Silverton Murals, part III

Silverton's Favorite Son

Three of our town's murals are directly or indirectly related to Silverton's most famous resident.  At the turn of the century, America's most influential political cartoonist was Homer Davenport. And his legacy is remembered in the town's annual festival, "Homer Davenport Days". Working at the Hearst papers, he helped expose some of the great scandals of the day, covered presidential elections and the sinking of the Titanic , and was so popular and  valued that he was for a time paid as much as the US president.  Ultimately, Davenport’s work became so well recognized for skewering political figures he considered corrupt, that his opponents attempted to pass a law banning political cartoons. The bill, introduced in the New York State Senate with the prodding of U.S. Senator Thomas Platt ,did not pass, but the effort inspired Davenport to create one of his most famous works: “No Honest Man Need Fear Cartoons." shown above. Behind Platt is Boss Tweed, exposed in the Tammany Hall scandals a generation earlier by Thomas Nast, an inspiration of both Davenport and his mother, who became enamored of the cartoonist's work while pregnant with Homer, and resolved that her son would follow in the man's footsteps.

His memoir "The Country Boy", though poorly circulated, was compared to Twain's as americana. And he remained a simple country boy at heart, though he became a close friend of William Randolph Hearst and made his career in cities like Portland, San Francisco and New York. It is perhaps his yearning for his Willamette Valley roots that endears him to his hometown as much as does his fame.

Davenport is remembered not just by political cartoons in American History books, but also by horse enthusiasts, as he brought some of the first Arabian Horses to the United States via a "Lawrence of Arabia"-worthy adventure to the middle east. But that story's for another day (and blog, as it has its own mural.)

Davenport was an enthusiastic supporter of  Teddy Roosevelt and left the Hearst Papers for a time to support his campaign. The party considered him worth $1000 a week ( in 1904!), and then spent $200,000 to circulate the cartoon of Uncle Sam endorsing T.R. below, considered the largest vote-getting cartoon in the history of American Politics.

Mateo and I recently got back from a trip to central California, Sarah's family's ancestral homeland and the location of Mateo's first Patriots Game! We'll chronicle the adventure in the next couple of blogs....

Wild Things and Mountain Peaks

"...And when he came to the place where the wild things are they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws."

That's Sarah's cousin Matt below reading "where the wild things are" with Mateo, who loves to act out the scene quoted above. (including material from the recently discovered first draft, where Sendak wrote "...and stuck out their terrible tongues!"). Mateo loves all of Maurice Sendak's books, especially this one and "In the Night Kitchen". There are plans afoot to get him into Max's wolf costume for halloween. We'd like get a "wild thing" costume for Dad, but perhaps if he just doesn't trim his hair or beard before then, it'll do.

Matt's back for his second year in the seminary at Mount Angel. We're glad to be able to be an oasis of family in a foreign land (hey, he's from California!) When his studies allow, we have him over for dinner (or to do his laundry) and he's been a great help to the other Matt in house projects - and mateo has a ball with him!

Nona had been wanting to visit Timberline lodge on Mount Hood for a while, so we took the opportunity on a sunny September day. It rises just south of the Columbia River Gorge, and is a couple hours northeast of us on back roads. Hood is one of several dormant volcanos in the Cascade range, and a big skiing destination. In fact behind them above you can see the glacier that is groomed year-round to allow summer skiing. This is about the most uncovered you'll see Hood, at the end of the summer melt and before high altitude snow starts. For a winter view, check this travelogue page (Hood Facts)
Timberline Lodge was built by the WPA (and is aptly named, as you can see from the last scattering of trees at the timberline behind Nona and Mateo) and has the kind of incredible construction and craftmanship you only see in that depression era agency's projects, when everyone from unskilled laborers to artists and architects came to the same place to get work in hard times.
We took the long way home, heading up the Hood River Valley east of the mountain, to the Gorge and back into Portland. The valley is orchard central for Oregon, and has been since shortly after pioneers arrived. It was a good time to take advantage of the apple and pear harvests, and we hit a number the stands and farms on the hood river "Fruit Loop" picking up lots of uncommon varieties of both on the cheap.

A Weekend of Fests

Mt. Angel Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest has come around once again, and we got to host friends for the festival. (Hint: you're all invited to come visit for an Oktoberfest sometime) We volunteered at our congregation's Knights of Columbus sausage booth...where you can get one on a bun with kraut or without and one on a stick if you are just serious about in-taking protein.

