Oregon's Memorable Century

[Host] The 20th century has been an amazing hundred years for the state of Oregon. It began with settler's hacking out a living from the forest wilderness and ended with the silicon forest computer industry. In between we built one of the most beautiful highways in America, tamed the mighty Columbia, and passed the nation's first pollution laws. We happily watched the birth of a large baby, and got angry as disciples of an Indian guru tried to take over a community. We followed the leadership of a charismatic governor and the teamwork of a world championship basketball team. We endured raging forest fires, tremendous windstorms, and tragic floods, and a volcano that blew its top. Oregon Public Broadcasting and the Oregon Historical Society look back at Oregon's memorable century. [Announcer] Production funding for Oregon's Memorable Century has been provided by the Collins

Foundation. The Collin's Foundation is dedicated to improving the quality of life in Oregon. [Host] In the 20th century, Oregon earned a national reputation as a state blessed with astounding natural beauty and the will to protect it. A state where voters will try new ideas. This program is about some of the events that shaped Oregon during the past hundred years. Things that helped to make Oregon, Oregon. [Music] [Wagon train sounds] During the long migration West,19th century settlers faced an important choice at a fork in the trail. They could turn South. Could maybe strike it rich in the California Gold Fields, or head on to the Oregon

Territory, for a more modest living working the land. [Guest speaker] It tells something I think about the pioneers who came here. That they would assume, maybe, being rich and striking gold, come here where they would strike a different kind of richness, but good everyday living in a beautiful place. [Wagon train sounds] [Host] Like those first pioneers, most of the 400,000 Oregonians at the turn of the century had chosen this as a place to live. They had come here to what was then a raw frontier lifestyle, to make a living off the land. [Piano] In 1900, Oregon had the economy of a developing nation, a raw material provider. First timber boom had come just after the first settlers arrived on the Oregon Trail,

supplying timber for the California gold rush of 1849. Logging was limited to land near the Columbia and Willamette rivers. Oxen could haul the logs a short distance. Good rivers were the only way to move timber far. Preservation wasn't much of a concern. Using these methods, loggers had barely touched Oregon's vast forest stands. But at the turn of the century, that was all changing. New money, new technology, and new talent would soon transform the forest products industry. [Piano continues] The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire helped spark the next boom. Eastern and Midwestern capital saw an opportunity, cutting Oregon wood to rebuild the city. [Guest speaker] So C.A. Smith of Minneapolis, in 1906, built the world's largest electrical sawmill at the time at Coos Bay, Oregon. ?Shevlin? and Hixson, and Brooks and Scanlon, and other investors from the East moved into the pine belt of the upper Deschutes

country within a decade to build their large mills serviced by the railroad that was built up the Deschutes River Canyon. [Host] Railroads move logging operations away from the rivers. Steam donkeys replace slow moving oxen. Timber was becoming big business. [Guest speaker] Simon Benson is perhaps the personification of the development of the forest products industry in the 20th century in Oregon. He developed a means of getting logs out of the forest very quickly, and then putting them into log rafts, taking them down the coast to California, and to building mills down there to cut the lumber. He made a lot of money, much of which he brought back to Oregon. And of course his influence in terms of the Columbia Gorge highway, Benson High School, Benson Hotel, other things, was in direct proportion to his success as a lumberman. [Music] [Host] With the outbreak of World War I, many workers enlisted.

Oregon was known as the "Volunteer State." supplying the most soldiers per capita. Portland's National Guard was the first in the country mobilized for service. Timber was Oregon's greatest contribution to the war effort. The army even took over some saw mills to produce spruce, a light and strong wood perfect for their newest weapon, the airplane. Spruce for the air and fir for the sea, became the rallying slogans for getting out the cut. [Guest speaker] We had what was called the Spruce Brigade here. And spruce and fir and other trees were used to build aircraft, ships, housing of course, barracks. So Oregon provided an important natural resource for the war, it was an arsenal, in effect. [Host] After the war, the boom continued. Men made good money in the woods and saw mills. It lasted until the Great Depression hit and demand for lumber plummeted. It would take another world war to get them back in the woods.

Early in the century, the state's most deadly natural disaster hit the small town of Heppner in eastern Oregon. Mindful of the need for water in the dry climate, Henry Heppner had located his town along Willow Creek. The town attracted wheat farmers, and sheep, and cattle ranchers. By 1900 more than a thousand settlers called Heppner home. The future seemed bright. But on Sunday, June 14, 1993, the waters of Willow Creek, that had given birth to the town, nearly destroyed it. [Thunder sound] A sudden afternoon thunderstorm rolled over the hills above town. Trees, fences and debris washed into the creek damming it up. Water quickly built up.

And when the dam burst, it unleashed a wall of water on the unsuspecting town. [Music] The torrent swept away people and animals. Houses floated off foundations. In minutes, the flood killed about 250 people, nearly a quarter of the town. As tragic as it was it could have been worse. On horseback, Leslie Matlock and Bruce Kelly raced the flood waters 10 miles downstream to warn the town of Lexington. Jean Stockard heard the story from her grandparents. [Jean] They'd been to church in the morning and had their dinner. And then heard the shouts about the flood coming and just apparently grabbed the children and ran up and sat on the hillside and watched the water come through. [Host] The disaster was front page news. Volunteers came to help clean up the mess. Recover bodies and dig graves. It was heartbreaking work.

[Jean] My grandfather told a story about a little girl who died holding a dolly in her hand, and they never found her parents, and so they buried her holding the doll, and he was very affected by that. [Host] Soup kitchens were set up to feed the homeless. The Palace Hotel fed anyone who showed up for free as a spirit of community replaced the despair. In a testament to human optimism, most people decided to stay and rebuild. Within a season, the land was again producing. New homes and businesses erased most traces of the sudden flood. But the loved ones who died are not forgotten. And the rebuilt town of Heppner endures today, perhaps with a stronger sense of community because of that terrible day in June, and the way the community rallied to help their neighbors in need. [Music] Sentiment for

conserving natural resources had very early roots in Oregon. In 1879, Congress gave the President the power to reserve forest from sale, essentially making them off limits for commercial exploitation or homesteading. In 1892, the Bull Run Watershed became the first such reserve in Oregon. Next year, President Grover Cleveland reserved Crater Lake, a wilderness area of unparalleled beauty. But the lake's advocates pushed Congress to grant national park status. When conservation friendly Theodore Roosevelt became President he boosted their cause, and on May 22nd 1902, the President signed the bill establishing Crater Lake National Park. In spite of difficult access to the park by horse and later by motor car, tourism in the area continued to grow. In 1915 the historic Crater Lake Lodge was open for visitors. It attracted guests from around the world until 1989, when, after years of

neglect, the structure was condemned. A public outcry saved it from the wrecking ball. The lodge was dismantled and rebuilt. It reopened in 1995, restored to an atmosphere reminiscent of the 1920's. Crater Lake is still the only National Park in Oregon. National Forest make up about 25 percent of Oregon, but few people hiking the woods know that most of these public lands are the result of a hasty decision made in secret 3,000 miles away. A decision that changed the face of Oregon forever. In 1906, Congress had just passed a law taking away the President's power to reserve forest land. [Guest] In short order, [Guest speaker] Gifford Pinchot, new head of the U.S. Forest Service, and President Theodore Roosevelt poured over the maps and the forest surveys that had been done by the U.S. Geological Survey, in the decade of the 1890's. In a period of 10 days, withdrew

millions of acres for National Forests in the Pacific Northwest. These have since been called the midnight forest reserves, because they were withdrawn during the midnight hours at the White House, before that bill would be signed and become law. Consequence for the state of Oregon of course, is the Willowa-Whitman National Forest, the Ochoco, the Fremont, the Rogue River, the Siskiyou, the Siuslaw, the Mt. Hood, these national forests are a legacy of that quick action by a conservation minded President and the new head of the Forest Service. [Host] Backroom deals were part of the political climate at the turn of the century. A growing populist movement was calling for change. [Guest speaker] And the way to control political corruption was to ensure that the populace was able to directly get in there and influence legislation

and to control the political climate. In 1904, Oregonians passed the nation's first initiatives. One, calling for direct primary elections. Another, a local option liquor law. Two years later voters chose Republican Jonathan Bourne as a U.S. senator, making Oregon the first state to choose a senator by popular vote. In effect, the powers of initiative referendum and recall turned ordinary citizens into lawmakers. [Guest speaker] So popular did these become, and so admired were they nationally, that they were heralded as the Oregon system. And were adopted by many other states across the United States. [Host] Of course, only men could vote on initiatives or anything else. Since the mid-1800's, American women such as Susan B. Anthony had been campaigning for the ultimate right of citizenship, the right to vote. The suffragists' battle was being fought state by state. A chief crusader emerged in Oregon, Abigail Scott Dunaway.

