MODOC: The Tribe That Wouldn't Die by Cheewa James

MODOC: The Tribe That Wouldn't Die by Cheewa James, a direct Modoc descendant, is an engaging and fascinating account of the events leading up to the Modoc War of 1873, the war itself, and the aftermath.

The Modocs were a tribe of industrious and democratic minded people. (Women in Oregon were not granted the right to vote until 1912, but Modoc women always had a say in their tribal laws.)  For the most part, they lived in harmony with incoming white settlers.  That is, until the land-grabbing white men in the form of Jesse Carr and Jesse Applegate coveted the Modoc's Lost River area of Northern California and Southern Oregon.   (Historian Robert Johnston stated in a 1991 study that "...looking at the record...it can be shown that the two Jesses--one an Oregonian, the other a Californian--probably did more than all other settlers, civilian governmental officials, or the military, to cause that tragic conflict.")


The Modocs led by Captain Jack bravely fought for what was rightly theirs.  Although they ultimately lost, there was a heavy price paid by both the Modocs and the U.S. Army.


Through Ms. James account, we learn that the Modocs are a tenacious, hard-working people who only wanted to peacefully co-exist, and even assimilate, with the ever increasing number of pioneers.  They paid an overwhelmingly heavy price for their efforts in this area we now call home.

MODOC: The Tribe That Wouldn't Die can be purchased now for just $19.95.

or at the Josephine Historical Society's Bookshop located in the Research Library at 512 K Street, Grants Pass; or at their Online Bookshop.

HUNDREDS of Historic Photos for Sale Through the Josephine County Historical Society

Did you know that the Josephine County Historical Society has rare, historic and many one-of-a-kind images for sale on our website or in the Research Library?

They are available for purchase at nominal cost.  These historic records of our early discoverers and settlers make great wall displays when framed, and cover everything from gold panning, dredging, arrastras, and mines to railroads, historic buildings, sites and signs, towns, dams, bridges, ferries, sawmills, pioneer families and schools.

We keep history alive for the coming generations!

They are available through several different mediums and various sizes; printed black & white photos, mailed to you on a disc or emailed.  Most of the catalogue is available for viewing online, and can be ordered and paid for online, or you can print out an order form to send with your check. Shipping is free. 

These historic photos can be viewed at the Josephine County Historical Society's website.

Earthquake at Grants Pass! - April 23rd

The following article was printed in an out of state newspaper on April 23rd, 1906.

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Portland, Or., April 23, - A special to the Oregonian from Grant's Pass, Or., says that at 12 minutes past 1 o'clock this morning an earthquake shock was felt, accompanied by a rumbling noise which was plainly audible.  Nearly every one in town was awakened.  Furniture moved in the houses and several windows were cracked, but no serious damage was done.  The shock lasted for 15 to 20 seconds and its course apparently was from east to west.

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I looked it up in the Cascadia Historic Earthquake Catalog,  and its location was pinpointed at 42.4 N, 123.4 W, and its magnitude was 4.30 IML.

Thanks to Google Earth and Google Maps, we can see right where it was!

View Larger Map

"A Terrible Glory" by James Donovan

"A Terrible Glory" by James Donovan explores the graphic and chilling events leading up to the "Battle of the Little Bighorn" or if you prefer, "Custer's Last Stand," and its heartbreaking aftermath.

In the weeks following the "Battle of the Little Bighorn," rumors and stories were circulating on the East Coast, and all were looked on with skepticism.  Enemies and admirers alike could not believe such a huge figure like General George Armstrong Custer could be dead.  But it was true, Custer and the 210 men under his command were dead.  There were two survivors; Captain Myles Keogh's horse "Comanche" and another horse called "Nap," and they weren't talking!

The losses sustained by the U.S. Calvary were terrible, and someone had to be held accountable.  General Custer wasn't there to defend himself, but his grieving widow Elizabeth (Bacon) Custer spent the rest of her life painting a brave and noble portrait of her husband.

James Donovan's book shows us that it was Margaret (Custer) Calhoun who suffered the worst losses.  In a single day, this woman lost her husband, Lieutenant Jimmi Calhoun, her three brothers and a nephew.

With each telling of the battle, the number of Lakota and Cheyenne warriors grew from 1,500 to as many as 9,000, but their glory was short-lived.  The relentless pursuit of the remaining "non-agency" bands caused much suffering and starvation among the Native tribes.  The downfall of Custer's 7th Calvary was also the downfall of the Lakota and Cheyenne nations.

There have been many books written about the "Battle of the Little Bighorn," but none have done the superb job of putting flesh on the bones of the people involved and affected by this horrific two days in our nation's history, nor done such a thorough job of explaining what led up to the battle and what happened after it was over as "A Terrible Glory."  

Sawmill Town of Valsetz, Oregon

  Here is another terrific post authored by  Finn J.D. John that appeared on Offbeat Oregon History, March 7, 2009.


The following post caught my eye, because it hits very close to home.  In the 1940's there were more than two dozen sawmills operating in the Illinois Valley, and now Rough and Ready Lumber Co. is the only one left in Josephine County!

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Company town of Valsetz was soggy, but home

The tiny town was owned by the sawmill, which bulldozed and burned it in 1984 when the mill closed.

