The Columbia River runs silently without fanfare past our backyard. I have driven along it hundreds of times and never seriously considered its history. Much like having my 88 year old grandmother living with us until her death when I was 15, I never gave a thought about asking her about her family, childhood, or […]
The most wonderful part of the property I live on is not the view of Mt. Hood, although that is spectacular indeed. Nor is it the wealth of wildlife that trapse through on a weekly basis depending on the season and the weather. Nope – it is my utterly beloved bullfrogs. For some reason, last […]
The hardest part of the Oregon Trail emigrants’ journey was the descent. In addition to the swampy bogs and dense forests, there was the infamous Laurel Hill. The pioneers mistakenly called the rhododendrons that were clinging to the steep slopes “laurels.” In places the grade on Laurel Hill was 60%–more vertical than horizontal. Here the […]
The road building was slow. The emigrants had only axes and saws and only one grindstone in the entire company, therefore much of the clearing was done by burning. From mid-September through December, they battled their way through the thick timber of the Mountain’s southern flank. They realized they would not have time to finish […]
Autumn of 2020 marks the 175th Anniversary of the first attempted crossing of Mt. Hood’s Oregon Trail and the 173rd Anniversary of the first toll road—known as the Barlow Trail—over the Cascade Mountain Range. The Barlow Trail was the final overland link of the Oregon Trail that allowed emigrant travelers a cheaper, quicker but still […]
While traveling down the Columbia River on Sunday, November 3, 1805, Captain William Clark wrote in his journal: “The Fog so thick this morning that we could not see a man 50 Steps off, this fog detained us until 10 oClock at which time we Set out, accompanied by our Indian friends who are from […]
How long has it been since you have had fruit fresh off the tree? Tired of eating fruit from your local grocery that has no taste? Then you need to come to the Draper Girls Country Farm. Not only do they have a plethora of fresh fruits like, cherries, peaches, nectarines, and apricots, but also […]