Abigail came overland to Oregon with her parents in 1852. Self-educated, she became a teacher and novelist, and established a newspaper dedicated to furthering human rights. Abigail lobbied tirelessly to get an equal suffrage amendment in Oregon. But male voters resisted, primarily due to another hot issue of the time. [Guest speaker] They were afraid that temperance was tied to it. Or abolition. And some argued that if women got the right to vote, that surely they would take away men's right to drink. [Host] At the dawn of the 20th century, the suffrage campaign suffered a crushing blow when the Portland Oregonian launched a massive editorial opposition. The paper's editor was Abigail's brother, Harvey Scott. Voters turned down women's suffrage four more times. In 1912, public support was stronger. Women had won the right to vote in Washington, Idaho, and California. But the Oregon movement faced perhaps its biggest loss. Abigail fell deathly ill with

pneumonia and blood poisoning. Miraculously, she survived, saying she could not afford to die until suffrage was achieved. That year, Oregon became the seventh state in the union to give women the right to vote, eight years before the national constitutional amendment. Governor Oswald West asked Abigail to write out the equal suffrage proclamation by hand. And she became the first woman to register to vote in Multnomah County. Abigail Scott Dunaway cast her first vote in the 1914 election. [Music] The hundred year anniversary of Lewis and Clark's explorations of the Oregon country gave the state cause to celebrate. The Oregon Historical Society was charged with planning an event to mark the occasion. [Guest speaker] The Society came up with the idea of a World's Fair, an international

exposition. And very quickly political and business leaders grabbed onto the idea. [Host] And so the Lewis and Clark Centennial, and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair was born and the world was invited. Guilds Lake in Northwest Portland was chosen as the site and a frenzy of building began. On opening day June 1st, 1905, Spanish renaissance style exhibit halls were filled with wares from as far away as Japan and Russia. The Atiyeh family came to Portland from Syria to market fine textiles. [Atiyeh family member] There's a photograph of my father at the Lewis and Clark Fair, and I asked my father one time, how come he came to Portland, and he said that somebody came through and said this was a good area to sell Oriental rugs. [Host] With a boost from the fair, the Atiyeh's rugs soon graced the homes of the timber and land barons of Portland.

Fairgoers were treated to exotic attractions, like the streets of Cairo, and Carnival of Venice, replete with ballerinas, opera singers and gondoliers. By the end of summer, the fair had hosted a million a half visitors from all around the world, a tremendous boost to the state's budding tourism industry. The great extravaganza, as it was later called, netted the princely sum of $84,461. By the fall of 1905, the temporary buildings were dismantled and the fairgrounds cleared. The lake was later lost under a flood of silt and the land was slowly converted into a thriving industrial area. One landmark that survived was the forestry building, called the world's largest log cabin, it lasted until 1963 when the massive structure caught fire [sound effect]and was destroyed. The impact of the fair was far reaching. It put Oregon on the map as a desirable place to visit and to live.

[Guest speaker] It was really a tremendous boost, I think, in terms of the economic and in-migration of people to Oregon, and particularly Portland. [Guest speaker] We can look back at the 10 years immediately following the Exposition and see that the state grew by about 50 percent in population and economy, based directly and indirectly on people's experience with the Exposition. [Host] [Music] An Oregonian newspaper editorial summed it up best. The Lewis and Clark Exposition officially marked the end of the old and the beginning of the new Oregon. [Guest speaker] Soon after the Lewis and Clark exposition, a movement reached Oregon called the Good Roads Movement, which was a national effort to build roads and make it easier for Americans to get around the countryside.

And the movement in Oregon was built around the slogan "Get Oregon Out of the Mud." How appropriate. [Host] The unlikely hero of Good Roads was an eccentric genius named Sam Hill, the son of a Midwestern railroad magnate. He dreamed of building a paved highway, roughly paralleling the railroad through the Columbia Gorge. Not just any road. A road to match the Gorge's beauty. Hill got financial backing from Simon Benson, the same Benson who had made a fortune selling lumber. [Marching band] On July 17th, 1916 the Columbia Gorge Highway officially opened. It was an engineering and aesthetic masterpiece. For the first time, it was possible to drive from the wheat fields of Eastern Oregon, through the Cascade Mountains to the Willamette Valley. An automobile could make the trip in a short day's travel. Sam Hill's fantastic dream had come true.

The road was a success, not only with tourist and farmers, but also as a symbol. [Guest speaker] The road itself proved that modern macadamized, or paved highway would serve this region well and it was a hit and became a model for later road construction. [Host] Largely because of Hill's influence, the Oregon Legislature funded a State Highway Commission to improve roads. [Guest speaker] The state of Oregon built the Pacific Highway, Highway 99, which was a North-South corridor from the Columbia River to the California border through the Willamette, Umpqua and Rogue River valleys. [Host] In 1917, another milestone for travel. Construction was completed on the Interstate Bridge. Sam Hill was there presiding over the opening ceremonies. For the first time, people could drive over the Columbia River. [Guest speaker] The highway bridge over the Columbia River was finally a recognition that automobile traffic between Oregon and Washington had reached a

point where you could no longer depend on ferries. And that was also a recognition that people were beginning to use the automobile more than they were railroad. [Host] The new roads connected communities which had been isolated and they helped bring economic expansion. But they also led to some Oregon treasures being protected. Way back in 1913, Governor Oswald West established Oregon's tradition of open beaches by declaring them to be public highways. [Guest speaker] Governor West's argument was that the beaches from aboriginal times through the pioneer epic, had been the highways and the trails of Oregon. Therefore there was an established public right-of-way to drag a wide tire wagon, to ride one's horse, or to walk on the beach. [Host] In the process of buying rights of way for roads, the state acquired land suitable for parks. That was the birth of the Oregon State Park system. [Guest speaker] These proved highly popular with travelers.

And in a sense, the Columbia Gorge scenic highway, with its waysides and waterfalls, was a pre State Park model. [Host] Over a period of 20 years, the state park system grew rapidly with much of the construction and trail work done during the Depression by the CCC. [Host] Several of the remarkable parks in the system would include Jessie B. Honeyman at Florence, Oregon. Another one would be Silver Falls State Park near Silverton, Oregon, which has a marvelous assemblage of Civilian Conservation Corps structures, but also a trail system that connects visitors with the beautiful waterfalls in this forest in the foothills of the Western Cascades. [Host] In 1922, a small grocery retailer opened a new store in Portland. His name, Fred G. Meyer. And the idea behind that store changed the way people shopped.

Not only in Oregon, but soon across the entire country. While operating a coffee company and collection of food shops in a downtown market, Mr. Meyer had spotted a problem with how people were shopping. [Guest speaker] Women would have to go to a store and buy meat, one store and then they'd have to go down the block and buy their vegetables somewhere else, and they'd have to go somewhere else to buy their clothes. [Host] Fred Meyer saw an opportunity. He invested everything he had in a new style grocery store at 5th and Yamhill. There he prepackage goods like flour, sugar, and coffee. Customers served themselves and paid for everything at a single checkout. In a stroke of genius, he had invented convenient packaging, self-service, cash and carry, and one stop shopping. Since his costs were lower, Fred Meyer's prices were lower and business boomed. Then in the late '20s, as more people began driving, police were ticketing illegally parked cars. Mr. Meyer paid the fines and discovered most customers were

driving from a Northeast Portland neighborhood. If people had problems getting downtown, he would take the store to them. In 1931, Fred Meyer opened his first suburban store in the Hollywood district. The store featured off-street parking and complete one stop shopping. Customers could have their laundry done while they shopped for food, clothes, and general merchandise. He even added self-service drugstores, another Fred Meyer first. Retailing would never be the same. Fred Meyer was still building more stores and running the company up until his death in 1978 at age 92. Since then, his company has continued to grow. Through mergers, Fred Meyer first expanded across the West, then joined Kroger to become part of the largest supermarket chain in the country. But their familiar name remains, and Fred Meyer continues to maintain headquarters in Portland. During the Great Depression, Oregon, like the rest of the country, was in economic chaos.

