing impressive titles like 'geologist', 'anthropologist' and 'archaeologist' have been studying the area for many years and then making a lot of educated guesses." Besides the "educated" part, it almost sounds like a Creationist being sarcastic...
It was kind of sad reading the, then hopeful, conclusion to the book. The authors talk about Oregon remaining as one of America's undiscovered wonderlands. (Now it's taken over by escaping Californians and too much regulation). It lists the total state population as 1.7 million (now it's 4.2 million). Only 14 cities had a population over 10,000 (now over 35 do and our hometown, considered a "small town", has 9,800). When I was little, I had a t-shirt that read, "Oregon is what America was." I think about that a lot....not really true anymore. Now it's more like, "Oregon is what most of America fears."
My favorite quote from the book is regarding the pioneering spirit of Oregon's early white settlers: "They were driven by optimism; life was good, but it could be better. They were driven by curiosity; life was interesting but what fascinating sights, do you suppose, lie beyond yonder hill? (Americans remain, to this day, the most travelling people on earth.)"
Displaying 1 of 1 review