The Glockenspiel is a cuckoo-clock like timepiece with life-sized moving figures: Monks, Handsel-and-Gretel-dressed kids, Medievel artisans.


Matt & I at a table in Alpine Garten with my dear friend Melissa and her friend Angelina. Angelina lives in Kellogg and came to visit Melissa for the weekend but agreed to spend part of it with us at O-Fest...we've assured her that she is welcome to come back any year, with our without Melissa.


And they weren't even drunk!

Welcome to the Shrewsbury Faire, M'Lords and Ladies!

Shrewsbury Faire is a Renaissance festival outside of Philomath, OR



Mateo really hit it off with Diana & Whitney Hardin (daughter's of Sarah's old Corrections friend, Paul)

...here they're observing a grasshopper that Whitney caught.

Below is the video of an antler parade...yet another experience that Sarah thought she would never partake in...but we had a Ye Olde Time...

Love from Oregon, Sarah & boys (check out the post below...it's new too)

First Camping Trip as a Family!

So on Labor Day weekend, we went trekking with our friends, Miranda, Eric & Sage Traeger. I finally agreed to sleep on the ground, so we went camping to a place where Eric spent lots of time in his early days...the 4 inch memory foam mattress from Costco made it so pleasant, I think we will go again...plus Mateo had so much fun playing with Sage on the hammock...higher 'Uncle' Eric, higher...

At the headwaters of the Metolius River, with Mount Jefferson in the background. Mateo loves his Baby Carrier (Oops, that's 'Big Boy' carrier.) Straps may prevent low back injury, but also make for less than pleasant picture taking...

Tired out at the end of a long day! How I miss the days when he would crawl into my arms first thing...it doesn't happen often, but when it does, it is amazing!

When it's time to pack up, Mateo lends a hand

Mateo, Sage, Matt, Miranda and Eric feeding fish at the hatchery. Mateo loved putting quarters in the fishfood dispenser as much as feeding the fish.

Thanks to our friends for showing us how much fun the great outdoors can be!!

Love, Sarah & the boys...

The Silverton Murals, Part II

The Gallon House Bridge

Oregon has the largest collection of covered bridges in the northwest and one of the largest in the country. The tradition began in the 1850's when pioneers began using the local Douglas Firs to build the spans along with the enclosures above them that dramatically increased their useful lifetimes.
The Abiqua Creek Bridge was built in 1916 over that stream northwest of town. (for the engineers out there, it's a Howe truss structure, like most of the covered bridges here.) It survived a flood in 1964 that knocked it off its supports as well as a few restorations, some poor and some (like the most recent) that returned it to pristine condition. But it was "white lightning" that gave the bridge the history that made it mural-worthy.
Back then Silverton was a dry town, but Mount Angel to the north was 'wet' - and the Abiqua was the dividing line between districts. It didn't take long for the bridge to become an illicit distribution point for liquor. Gallons of whiskey from a distillery in Mount Angel would be left at a blind drop at the north end of the bridge. And thus the "Gallon House Bridge" was born. The practice continued with moonshine when Prohibition made the whole country dry in 1920.
That's Mateo with the mural above and again at the bridge itself below. We sometimes detour through it on our way back from his twice-weekly morning daycare.

In the detail below, and a poem (second picture below) the mural envisions the bridge "in days gone by" as more than just a locale for the illicit exchange of moonshine, but also a place for a picnic and a stolen kiss.



And there's Mateo still wielding his little camera below. It's still the only way to get him to sit still for staged photos. He's okay as long as he gets a turn to shutterbug first before posing for our shots. I'm convinced he's going to be a celebrity someday, as he's already prepared for the paparazzi ("No pictures!") The final photo is one of his better compositions.




Appropriately, Mount Angel still serves as a symbol of liquid cheer for Silverton, the Willamette Valley and Portland, as this very weekend the town will host an Oktoberfest that's the 'largest folk/harvest festival in the northwest'. Mount Angel is home to a large Bavarian population, German restaurants, a sausage company, an Abbey full of monks, a traditional Glockenspiel clock with life-sized moving figures, and a few thousand residents. But for four days, an extra 350,000 people will come to celebrate. We'll be bringing some friends from out of town, and volunteering for a shift at our church's Knights of Columbus bratwurst booth. Expect to see a detailed report in an upcoming blog. I myself will be doing some extensive research, involving a 14-ounce plastic cup and an oompa band....