80 percent of lumber mills had shut down. Families were abandoning their farms and businesses. Work was scarce. Hope arrived in 1932, with presidential candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt. He promised, that if elected, he'd put people to work on public works projects like building a giant dam on the Columbia River. Roosevelt stuck to his promise. Soon after his election construction began on Bonneville Dam, one of the biggest WPA projects to come out of the Depression. [Guest speaker] Bonneville Dam was a relief project of putting 4000 men to work, and a great multiplier effect on the local economy for those who were involved in servicing that labor force. [Host] Soon the site was buzzing with activity. Trucks, barges, shovels, and crews worked 24 hours a day. The conditions were harsh, but spirits were high.

Workers earned at least 50 cents an hour. More, if they had a skill. The Army Corps of Engineers even hired folk singer Woody Guthrie to visit the construction site, entertaining workers and writing songs. [Woody, singing "Roll Columbia" excerpt] [Host] If the crew imagined themselves in a contest to harness the Columbia River, their star player was a 441 ton shovel nicknamed Mr. Montagin. Bigger than a house, it could scoop 12 tons of rock and gravel in one bite. But what really caught visitors' attention was, Mr. Montagin could walk. Not everyone supported the dam. [Guest speaker] There were great criticisms that there simply wasn't the market for that kind of power. More far sighted people said there may not be the market now, but there soon will be.

[Host] Others were concerned about Bonneville's effect on wildlife, especially Columbia River salmon. Bonneville Dam rose from the riverbed, eventually standing 20 stories high and five football fields wide. In 1937, President Roosevelt returned to dedicate Bonneville, a triumphant public works project he had promised just five years before. When Bonneville's turbines began generating electricity, they produced an enormous amount of power -- three times what the region could use. No one could have predicted that very soon the nation would need every bit of that power. From Bonneville Dam, the President motored 78 miles on rough and curving roads to dedicate another WPA project, Timberline Lodge. [Guest speaker] Mt. Hood had long been a popular site, even in the 19th century when people had to get there by horseback, and on foot. [Host] As early as 1926,

the Forest Service had plans to provide an overnight lodge. The Depression put those plans on hold, until 1936, when money from the New Deal revived plans for a grand lodge, primarily as a way of putting people to work. From March to June, workers dug through 12 to 18 feet of snow just to put in a road to Timberline. At the site, construction workers spent weeks in camp, happy to be earning about 90 cents an hour. They dragged the rocks from the slopes of Mt. Hood and stone masons built the walls. Many of these masons had worked on the Columbia Gorge highway, the East and West wings were built first and then the huge wood columns were lifted into place for the magnificent central lodge. Aided by a late winter, workers had the building enclosed before heavy snows hit. Then the attention turned to the inside. Portland interior decorator Marjorie Hoffman Smith

was in charge of the artistic side of the project. [Marjorie] We had a few fine artists, but there weren't many. But we had a great many willing craftsmen. [Host] All were grateful for the work. [Marjorie] It's probably very hard for you today to realize what the Depression meant. Because people were so desperate. As you know they jumped out of windows, and they sold apples on streets. So in these projects of ours, we were giving people a living wage. And a sense of security. [Host] There was one last minute detail. The simple chairs at the lodge had no arms. Because of his disability, the President needed an arm chair. Working through the weekend, the craftsmen got it done just in time. [F. D. Roosevelt speech] Here at Mt. Hood, will come thousands and thousands of visitors in the coming years.

[Host] During the Depression, few people actually came, and the lodge stood empty during World War II. Reopened after the War, but failed to attract enough paying customers. In 1955, Richard Kohnstamm reopened Timberline, this time for good. It took him 10 years to make the Lodge a profitable business, but today Timberline Lodge is a huge tourist attraction. More than a quarter of a million people visit each year. Timberline Lodge was built to put people back to work during the Depression. It's hard to believe today, but from start to finish the project was completed in 18 months. The total cost, less than a million dollars. The workers earned their pay and more, leaving us today with a still stunning lodge in a magnificent setting. During the Great Depression, some loggers could still find work in the vast old growth forest West of Portland. But in 1933, the sound of the axe was

silenced by the roar of a tremendous fire. On August 14, a hot dry East wind prompted a warning that logging should cease. The warning was too late. [Newsman] State forestry officials report yesterday's logging fire in Gales Creek Canyon near Forest Grove has now raged into a full scale forest fire. Apparently the last timber operator working in the dry woods decided to haul in one more log before closing. [Host] The strong East winds pushed flaming debris two miles ahead of the main blaze, setting new fires. Lynn Cronemiller, a State Forester at the time, he could see the smoke from the state capitol and called for every available man to fight the fire. Volunteers came, but it was hopeless. [Guest speaker] And then you would get crews, get them organized, and couldn't send them in, because if you sent them in they'd probably be caught in the fire and that would be the end of it for them. [Host] Some men did risk their lives in a fruitless effort to stop the fire's advance.

Finally the East winds lessened, fog rolled in, and the fire stopped before reaching the town of Tillamook. But the fire left a painful sight. Bare trees stood naked in what looked like a wasteland. The fire had destroyed enough timber to build a million homes. But many trees were marketable. Salvage operations began while the ash from the fire was still warm. Roads and railroads were built to get at the timber. New fires in 1939 and '45 spread the devastation, and all 400,000 acres burned. [Guest speaker] This was of course a tremendous loss for fish habitat, for wildlife, and standing timber resource. And for private timber owners, and for counties it was an impossible task either to reforest it or to continue to pay the taxes on those charred ruins. So as a consequence, a lot of that land ultimately ended up in the ownership of the state of Oregon. [Host] In 1948, voters approved a large bond measure to replant trees.

Over the next 25 years, an amazing 72 million seedlings were planted, most by prison inmates and contract workers, but volunteers also helped. For years teams of school kids helped with the replanting. Many grew up thinking of the Tillamook as their forest. It is still the largest reforestation effort ever undertaken by a State. Everyone who had held a seedling felt they were part of the miracle. [Chain saw sound] In 1983, exactly 50 years after the burn, the first replanted tree was cut for commercial sale. Flying over the Tillamook now, it's hard to picture the barren hills that followed the fire. Recreationists enjoy the restored forest, and a new generation must determine how much of this forest should be cut to boost today's economy, and how much preserve for fish, wildlife, recreation.

In the 1930's, Oregon voters used the initiative to achieve another milestone. The nation's first pollution control laws. The chief concern was the Willamette River. Cities and industry were dumping untreated waste and sewage. The Oregon Wildlife Federation raised money for this film to document just how bad the river was. [Phil Schneider] As a Portland harbor at that time... [Host] In 1937, Phil Schneider was a student in the fisheries department at Oregon State University. He helped his professor make this film to dramatize the water quality problems, they put baby steelhead into the river. [Schneider] I can recall the ones that we tested one afternoon. I couldn't believe that 45 seconds that those fish would be dead and it was hard to believe it was that bad.

[Host] The film had the desired effect. In1938, by a three to one margin, voters approved an initiative creating the State Sanitary Authority to clean up the river. It was the nation's first law dealing with pollution and the forerunner of today's Department of Environmental Quality. Unfortunately, because of the Depression and then World War II, not much money was available to address the problems. As we'll see later, that would take 30 years, and another film. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, everything changed. The United States was now at war. The military needed men and supplies. All of a sudden there were more

jobs to do than workers. The Depression was over. In spite of the war, the country's mood was upbeat. It was a common goal and everybody pitched in to help. To win the war, the nation needed ships in a hurry. Henry Kaiser's Oregon shipbuilding corporation used mass production methods to build hundreds of ships in record time. Swan Island became known as the Yard of Champions, because of the speed with which it turned out warships. warships. [Newscast] And finally, only about 70 days after the laying of the first keel section, the papers are delivered to the skipper who is to take the tanker out on her maiden voyage. [Host] The shipyards helped fuel another population boom. One hundred and sixty thousand workers came to Oregon during the war. Many on trains called Magic Carpet Specials. The worker shortage also brought a new look to the work force.

[Guest speaker] Workers in the Kaiser yards included women, who were not going to war, who were here and available and they went to work as riveters and assembler's. [host] Twenty-five thousand blacks were also recruited to the shipyards. Overnight, Portland's black population increased tenfold. The new wartime population, black and white, needed somewhere to live. Public housing went up almost overnight. The largest was Vanport. Built on the flood plains South of Jantzen Beach. It became Oregon's second largest city. Projects like Vanport, not to mention army barracks, meant renewed demand for Oregon lumber. But just when loggers were finally needed in the woods, many had gone off to join the Army. Oregon's farms faced a similar labor shortage, so workers were brought up from Mexico to work in the fields. After the war many stayed. Spanish speaking migrants today constitute Oregon's largest minority.

