Oregon Historical Quarterly Fall 2006

“A Most Daring Outrage”: Murders at Chinese Massacre Cove, 1887 by R. Gregory Nokes
R. Gregory Nokes tells the story of the murder of as many as thirty-four Chinese miners by a gang of seven horse thieves at a place in Hells Canyon, which has been designated “Chinese Massacre Cove” by the Oregon Geographic Names Board. Drawing on recently uncovered primary material, Nokes patches together the tale of the crime and the acquittal of three gang members who were arrested and charged with murder and places the events in the global context of relationships between American and Chinese citizens and governments.

“Old Fashioned Revival”: Religion, Migration, and a New Identity for the Pacific Northwest at Mid Twentieth Century

by David J. Jepsen

From 1940 to 1960, there was a dramatic increase in the number of conservative religious denominations in the Pacific Northwest, and evangelists such as Billy Graham enjoyed preaching to huge crowds in Portland. Using empirical and anecdotal data, David J. Jepsen explores the source of that increase and finds that it lies in the migration of southern evangelists to the region, rather than in large scale conversion of residents already living in the region. In his discussion of evangelical churches in the Pacific Northwest at mid century, Jepsen pulls in the history of evangelical success in America, the ways people from different regions viewed each other, and national agreements between churches that allowed or precluded growth.

“As Citizens of Portland We Must Protest”: Beatrice Morrow Cannady and the African American Response to D.W. Griffith’s “Masterpiece”

by Kimberley Mangun

The Birth of a Nation, a film about the Civil War, reconstruction, and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, became a focal point for debate about race relations in Portland each time in played in the city, in 1915, 1918, and 1922. Beatrice Morrow Cannady was editor of the African American newspaper, the Advocate, and vehemently opposed the showing of the film. Historian Kimberley Mangun uses Cannady’s public contempt for the film’s portrayal of African Americans to illustrate the broader goal of Cannady, and countless others, to promote respect between whites and African Americans.

Oregon Voices
Klamath Falls Goes to War: A Personal and Newspaper Reminiscence

by Richard Yates

Richard Yates was a seventh-grade student when the United States entered World War II and his hometown, Klamath Falls, became transformed by the war effort. Drawing on his memory and newspaper research, Yates chronicles the town’s drives for war bonds, economic benefits from nearby war construction, volunteer war efforts, and resistance to the Tule Lake Internment Camp and an in-town convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses, who refused to serve in the war.

Oregon Places
The U.S. Steel Corporation in Portland, 1901-1941
by Lewis L. McArthur
In 1938, Lewis L. McArthur, a recent graduate of the University of California, went to work as a salesman for the Columbia Steel Company, a subsidiary of the United States Steel Corporation in Portland. His memories of the three years he spent working there depict the buildings, systems, and people that were involved with selling steel for some of the largest construction projects in the Pacific Northwest.

Oregon Places
The Georgian Room & Meier and Frank
by Christine Curran
For many Portlanders, the Georgian Room dining and tea room at the downtown Meier & Frank department store was a landmark for most of the twentieth century. Christine Curran, an architectural historian with the State Historic Preservation Office, describes the structure and decoration of the room itself and the cultural forces that brought about its popularity.

OHS Exhibits
Tears and Rain: One Artist’s View from Sea Level

by Rebecca J. Dobkins

Drawing from conversations with the artist about his life and work, Rebecca J. Dobkins gives readers insight into the foundations and purposes of Rick Bartow’s stunning drawing and sculpture. “Accepting his invitation to see more carefully and to feel connections more deeply,” she writes, “brings us a greater understanding of this place we now call Oregon.”

OHS Exhibits
Oregon Originals: The Art of Amanda Snyder and Jefferson Tester

by Robert L. Joki

Chronicling the lives of siblings Jefferson Tester and Amanda Snyder, curator Robert L. Joki gives readers insight into the sources of their work. He finds that, although they explored different themes and techniques in their work, both Snyder and Tester “found individual recognition and success.”

Kristine Olson, Standing Tall: The Lifeway of Kathryn Jones Harrison, Chair of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community, reviewed by Cary C. Collins

Joseph Cone, Celilo Falls and the Remaking of the Columbia River, reviewed by Andrew Fisher

William L. Lang and Carl Abbott, Two Centuries of Lewis and Clark: Reflections on the Voyage of Discovery, reviewed by Carlos Schwantes

Mark Harvey, Wilderness Forever: Howard Zahniser and the Path to the Wilderness Act, reviewed by Paul Sutter

Steven Grafe, Peoples of the Plateau: The Indian Photographs of Lee Moorhouse, 1898–1915, reviewed by Sherry L. Smith

William D. Layman, River of Memory: The Everlasting Columbia, reviewed by Matthew Evenden

Roger Cooke and Robert Carriker, Ocian in View! O! the Joy: Lewis and Clark in Washington State, reviewed by Jeremy Skinner

Katherine Aiken, Idaho’s Bunker Hill: The Rise and Fall of a Great Mining Company, 1885–1981, reviewed by Fredric L. Quivik

Brian W. Richardson, Longitude and Empire: How Captain Cook’s Voyages Changed the World, reviewed by Albert Furtwangler

Brenda Jackson, Domesticating the West: The RE-creation of the Nineteenth-Century American Middle Class, reviewed by William F. Willingham

Alan Day, Historical Dictionary of the Discovery and Exploration of the Northwest Passage, reviewed by Jennifer L. Dorner