Offbeat Oregon

A public-history resource for the state we love. Includes a daily podcast, weekly newspaper column, live lectures, etc. Est. 2008. By Finn J.D. John (@finnz0)

[Offbeat Oregon @OffbeatOregon]

We are leaving this account here to explain, for anyone searching for us, but nobody will be checking it.

[Offbeat Oregon @OffbeatOregon]

Hey everybody, in the interests of staying as politically agnostic as possible, Offbeat Oregon is withdrawing from Twitter. We're still on Facebook and the podcasts. Sorry it turned out this way, we had a great run!

[Offbeat Oregon @OffbeatOregon]

Before he made it back, Art Lacey had survived a plane crash, bribed a fire department with illegal whiskey, kited a big check and made bitter enemies in Portland City Hall. But hey, all's well that ends well, right?

https://t.co/fbcTMJCWIc

[Offbeat Oregon @OffbeatOregon]

On the podcast feed this morning, it's the story of a railroad war and the "automo-bubble" driver who helped the forces of James J. Hill win it (sort of). By the way, if you've never heard the 1909 version of "In My Merry Oldsmobile" ... here ya go!
https://t.co/pUAnWbjwpZ

[Offbeat Oregon @OffbeatOregon]

On the podcast today: When you see a surviving SPAD or Sopwith Camel at an airshow, there's a decent chance that it's built at least partly with Oregon spruce. They actually had to get soldiers to help harvest it ...

https://t.co/TRnJWdBiMk

[Offbeat Oregon @OffbeatOregon]

New Year's Resolution time! In 2024 I will be more attentive to social media. It's been a rough few months around here, I know. :) Apologies to anyone I've accidentally ghosted or failed to followback!

[Offbeat Oregon @OffbeatOregon]

Did you know that not so many years ago, American women were literally stripped of their citizenship at the altar if they dared to marry a man who was not a U.S. citizen? Yep. It's on the podcast today.

Apple: https://t.co/7XirjsyBJH
Spotify: https://t.co/HBTGjQffvs

[Offbeat Oregon @OffbeatOregon]

Got a two-parter on the podcast feed: Erector Set inventor A.C. Gilbert was a practicing magician good enough to astonish Hermann the Great at age 7, a world-record-holding athlete at 17, and a born salesman — in the best “win-win” sense of the word. https://t.co/7XirjsyBJH

[Offbeat Oregon @OffbeatOregon]

These four sailors, one with a broken arm, had to paddle and sail their fast-leaking lifeboat 200 miles from Rockaway Beach to Puget Sound to survive the shipwreck of the Emily G. Reed. The story is on the podcast feed today!
Podcast feed (via Spotify): https://t.co/HBTGjQffvs

[Offbeat Oregon @OffbeatOregon]

Ever wonder how so much timberland ended up owned by giant out-of-state companies like Weyerhaeuser and Georgia-Pacific? A lot of it is down to the land-fraud swindlers. How they did it, and how they were finally stopped:
https://t.co/7XirjsyBJH

[Offbeat Oregon @OffbeatOregon]

Reformed bank robber Dave Tucker rehabilitated himself enough to be named a vice-president at the bank he once robbed ... I think this may be the only time this has EVER happened. Anyway, the full story is on the podcast feed today!
PODCAST VIA APPLE: https://t.co/7XirjsyBJH

[Offbeat Oregon @OffbeatOregon]

Over breakfast at the boardinghouse he'd checked into, Aquilla Ernest Clark's new friend invited him to a big party on a sternwheel riverboat that day. Ten hours later, Clark was on a sailing ship bound for La Havre, France.

On the podcast feed today!
https://t.co/HBTGjQffvs

[Offbeat Oregon @OffbeatOregon]

Shades of "To Die For" ... so, did Kermit Smith's wife put her side piece up to the job of killing him with a car bomb for the insurance money? Or was he lying to try to dodge the gas chamber?
WEB PAGE: https://t.co/0bWBtO3Nxg
PODCAST VIA APPLE: https://t.co/7XirjsyBJH

[Offbeat Oregon @OffbeatOregon]

The flying samurai who pulled off the only aerial attack in US history by a wartime enemy, then returned on a mission of peace and friendship two decades later. The Nobuo Fujita story is on the podcast today and tomorrow (it's a two-parter)!
https://t.co/7XirjsyBJH

[Offbeat Oregon @OffbeatOregon]

Got a couple of train-robbery stories coming today and tomorrow! Starting with the Cow Creek Canyon heist. Everyone is pretty sure it was John Case pulling this job, but he got away so it's not 100%.
WEB PAGE: https://t.co/e3XcQ3XpLv
PODCAST VIA APPLE: https://t.co/7XirjsyBJH

[Offbeat Oregon @OffbeatOregon]

Today's podcast episode finishes up the four-part series on D.B. Cooper with a round-up of some of the theories about who the skyjacker might have been. Some of them are super wacky.

WEB PAGE: https://t.co/blTzvsasat
PODCAST VIA APPLE: https://t.co/7XirjsyBJH

[Offbeat Oregon @OffbeatOregon]

A four-part series on the D.B. Cooper skyjacking incident starts today on the podcast feed!

WEB PAGE: https://t.co/pGfspbvNRb
PODCAST VIA APPLE: https://t.co/7XirjsyBJH

[Offbeat Oregon @OffbeatOregon]

Brand-new episode today: The Blum-Dunbar gang, whom I have habitually referred to as the "World's Dumbest Drug Smugglers" and although there may have been some dumber ones over the years, I'm betting none of the others have owned fleets of steamships.
https://t.co/HBTGjQffvs

[Offbeat Oregon @OffbeatOregon]

The Peyton-Allan murders are on the podcast feed today. My favorite part of this story is the evidence that Larry Peyton very nearly ended The Man with the Hook's run right there with a .32 automatic.
https://t.co/7XirjsyBJH

[Offbeat Oregon @OffbeatOregon]

Portland's legendary floating bordello is on the podcast feed today! It's a great opportunity to start a Valentine's Day argument with your favorite local-history buff over how much truth there is to Stewart Holbrook's stories...

https://t.co/7XirjsyBJH