The War also created a need for all that Bonneville Dam power. Modern planes required strong and lightweight aluminum, and making aluminum required great amounts of electric power. A thriving aluminum industry sprang up along the Columbia River to take advantage of the previously surplus electricity. Oregon's population growth turned out to be the state's lasting legacy of World War II. But just six months after Pearl Harbor, Oregon did make headlines because of an event that turned out to be insignificant. [Guest speaker] A Japanese vessel surfaced and shelled Fort Stephens at the mouth the Columbia River, lobbing shells in against the sand at that fortification. [Host] It was the first attack on a mainland U.S. military installation since the War of 1812. The attack lasted just 15 minutes. No one was hurt, and the Fort sustained no damage. Japan also

launched balloons designed to carry bombs across the Pacific to the U.S. Most never made it, but one that did proved deadly. [Newscast] On May 5th, 1945, Rev. and Mrs. Mitchell of Bly Oregon, took five children on an outing. While Mr. Mitchell was moving the car, Mrs. Mitchell and the children found a strange object in the woods. While investigating, they must have tugged on it enough to detonate the bomb. [Host]Today in the mountains East of Bly, a monument marks the spot where they died, the only deaths on the American continent due to enemy action during the War. Fearing a possible attack, the United States sent Japanese-Americans on the West Coast to internment camps where they endured the war behind barbed wire. [Guest speaker] They lost their farms. They lost their possessions, their automobiles, their furniture, their bank accounts

in many instances, and it was years, decades, before any reparations were made for those losses. [Host] For most Oregonians, the war economy meant good jobs, but with constraints on spending the good wages. [Guest speaker] There was rationing of tires and gasoline. New automobiles weren't available. So what happened is they saved their money and they helped create a pent up demand for housing and consumer goods that would drive the economy after 1945. [Host] Demand for housing was so strong after the war that Oregon timber companies couldn't keep up with the demand. For the first time, the government began large scale timber sales from National Forest lands. By 1963, harvest of trees from federal land exceeded that from private land. Timber was king. During the 50's, 60's, and 70's, Oregon supplied about one quarter of all the lumber used in the U.S. There were warnings that we were cutting too fast.

But those concerns were mostly ignored. It looked as if the good times could last forever. Most of the workers who came to Oregon during the war stayed after it ended. Because housing was in short supply, many still lived in the hastily constructed town of Vanport. Then on a Sunday afternoon in May of 1948, Vanport was gone. [Music] [Newscaster] Flood crisis in the Pacific Northwest. From Oregon to British Columbia. From Idaho to the coast come reports of disaster. The worst of all, from Vanport, Oregon. Here, floodwaters of the swollen Columbia River broke through a railroad fill and drowned the city. Almost 19,000 people lost their homes. Completely ruined in one tragic hour.

[Survivor] Kids would come running down Cottonwood Street, coming from the West, coming this way, and say the dike is broken. Run, run, run! [Host] Regina Flowers was 13 when her family barely escaped the flood with only what they could carry. [Regina] When I look back, I'd never seen so much water. It hit me, we just froze there, just kept looking and those huge, huge waves and these houses riding on these waves. And once in awhile, if I can remember, I think I saw people on top of a roof. They climb all the way to the top of the roof. [Host] The exact death toll was never determined, but 19,000 people lost their homes and most of their belongings. More than a quarter of those were blacks, and blacks faced an added problem finding new homes. Most neighborhoods had covenants prohibiting sales to quote "members of any race whose presence would hurt property values". Blacks would have to settle in Albina, a rundown neighborhood in Northeast Portland.

Forty years later the city of Vanport is just a memory. But Albina is still home to a large percentage of Portland's black families. [Music] [Horse hooves] In 1959, Oregon saw a return to its pioneer roots. Horses trotted through towns, and wagon train became common sites on public thoroughfares. It was all part of the celebration of a hundred years of statehood. Festivities around the state kicked off on the official Valentine's Day anniversary. Vice President Richard Nixon unveiled a four cent Centennial stamp in Astoria, and spoke at a Portland banquet for descendants of the state's first settlers. [Pres. Nixon] The tradition of the pioneers moving across Oregon Trail, belongs not just to the people of Oregon. It belongs to the United States and to the people of America.

[Host] Some say the little town of Damascus had the best celebration. Residents built a replica Centennial town where gunfighters and men not sporting beards could be thrown into the pokey. Folks donned the duds of the era, including a young Governor Mark Hatfield. Visitors saw the world's longest horse parade and partook in a 3-B barbecue. Fifty cents for all you can eat. Bear, beef, and buffalo. A 21-foot tall candle was made from wax collected from all across the state. It burned for a hundred days with a gas flame. A little old fashioned ingenuity helped the small town with the big ideas perpetuate Oregon's pioneer spirit. In the years after the war, Oregonians could find good paying jobs in mills and factories. Most people went right to work after high school. But the legislature recognized that the workforce was beginning to change.

In 1959, they created a system of community colleges so students could continue their education and still work part time if needed. [Guest speaker] But I think what was important is that Oregonians were becoming more and more educated and now had the opportunity to gain that education, where before it had been precluded because such institutions did not exist. [Host] Since their founding, community colleges have grown rapidly. Portland Community had just twelve graduates back in 1961. Now PCC serves more than eighty six thousand students a year. Statewide, more than a third of a million students attend community colleges. The year was 1962, and there was elephanticipation at the Portland Zoo, known as the Oregon Zoo today. Belle was expecting a baby.

Her pregnancy was in its 21st month and the world was watching and waiting. The blessed event finally happened on April 14th at 5:58 A.M., when Belle delivered a 225 lb bundle of joy. Zoo director Jack Marsh was overcome. After the birth, he collapsed on the floor of the elephant house. It turned out to be nothing more serious than fatherly nerves. [Music] [Music] Packy, as he was later christened, was the first U.S. born elephant in 44 years. He became the subject of songs, like one performed by cowboy Heck Harper, and made a prominent appearance in Life magazine. But amid all the celebration, the zoo faced a problem. Belle and her baby didn't

belong to them. Belle's owner and trainer offered to sell the pair to the zoo for $30,000 provided they could come up with the money in two weeks. A fund raising campaign was immediately launched and collection cans were placed throughout the city. The drive was a success and Belle and Packy became permanent residents. They drew record crowds to the zoo that year, becoming the Northwest's second largest tourist attraction behind the Seattle World's Fair. Packy's birthday is still celebrated each year, a reminder of the community spirit that kept the history making elephants at home in the City of Roses. [Singing Happy Birthday to Packy] Later that

same year, a natural disaster put Oregon back in the headlines. On Columbus Day, a sudden wind storm took the Willamette Valley by surprise. As a college student, Steven Beckham experienced this bit of history firsthand. [Beckham] And I heard this roar and the wind started to go. And then a tree fell and it chopped a Volkswagen bus right in half at the curb right beside me. Then another set of trees fell against one of the sorority houses and broke through the windows. At that point I tucked and rolled and ran right into the shrubbery at the foundation of the house. I curled up there, because, it just, the whole world was blowing away. [Host] Portland recorded peak winds of 119 miles an hour. Mt. Hebo on the coast recorded a gust of 176 before the wind gauge broke. The Columbus Day storm killed 38 people in Oregon and cost two hundred million dollars in property damage. 50,000 homes were badly in need of repair. [Survivor] It took a long time to recover. I remember going four days and nights without any

electricity. But it took weeks to cut up all the downed trees and throw away the debris. And months to restore buildings and replace roofs. [Host] But through it all, a spirit of cooperation prevailed. Neighbor helped neighbor. [Guest speaker] People came from Idaho, Washington, California, and elsewhere around the country to help out. A lot of retirees from PGE, Pacific Corp, Pacific Power came back to work. Forest products companies provided people to cut up the wood, clear the roads. [Host] Anyone who lived through it will never forget that Columbus Day in 1962. The day the worst wind storm ever hit Oregon. In 1964, in Portland's harbor, a freighter unloaded a small

shipment of athletic shoes from Japan. Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman, his former track coach at the University of Oregon, had each invested about $500 to become the sole distributor of Tiger shoes. They called the tiny company Blue Ribbon Sports. Bowerman would work to improve the shoes, while Knight looked after the business. The venture had a modest beginning. First year sales totalled just eight thousand dollars. 1971, Bowerman had one of his ideas. [Bowerman] I was having breakfast with Barbara, and she was turning out these waffles. I looked at the cleats on that thing and I thought, I'm gonna put some synthetic rubber in there and I'm gonna take that thing out and see if I don't have a good cleat. And as I looked at my waffle, hey that's just exactly what I want. [Host] The waffle sole shoe was born. By now, Blue Ribbon Sports was a going concern with 45 employees. They've

separated from Tiger and are making their own shoe line. One of the employees suggests a new name for the company. Nike, after the Greek Goddess of victory. The new name debuts at the 1972 Olympic trials in Eugene. Steve Prefontaine becomes the first nationally known athlete to endorse Nike shoes. The new name and the waffle shoes are a hit. Nike sales take off when jogging becomes a popular form of exercise and non-athletes begin buying running shoes. By 1979, Nike has 50 percent of the U.S. market. Knight then transformed athletic shoe marketing with close ties to sports stars. The little company that Knight and Bowerman started with an investment of a little more than a thousand dollars had revolutionized the business of selling athletic shoes and apparel.