By Finn J.D. John — March 7, 2009

How much does it rain where you live? Western Oregon has a reputation for being very soggy. Most of the state's western population centers — Portland, Salem, Eugene — get 30 to 40 inches of water each year.
Now imagine getting 120.
There was a town in Western Oregon that got an average of 10 feet of rainfall a year. This was actually more than any other town in the country, anywhere.
Except, it wasn't really a town. And it no longer exists.
It was called Valsetz, and it was essentially a mill camp: A couple hundred little houses built on timber company land by a sawmill at which almost everyone in town worked. It was in a little saddle in the middle of the Coast Range, about halfway between Monmouth and the Pacific Ocean.

Birth of a company town

The story of Valsetz is the story of the timber industry in Oregon, or most of it anyway. The place was founded in 1919 by the local timber company that built the mill. At its peak in the 1940s and '50s, more than 1,500 people lived there — in the middle of the Coast Range, 15 muddy miles of gravel road from "civilization" in Falls City. It had its own school district, a company store, and a two-lane bowling alley that looked, from the inside, like a railroad tunnel.
Crime was virtually nonexistent because the town was so isolated. The town had no police force. It was all private property, so some laws just didn't apply; kids zipped around on motorcycles long before they turned 16.

A sportsman's paradise

Valsetz also had its own herd of elk, a lake with more fish than the residents could ever eat, and wild woods everywhere just outside of town. Valsetz was a sportsman's paradise.
It wasn't a timber company's paradise, though. Not in the early 1980s. The timber industry was getting squeezed hard. The building boom of the 1970s had given way to "stagflation" and recession. Nobody was buying wood. Advances in automation were making it possible to run a mill with a lot fewer workers anyway. Good first-growth trees were getting hard to find, and the Valsetz mill had been converted to a plywood operation.
It made no sense at all to run a plywood mill — where second-growth "dog hair" logs are peeled to cores and glued together — smack in the middle of the best tree-growing climate on the West Coast. Federal forests were virtually shut down to further logging, either for legal reasons or because they’d already been cut over. Boise-Cascade, Weyerhaeuser and Willamette Industries knew if they were going to survive, it would be on the trees they grew on their own lands. And for Boise-Cascade, Valsetz occupied many acres of the very best of those lands.

The end comes

So as other loggers and millworkers around the state were trying to find a new job, the people of Valsetz were put on notice that they'd need to find a new home, too. 
This was harsh. While other timber workers had at least the equity in their homes to fall back on, Valsetz residents had six months to clear out — with nothing. "Now I know how boat people feel," one of them said at the time.
Many salvage companies tried to work out a deal with Boise-Cascade. But the company wanted the town gone right away, so the land it sat on could get to work producing logs for other Boise-Cascade mills.
In just a few months, the entire town was bulldozed, dragged into a giant pile of rubble and put to the torch.
Today the only sign of the town you'll see is a stand of young trees by the side of a dirt road — and the memorial Web sites former residents maintain to their vanished home town.
(Sources: Corvallis Gazette-Times, Feb. 25, 1984; Sacramento Bee, March 18, 1984; www.valsetz.homestead.com)

A Tall Tale From Kerby, Oregon

Most of us who live in Josephine County, Oregon have learned that Kerby was named after an early settler named James Kerby, but have you ever heard the story of how Kerby was founded?

Sketch by Gary Swanson

 In Josephine County's early mining days, an entrepreneur decided to open a billiard parlor in Grants Pass.  He went down to Crescent City, California, where he purchased a billiard table.  Now this guy was transporting the table strapped to a pack mule.  Once the man and the overburdened mule reached the site of where Kerby is today, the poor mule collapsed and died.

This man knew he was pushing his luck to have moved the pool table as far as he had, so he decided that the spot was a good as any other to open a billiard parlor.  He erected a tent over the table and opened the first establishment in Kerby (Kerbyville).

An elderly miner told me this story and several others; I don't know if he was pulling my leg, but it sure was interesting to listen to him!

Welcome to Oregon; Remember, Smokey is Watching!

The following article appeared in an out of state newspaper in April of 1925.

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Who Am I?

I have scattered bread crusts, tin cans, Sunday supplements and paper plates from the Caves in Southern Oregon to Mount Baker in Northern Washington.

I have hacked forest trees and left campfires burning from the California line to the Canadian border.

I have hooked pears from a Medford orchard and walnuts in the Willamette Valley, "Rome Beauties" from beautiful Hood River and "Delicious" apples from the broad Yakima Valley.

I have rolled rocks into the sapphire depths of Crater Lake and have thrown tin cans into Lake Chelan.  

I have seen all, heard all, and in my weak way, have managed to destroy much.

I am the careless and thoughtless American tourist.

The lumber industry represents investments totaling $12,000,000,000, employs 800,000 persons and indirectly about 1,000,000, and its annual output has a value of more than $3,000,000,000.

Annually through destruction of forests by fires left by careless campers or smokers it and the nation are subjected to timber losses which aggregate millions of dollars.

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With hiking and camping season soon upon us, let's change our image and become "thoughtful" American tourists!

The following photos were taken on the Baby Foot Lake Ridge Trail in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness.  The Biscuit Fire ravaged this area in 2002, and 10 years later, this is what it looks like:

Although this fire wasn't started by careless humans, but by lightning strikes; it does give an example of the devastation that wildfires can cause. 

It's still quite beautiful at Baby Foot Lake, but every time we finish this hike, we're always covered with soot.