As the century comes to a close, Nike is one of Oregon's largest employers with yearly sales approaching 10 billion dollars. Oregon's road building frenzy that began early this century continued in the 50's and 60's with construction of Interstate 5. The national system of Interstate and Defense Highways Act created funds for the 4 billion dollar freeway meant to replace a now overcrowded Highway 99. At the height of the Cold War, freeways were seen as a military necessity. Oregon completed I-5 in 1966, the first state to finish a freeway within its borders. There was another vital missing link in the state's transportation system at that time. Drivers traveling along scenic Coastal Highway 101 were forced to wait to cross the Columbia River at Astoria by ferry. The plan to build a 4.1

mile long bridge was hatched in 1953. Finally, the project was completed on August 27, 1966. For the first time, motorists enjoyed an uninterrupted drive along the Pacific Coast from Canada to Mexico. Drivers paid a toll to cross the structure until 1993, when the bonds used to build it were paid off, two years ahead of schedule. Today, more than 6000 vehicles per day use the Astoria bridge for pleasure and commercial travel. In the 60's, Oregon, like much of the country, was split in its attitude about the Vietnam War. Many people couldn't understand why America was involved. [Senator Morse] This war must stop. [Host] Oregon Senator Wayne Morse was the most outspoken opponent

of the war. Eugene McCarthy, another senator opposed to American involvement, announced he would run for President. It looked like the '68 election would be a referendum on Vietnam. But when President Lyndon Johnson decided not to run, Robert Kennedy entered the race. At that time, Oregon had an early primary, so both men campaigned hard in the state. [R. Kennedy] If we can win here in Oregon, we'll go on to win in California. [Guest speaker] The nation was looking at Oregon as, what direction was the nation going to go in terms of presidential politics. And McCarthy won that election, which was a surprise to a lot of people. [Host] The same voters who chose an anti-war presidential candidate threw out Senator Morse. Apparently in the mood to shake up government, voters opted instead for a young state legislator named Bob Packwood. Kennedy went on to win the next primary in California. He was shot and killed

the same night. Richard Nixon won the presidency and the war in Vietnam continued. [Guest speaker] Tension had grown in America about the Vietnam War. So we had a polarized community. And here came the American Legion National Convention to be held in Portland, Oregon. And with the legacy of student protests and draft card burnings and confrontations, there was great fear that there would be a gathering of war protesters and a head on confrontation in the streets of Portland. [Governor McCall] I knew all the costs. But this is the only courageous right thing to do. [Guest speaker] Oregon had a very creative governor, and a risk taker, a real risk taker. Who staged a rock concert at McKiver Park. Vortex, as a means to siphon off some of the energies. And thousands went to Vortex, and they danced and they sang and they took off their clothes and outraged the locals when they went swimming in the river. But nonetheless, the confrontation didn't occur. That risk taking Governor was

Tom McCall, soon to gain a national reputation for taking political risks to protect the Oregon environment he so dearly loved. [Tom McCall swearing in ceremony] I, Tom McCall, do solemnly swear.... [Host] Tom McCall had taken the oath of office as governor in 1967. He had grown up on the family ranch overlooking the Crooked River in central Oregon. McCall first gained statewide attention as a commentator for KGW TV news. There he produced a landmark documentary called, "Pollution in Paradise". It was a call to action, to clean up Oregon's air and water. [Governor McCall] Things in the Willamette show that only carp and other warm water trash fish are able to survive. At no time in the history of the country... [host] As governor McCall vowed to complete the work voters started when they created the State Sanitary Authority back in 1938.

He renamed it the Department of Environmental Quality and appointed L.B. Day to be the first Director. McCall and Day expected results. They pressured industries to clean up discharges to the air, and to the water, and then convinced voters to fund better sewage treatment. [Governor McCall] And so finally we were rewarded, when after some 40 years of seeing this river posted against swimming, here is a river, finally that it's safe for swimming. And to a lot of people this ???? is your old friend again. [Host] Another bit of unfinished business was a growing dispute over whether beaches could be declared private property. Some landowners argued that with 101 complete, the beaches were no longer a highway and therefore, public access was not guaranteed. With McCall's encouragement, the legislature made Oregon the first state to declare public ownership of all beaches. Litter was to be

McCall's next target. Throw-away cans and bottles were an expensive eyesore. Oregon became the first state in the nation to require a deposit on all beer and soft drink containers. [Guest speaker] McCall was a good promoter of ideas that other people were tossing out, and taking an idea like a returnable deposit on a bottle and making sense out of it, and communicating to a public that this was a good idea. [Host] Oregonians develop the sense of pride in the state's reputation for innovation in protecting the environment. McCall tapped into that sentiment by creating the Keep Oregon Green committee. [Clean-up Volunteer] It's amazing what you find out here. [Host] That organization kept growing. Today it's known as SOLVE. People from all over the state turn up twice a year to help with SOLVE's annual beach cleanups. "Solve It", a day when Oregonians turn out to clean up litter and illegal dump sites

is the nation's largest volunteer effort. [Governor McCall] I welcome visitors. I urge them to come, and to come many many times to enjoy the beauties of Oregon, but I also urge them, for heaven's sake, don't move here to live. [Host] McCall created another stir when he said Oregon did not want more residents. [Guest speaker] This was vintage Tom McCall. It captured a sentiment. It caught good press attention. It caused people to think and I like to believe that it represented his style of leadership. [Host] Many misinterpreted McCall's remarks as being against all business and development. In fact, he was launching another new idea. That California-style urban sprawl was not inevitable, that with the land use planning Oregon could chart a different future. [Governor McCall] The interests of Oregon, for today and in the future, must be protected from grasping wastrels of the land. We must respect another

truism, that unlimited and unregulated growth, leads inexorably to a lower quality of life. I think that we'll live beyond the monument... [Host] In 1973, McCall signed Senate Bill 100, mandating statewide land use planning. The bill required communities to draw a line defining where development would occur and where farms and forests would be protected. [Guest speaker] And it was an interesting process because right in the legislation were the words "land conservation development commission." The conflict was embedded in the name of the entity, and it meant that there would be both conservation and growth going on simultaneously. [Host] McCall predicted land use planning would be his most lasting legacy. He was probably right. A quarter century later people still argue about where the line should be drawn, what should be conserved, and what developed. But most agree that Oregon is a better place today because we do argue about it

and think about it. When he left office, McCall wrote his own epitaph about how he hoped to be remembered. [Governor McCall] He tried. Oh Lord, he tried. There was no final victory. But did he not point the way? [Host] Oregonians have long promoted conservation of natural resources. In 1975, the scope of preservation expanded with the creation of a tax incentive program to encourage the rehabilitation of historic properties. The oldest initiative of its type in the nation, it places a fifteen year freeze on the assessed value of properties that are designated historical at the national level. [Dance hall music] [Host] The Crystal Ballroom is one Portland landmark that has been restored to its former glory with the

help of the tax reduction program. Other sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places, such as the Pete French Round Barn, and the Frenchglen Hotel in Harney County, has managed to retain their original charm without the tax incentive. Preserving Oregon's architectural heritage does more than revitalize community. It attracts tourists. [Guest speaker] If you looked at Oregon's marketing approach to tourism twenty, twenty-five years years ago, it was basically natural history. Now you get pretty much of a mix of natural history and human history. The resources that we have in terms of the built environment that we managed to preserve over the last 25 years, that accounts for a great deal of that resource that we now have that is, I think, second or third largest industry in the state. [Host] 1977, after only seven seasons in the NBA, the Trailblazers

claimed the national championship. [Maurice Lucas] It had a huge impact on Oregon and how Oregon views sports. They was the only sports franchise, professional sports franchise in the state, and the team was pretty good. [Host] When power forward Maurice Lucas joined the team at the beginning of that season, he knew the team had talent, but it took a while for the players to learn their roles and how they fit in. [Maurice Lucas] About 20 games in, it started to feel a little more comfortable and the ball started movin'. We started understanding Jack's system. [Host] Jack Ramsey was the new head coach. His concept was that the team would have no stars. Ramsey would exploit the passing ability of Center Bill Walton. The Blazers would win by moving the basketball. [Maurice Lucas] There's no way that any team or anybody can outrun the pass. And so we thought that if we outpassed a team, then we'll beat 'em.

[Host] By spring, fans were catching on that this team was something special. [Maurice Lucas] Then we got a little roll going and all of a sudden the place was filled up, and before long, I mean they had signs everywhere. I'm talkin' about "red hot and rolling." [Host] In the playoffs, the Blazers won tough series against the Chicago Bulls and the Denver Nuggets. Then they traveled to Los Angeles to take on the Lakers, the team with the best record in the league. It was no contest. Walton made Jabbar work for all his points, while the Blazer guards, led by backup Herm Gilliam, lit up the scoreboard. The Blazers took that series four straight. In the championship series, the Blazers at first had no answer for Philadelphia 76 star Julius Erving, but back in Portland with the Memorial Coliseum crowd screaming, the Blazers got on a roll. With masterful team

passing and Bobby Gross running Dr. J ragged, the Blazers took the next four games straight. The Blazers were NBA champs. [Maurice Lucas] The beauty of this team was that we shared the game. Now we didn't necessarily like each other. We didn't necessarily hang out with each other. But we respected each other's game. When we came to work, everybody came to play. [Host] Oregonians loved and respected this team too. The next day a huge crowd turned out for a quickly arranged team parade through Portland. [Maurice Lucas] I never seen that many people in Portland. Matter of fact, I didn't even know that many people lived in Oregon. [Chuckle] They came out and you just don't know as an athlete how many people you really touch until you actually see an event like that. I mean, we touched a lot of people. [Host] Early in 1980, a Northwest giant awoke. Mount St.

Helens looked placid under its blanket of snow. But scientists were detecting swarms of small earthquakes. The public took notice in March when St. Helens began blowing off clouds of steam. The steam explosions blasted a new vent on top of the mountain and rocks on the North side began to bulge outward, sometimes moving as much as five feet a day. Scientists advised preparation for a major eruption. As a precaution, roadblocks were set up to keep the public out of what was thought to be the danger zone. [Harry Truman] And I'm not gonna take my name off that "beep!" behind it, sand blast it. [Host] One man refused to leave. An ornery old cuss named Harry Truman. He'd been running a lodge at Spirit Lake for years and vowed to never leave his mountain. Scientists who went into the danger zone daily to make measurements understood the risks. [Johnston] Well if it occurs, it would probably be no more

than a few months on the outside, but it could be as soon as a few hours. [Host] From his observation post five miles north of the mountain, Johnston radioed volcano headquarters, "Vancouver, Vancouver. This is it". They were his last words. It was 8:32, Sunday morning, May 18th. The eruption unleashed a tremendous lateral blast. A shockwave so powerful that it knocked over old growth trees six feet in diameter like so many matchsticks. A huge ash plume rose over the mountain generating its own lightning. [Thunder sound] It looked like a nuclear explosion. Rescue helicopters and news crews rushed in to assess the damage and search for survivors. What they found was an alien landscape. Spirit Lake was gone. The lush Toutle River Valley, buried under

debris 150 feet deep. Rapidly melting snow and ice swelled rivers now filled with logs. The floodwaters wiped out bridges and swept away houses like toys. Thirty-One ships were stranded in the Columbia as the mudflow clogged the main channel. Fifty-seven people died in the blast. Most caught by the fast moving cloud of superheated ash debris. All but three were outside the official danger zone. [Leslie Davis] We were thinkin' we were going to die. We knew we were. [Host] Leslie and Dale Davis were trapped as their truck was pounded with ice and rocks. [Leslie Davie] The wing of our pickup blew out and all we could do was sit there. It got hot, it was black, you couldn't see a thing. These are the shoes that I walked out in. [Host] With just a thermos of coffee to sustain them,

Leslie and Dale walk 26 miles to reach safety. The area of devastation covered 250 square miles, mostly North and West of St. Helens. To the East and South, ash was the problem. The ash cloud first blacked out the sun. Made breathing difficult. And caused blizzard like driving conditions. [Driver] These guys are crazy. [Driver 2] Ah jeeze, this is ridiculous. [Driver] They had whites out just like that, and they ain't got a chance. [Host] Even when driving was safe, clogged air filters brought cars to a halt. Subsequent ash eruptions only added to the problem. [Car accident sounds] Businesses and homeowners struggle with the nearly futile task of cleaning up the fine powdery coating of volcanic ash. The eruption of Mount St. Helens left a lasting mark on the landscape. Mile upon mile of nearly lifeless moonscape.

Four billion board feet of timber destroyed, enough to build 300,000 homes. But the eruption taught us much about how volcanoes work and is still teaching us about northwest ecology. [Guest speaker] You have a once in a lifetime opportunity to study the process that has shaped the forests of the Cascade Mountains. [Host] The area around Mount St. Helens is now a National Monument. Along with scientists, visitors can observe as life returns. [Guest speaker] In the last 40,000 years, Mt. St. Helens has erupted dozens and dozens of times. We have an opportunity to see one particular chapter happen in our lifetime and to watch how an entire ecosystem is assembled, one species at a time. [Host] Perhaps the most bizarre story in Oregon's memorable century began in

1981 with the arrival of an obscure Indian guru. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and a few followers planned to build a religious commune on a huge former cattle ranch along Big Muddy Creek east of Madras. At first, the Bhagwan maintained a self-imposed silence. All most of us knew was that he drove Rolls-Royces and he drove a lot of them. His assistant, Ma Anand Sheela, did most of the talking about the Rajneesh's dream. [Sheela] A very beautiful city. A city, one which has never existed on the universe. But people live in harmony. People live in love. [Host] The Bhagwan attracted a following of mostly young Europeans and Americans who considered him to be a living Master. Many Rajneeshes donated considerable money to his commune, then worked long hours in return for three meals a day, a place to sleep, and the pleasure of seeing their Master during his daily drives. For most Oregonians, the whole

thing was amusing. Even the Rajneeshes joked about it during public tours of the ranch. [Female Rajneeshee] For us now, at this point on the ranch, work is our meditation. [Laugh] Twelve hours a day, seven days a week. [Hos] Area residents however, were less amused. They were suspicious about the commune's rapid growth and its free love lifestyle. [Resident] They're invading. Maybe not with bullets, but with money and with amoral sex. [Host] Money seemed to be no object, but as more and more buildings went up, the commune ran into conflict with land use laws. 1000 Friends of Oregon sued, claiming Rajneeshpuram was becoming a city on land zoned for farm use. With their dream city in jeopardy, some Rajneeshees moved into the nearby town of Antelope. Took over the town council, and voted in a big tax increase. [Resident] The city's lost its identity as a little Western town.

We who have lived here for a long time have lost our homes. [Host] These steamroller tactics created the Rajneeshee's first bad press. People started to ask questions. [Chants] Instead of wondering why all the Rolls Royces, now Oregonians wondered why all the weapons at a religious commune. Wasco County residents worried about something else. That the rapidly growing population of Rajneeshees would take over. [Resident] Then they can easily assume control of Wasco County. You know, what happened to Antelope can happen to The Dalles. [Host] What happened next fueled those fears. Rajneeshees recruited homeless men and women with promises of free food and housing, no strings attached. The Rajneeshees called it sharing, but people noticed the only homeless invited were citizens 18 and over. Sheela claimed they hadn't considered having the homeless vote until a reporter suggested it. [Sheela] I got a few ???? that

because, I might tell you, that was because I wanted to take over the county and the politics. I tell you, the county is so f...ing bigoted, it deserves to be taken over. [Cheering] [Host] Many of the homeless became disillusioned and left Rajneeshpuram before the election. [Homeless man] No pay, no social security, no workmen's compensation. [Host] The Rajneeshee candidates dropped out when it became clear they couldn't win against a big turnout of other Wasco County voters. The whole experience caused the Bhagwan to break his silence. [Bhagwan] They want that this city should be demolished because of their land use laws. And none of those idiots has come to see how we are using the land. [Host] The situation at Rajneeshpuram then rapidly spun out of control. Immigration questioned why the Bhagwan was still in the country since he had entered on a

temporary Visa for medical reasons. Allegations surfaced that Rajneeshees had planned to poison The Dalles water supply to win the election, and had actually poisoned salad bars. The Bhagwan's denials were hardly reassuring. [Bhagwan] If we had poisoned, then you will not have been able to come out of the grave [giggles] to give the evidence. [Host] The discovery of wiretapping and eavesdropping equipment revealed distrust among Rajneeshee leaders. Sheela and those loyal to her had bugged conversations, even the Bhagwan's. What he called Sheela's gang fled to Germany. [Bhagwan] They have done such ugly things that you cannot believe. [Host] It was unbelievable. Rajneeshee's accuse Sheela and her gang of plotting to kill U.S. attorney Charles Turner, and Oregon Attorney General Dave Frohnmayer. Finally,

on the day before a federal indictment charging him with immigration fraud, the Bhagwan and fourteen disciples fled by plane. Federal agents intercepted the group when the plane stopped to refuel in North Carolina. In prison fatigues and handcuffs, the Bhagwan looked like a different man. As the news filtered into the commune, people began to realize that the Bhagwan was never coming back. Without the Bhagwan, there would be no Rajneeshpuram. [Female voice] This was Camelot. It came, and it was here, and it was beautiful and people from the outside side attacked it and missed what was really going on and now it's gone. [Host] After four years of work and a hundred million dollars worth of construction, the Rajneeshee dream of a Utopian city was over. Most Oregonians were more than ready for the end. Sheela was arrested in Germany, returned to the U.S. and served time for attempted murder. After her release, she returned to Europe where some say she's living on money stolen from

Rajneeshee businesses. Bhagwan was deported. He returned to Puna, India where he died shortly after changing his name to Osho. There are still Osho followers around the world. In a final irony, the big muddy ranch now serves as a Young Life Christian camp. For much of the 20th century, the original Oregonians were all but forgotten. Most Native Americans lived on scattered Indian reservations, created by a series of treaties in the 1800's. Recognized as sovereign nations, the tribes were supposed to be free to fish and hunt for traditional foods. [Native American] This is bitterroots. [Host] But the fish and native plants were disappearing along with the Native American way of life. When former Governor Douglas McKay became Secretary of the Interior in the Eisenhower

administration, he thought Indians should just assimilate into American society. Persuaded Congress to declare that some tribes no longer existed. [Guest speaker] And in the 1950's, every tribe and band of Indians in western Oregon and the Klamath and South Central Oregon lost their federal government-to-government relationship. They were legislatively terminated. [Host] But the tribes didn't disappear. They kept meeting and having pow wows. Starting in 1977, tribes such as the Siletz, Klamath, Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw were reinstated by Congress. But most tribes no longer wanted the Bureau of Indian Affairs in control of their future. [Guest speaker] What that means is that the tribes must take a leadership role, must take an ownership role over their own destiny. [Host] Tribes began to build an economic future with agricultural enterprises. They put in fish hatcheries to try to re-establish salmon runs on rivers where they'd been

essentially wiped out. But the big change came in 1988, when Congress gave tribes, as separate nations, the right to establish gambling casinos. Native Americans could literally win back some of the wealth they felt had been stolen from them. [Guest speaker] For Indians, the gaming proceeds mean their opportunity to chart a future that they before could never imagine. They now have jobs. They have educational funds for their young people. They can build their own wellness centers. It's allowed them for the first time to opt in or buy in to the economy of the state and be players in it. [Host] In the 1990's, two birds few people had ever heard of brought big changes to Oregon's wood products industry.

First, the northern spotted owl, and then, the marbled murrelet were listed as threatened species in danger of extinction because of loss of habitat. Both species nest only in old growth and mature forest. Almost all logging on federal lands in Western Oregon was put on hold while scientists combed the woods looking for owls and murrelets. [Guest speaker] In turn, that had an effect on the logging industry in terms of how many people were being employed, how many trees were available for mills, which then closed down mills. The impact rippled through the forest products industry. [Host] To search for a balance between timber jobs and protecting forest habitat, President Clinton organized the Northwest Forest Conference. The resulting plan reduced cutting on federal lands to a quarter of what it had been. But the decline in Oregon timber harvest actually began with a rising environmental

consciousness of the '70's. That, combined with a national recession in the '80's had already closed many of the least efficient mills. But it was the spotted owl that came to symbolize two different views of Oregon's vast forest resources. In rural parts of the state, trees tended to be viewed as a renewable resource to be cut and replanted in an endless cycle. To loggers, it looked like environmentalists valued owls more than the families of timber workers. The growing urban population on the other hand viewed forest as more than tree farms. They wanted recreation, scenery, and healthy habitat for fish and wildlife. To them, endangered owls symbolized a system out of balance. [Guest speaker] Now I like to think that it's not so much the Endangered Species Act that has had an impact, but it's a consequence of our poor stewardship of our natural resources. We over harvested this region's timber. [Host] At the peak of Oregon timber production, one out of every six workers in the state got a

paycheck from the wood products industry. Today it's less than one in 20. The silicon forest has replaced timber as Oregon's biggest private employer. More workers get paychecks from Intel and Tektronix than from Louisiana Pacific or Weyerhauser. But the shift to high tech industries only added to Oregon's urban-rural split. [Guest speaker] As a thriving Western Valley corridor economy, it has depressed economies of high unemployment and rural counties and small communities scattered throughout the state. [Host] Even with the declines of the last quarter century, timber does remain a vital part of Oregon's economy. Outside the Portland metro area wood products still account for about a third of the economic base. And Oregon still produces twice as much lumber as any other state. If the spotted owl brought changes to the timber industry, the listing of salmon as an endangered species will likely mean changes in the life of every Oregonian.

The basic problem is that salmon evolved in an environment that man has so altered that the fish's very survival is in question. [Guest speaker] We built dams without any fish passage. We weren't aware by logging practices of the consequences of removing the shade trees over a stream course. We have allowed agricultural pollution, industrial and urban pollution to flow into those streams. [Host] At the beginning of the century, salmon returned every year at numbers too large to count. Today, some rivers have no salmon at all and many remaining runs are at risk of extinction. Overfishing in the '20's and '30's took a big toll. Sediment from logging and farming wiped out spawning beds. Pollution from industry, farms, and homeowners has added to the salmon struggles. Indiscriminate ocean fishing and warm water from El Nino struck more blows near the end of the century. But the root of the salmon's troubles is that we've changed how the Columbia River works.

Before all the dams, the lowest flows were in winter, so low the river often froze over. A problem for tugboats, but not for salmon. The highest flows came with the late spring runoff. Salmon evolved with the young fish migrating to the ocean during those high flows. The smolt got a free ride making the journey in a week or less. Now dams hold that spring runoff to produce electricity the following winter. Instead of a free ride, the baby salmon must swim through a series of lakes. When they do reach the dam some are chewed up in turbines. Predators pick others off as they concentrate in the slow water. Very few make it all the way. [Guest speaker] 10 percent of the run is killed at each dam. Which adds up to, depending on where you start, 50 or 60 percent of the fish migrating down the Columbia River don't reach the estuary because six or eight or whatever dams have been in the way. [Host] Various strategies have been tried to restore fish runs. Hatcheries were intended

to make up for lost spawning grounds. But evidence is mounting, they may do more harm than good. Screens have been installed to keep smolts out of turbines, and scale models of dams help scientists learn how to make fish less vulnerable to predators by speeding the flow of water carrying smolts past the dams. Some smolts are given a ride down river in specially designed barges. In spite of all this, salmon numbers have continued to decline. [Guest speaker] So we're reaping a legacy of being poor stewards of the land. We can correct these things. There are things that we can do and we may be able to restore some of these resources that have been plundered or disrupted. That's the challenge for today, and I think for tomorrow. [Host] As the century comes to a close there is serious talk of breaching dams to restore sections of free flowing river. That would mean less cheap hydro electric power,

much higher costs for farmers to pump irrigation water, and perhaps an end to barge transportation on the river. Food prices could go up as farmers are forced to reduce pesticides and leave land unplanted near streams. Lumber prices may rise as timber companies modify harvesting by clear cuts, and reduce road building. Recreationists will have to contend with logs placed in rivers to improve stream habitat. Homeowners may face higher taxes or sewer bills to clean up urban pollution. It's becoming clear that just as every Oregonian benefited from cheap hydro power and economic activities that harm salmon, everybody will have to participate in restoring healthy salmon runs. For most of the 20th century, Oregonians complained that property taxes to pay for schools and local government were too high.

But even Tom McCall had been unable to convince Oregonians to institute a sales tax to provide property tax relief. Finally, in 1990, tax opponents led by Don McIntyre convinced voters that the state could afford to pick up much of the cost of schools without a sales tax. [Guest speaker] And measure 5 came along with grassroots efforts to do two things. One, put a cap on property taxes, and two, put a cap on the growth of government. [Teacher] What's five times six. Thirty. [Host] Measure 5 did provide tax relief, but the legislature still struggles to provide adequate school funding. And the measure had one effect many voters had not anticipated. Decisions about how to run schools shifted away from local school boards to Salem. [Host] Schools have always been run at the local level and paid for at the local level. That's the way we do it in America. Well, we're doing it differently here. Again,

Oregon, just as we began the century with the initiative referendum, we're concluding the century again with the political experiment in how we fund, even how we administer our public school system because the legislature now has a great say in how schools are funded, as well as how they're administered. [Host] Near the end of the century, Oregonians made the process of voting a whole lot easier, and made history again. In 1993, Oregon became the first state in the country to hold an election entirely by mail. [Guest speaker] You know in today's world, where more and more people are working full time, good intentions on Election Day of highly motivated voters can often fall victim to a sick child, soccer practice, having to work late, being called out of town, something unexpected.

[Host] Some critics worry that vote by mail may be more vulnerable to fraud, and others missed the tradition of going to the polls. But despite the controversy, people seemed to like the new process. In 1998, Oregon voters by a two to one margin favored voting by mail in all primary and general elections. In the 1990's, Oregon innovations again drew national attention. This time it was bold new directions in health care. Expensive new technologies had been driving up the cost of medical care. Most states responded by reducing the number of poor people covered by Medicaid. Physician John Kitzhaber, then president of the Senate, persuaded the legislature to go the opposite way. Oregon would expand eligibility for health care coverage by limiting benefits. Expensive transplants and experimental procedures were out.

Preventative care was in. [Guest Speaker] What was shifted was to try to concentrate our resources on those services that do the greatest good. [Host] Today the plan appears to be exceeding most expectations. About 100,000 Oregonians who would have had no insurance coverage before, now get basic medical care. And because of a voter-approved tax on tobacco, and a booming state economy, Oregon has actually increased benefits to include dental treatments, hospice care, and even transplants. While the Oregon Health Plan got some attention, voters really opened a hornet's nest in 1994 by narrowly approving a ballot measure making Oregon the only state to legalize assisted suicide. Under the Death With Dignity Act, doctors could prescribe lethal doses for terminally ill patients with less than six months to live. Supporters said it gave patients control over their final days. HIV patient Bill Hancock said just knowing the option is there eased his mind.

[Hancock] You see these people who have no physical or mental abilities and are laying in a bed, wracked with pain and I have big fears about that. [Host] Opponents claimed Oregon's Death With Dignity Act endorsed suicide and could evolve into involuntary euthanasia to relieve stress with the burden of mounting medical bills. The federal government delayed Oregon's law for three years by threatening to prosecute any doctor who wrote a lethal prescription. In the end, the feds backed down. Oregonians reaffirmed their support for assisted suicide by defeating a measure to repeal it, this time by a wide margin. While the law has been in effect only a short time, so far only a relative few patients have opted for assisted suicide. The Oregon Health Division has found no evidence of abuse or botched suicides. An OHSU study found that the publicity surrounding assisted suicide may have had a side benefit. Doctors are now more likely to prescribe adequate narcotics at the end of life and fewer patients are dying in

pain. [Doctor] Where is your pain now? [Patient] Zero. [Guest speaker] Huger number of people are affected by what we're doing in improving comfort care than the number of people who would ever utilize assisted suicide. [Host] In 1996, Oregonians awaited the arrival of one of the world's biggest movie stars, Keiko the killer whale. Seven thousand pound star of Free Willy was transported via UPS to Newport from a Mexico City amusement park. The orca was in poor health and came to the Oregon Coast Aquarium for rehabilitation. A specially trained staff worked with Keiko to improve his cardiovascular health and provide mental stimulation. The whale caused a tourist boom in Newport. Visitors from around the world flocked to see Keiko in his new home. But Oregon's love affair with Keiko was destined to be a short one. The goal had always been to return him to

his natural habitat in the North Atlantic. We bid our movie star farewell in September of 1998. A U.S. Air Force C-17 delivered the famous cargo to a large pan in the waters off Iceland. Keiko continues to make progress there. His keepers hope that just like Free Willy, they will someday release Keiko to swim free in the ocean. On February 4th Oregonians awoke to the news that the New Carissa, a 600 foot long freighter had run aground on Coos Bay Spit. Four hundred thousand gallons of fuel oil on board were a threat to Oregon's prized beaches. A leak could devastate birds, including the western snowy plover, a threatened species. Oregonians demanded action. Unlike early in the century when news spreads slowly, now we watched the New Carissa saga as it happened. The ship proved

to be a stubborn problem. [Explosion] It took two tries to ignite the fuel oil in an attempt to burn it off before it leaked, but then the New Carissa split in half, and crews discovered a lot of unburned fuel still on board. So they tried pumping it off with limited success. The next idea was to drag the bow section off the sandbar and sink it in deep water. It took days, but finally, nearly a month after she ran aground, the New Carissa headed out to sea. Then, 40 miles out the huge towline broke. The next morning the ship that refused to die was back. This time near Waldport. A few days later the tug towed the New Carissa off the beach for good. [Explosion] But the tough old lady had one more surprise. After 69 rounds of destroyer gunfire, she was still afloat. Finally a submarine torpedo sent the New Carissa to the bottom.

Attention then turned to removing the smaller stern section. As catastrophes go, the New Carissa didn't amount to much. About seventy thousand gallons of oil spilled, less than 1 percent of the Exxon Valdez disaster. Several hundred birds died, but the ecosystem escaped serious harm. TheNew Carissa showed Oregonians still demand that our precious shoreline be protected no matter the cost. And so many volunteers offered to help, some had to be turned away. Near the end of the century, the State celebrated the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first large wagon trains on the Oregon Trail. Even modern day Oregonians feel a connection to the state's pioneer heritage. ?Name? spends every summer vacation with a group of friends reliving the pioneer experience by crossing the blue mountains on a wagon train.

[Man's voice] You get out there and one day will pretty much break you in on the idea of what they went through. The roughness of the ride, the dryness, the dust, and I can't imagine leaving 2000 miles away and not knowing where I'm going. It was just amazing how brave they were. [Guest speaker] Oregonians take pride on their pioneer legacy. Even those of us whose immigrant ancestors came directly from Sweden to Astoria, or from Texas or Oklahoma to the coast of Oregon. We take pride in that. The State's capitol has a golden pioneer with an ax standing atop the rotunda and the murals and public art in that building celebrate pioneering activity. [Host] The Oregon Trail has become a symbol of freedom and looking for a better way of life. In this century Oregonians justly take pride in looking for that better way with the nation's first water and air pollution laws,

the bottle bill, and public ownership of beaches. [Guest speaker] Livability. Livability in Oregon. Great theme for the 20th century. [Host] When Governor McCall championed protecting Oregon's environment, he predicted it would become the state's biggest asset. [Governor McCall] Because we'll have the things that enlightened industry wants for its workers and for its people, when everybody else has destroyed them. [Host] He was right. Oregon is booming with businesses drawn by the quality of life. The irony is that at the same time the state was celebrating the pioneer anniversary, this new wave of settlers created threats to the very environment that attracted them here. [Guest speaker] I like to think however that there is, as McCall certainly saw, a certain quality of our relationship to the land that distinguishes Oregonians. The diversity of it, the great spaces that we have available here.

Those affect people's personalities. They always have. [Host] In the 21st century, we'll see if these newcomers change Oregon or if Oregon changes them. [Fiddle music] [Music] [Announcer] Production funding for Oregon's Memorable Century has been provided by the Collins

Foundation. The Collins Foundation is dedicated to improving the quality of life in Oregon.