In
The Beginning
The time is the early 1800s. The
place is the wilderness of the southern Rogue Valley, the
area that would eventually be
called Ashland. You're blazing a path southward looking for
a more hospitable route into the
Oregon Territory than the cold and often fatal Oregon
Trail.
You're packing a big knife, a
painfully slow muzzle-loading rifle, an ax and some
animal traps. With these you must
provide food and shelter, as well as defend yourself
against assorted quadrupeds that
would have you for brunch. If you break your leg, get a
seriously infected cut, contract
appendicitis or get completely wet, you will almost
certainly perish. In fact, if any
of these things happen to your horse, you will likely perish.
They don't take Visa or American
Express here, and it'll take somewhat longer than 30
minutes to get a pizza delivered.
You look around for awhile and
think, "What a great place to settle down! All I have to
do is not break any bones, don't
get infected or sick, and keep dry, and I'll be able to
spend the next 20 years, all
alone, carving out an incredibly difficult and dangerous
lifestyle. Yes, I think I'll
settle down right here!" Right?
We don't think so.
Admit it. You wouldn't be caught
living anywhere near a place without a shopping mall
and a video store. "No Chinese
takeout?" you say. "Well, forget this place!"
And yet, there were dozens and
dozens of people, presumably of sound mind and body,
who saw the regal beauty of our
mountains and the fertile soil of our valleys and decided
to stay despite the unimaginable
hardships of those early years.
One of the first of these hardy
souls was Abel Helman. After deciding to settle here,
Helman returned to Ohio to fetch
his family by first walking to Crescent City, California,
to catch a boat to Panama. Then
he crossed the steamy Panamanian jungle to the Gulf of
Mexico and boarded another ship
to New York. He then reversed direction, dragging the
wife and kids back to Panama,
across the Isthmus to the Pacific side, back on another ship
to Crescent City, and overland to
this area. Helman's pitch to his wife on why she should
set out on that trip must have
been a high watermark in the annals of matrimonial
salesmanship.
Before long others recognized the
raw beauty and potential of this Jewel of the
Siskiyous. They began settling
alongside the California-Oregon wagon trail, building
homes and organizing commerce.
Early businesses began flourishing here: sawmills, flour
mills, woolen mills, orchards,
and sheep and cattle ranches. As the 19th century
progressed an iron works, a brick
and tile works, the area's first creamery, and numerous
small business services began to
add health and vigor to Ashland's economy.
The Railroad Comes To Town
The connecting of the railroad in
1887 suddenly gave Ashland access to all the West Coast
markets. Sawed planks from the
lumber mills found their way into homes and buildings all
over the Northwest. The orchard
business took off and Ashland began shipping peaches,
pears, apples, plums, apricots,
cherries and tomatoes by the boxcar north and south. Oats,
barley, wheat and hay were
harvested and shipped for regional consumption. Beef cattle
supplied the area with plenty of
meat, and sheep gave their coats for a booming business in
woolen products for the West.
The connecting of the railroad
did more than bring Ashland closer to distant markets; it
brought us closer to distant
people and their ideas and thoughts and dreams. The town
began to realize its desire to
cultivate the arts and education in addition to becoming a
center for commerce. Ashland was
the magnet and the railroad was the conduit that would
draw the people who would make us
the cultural center of the Pacific Northwest.
Commitment to the Arts and Education
A commitment to higher education
was an early priority for our citizens. In 1872 the first
college classes in the region
were held in a renovated building in town. Although the col-
lege would have its ups and downs
over the next 50 years, the townspeople would remain
firm in their conviction to
provide higher education to the community. Our proud
Southern Oregon State College is
the direct result of that commitment.
Ashland was the sight of the
region's first Chautauqua meeting, a traveling education
and entertainment program that
originated in New York. In 1893 a Chautauqua building
(or "tabernacle") was erected on
the site of today's Outdoor Elizabethan Stage, and an-
nual meetings were staged there
for the next quarter of a century. Speeches, essays,
poetry, and singing were all part
of the Chautauqua presentations. In many ways it was the
precursor to our Shakespearean
Festival.
As the Twentieth Century dawned
Ashland found itself becoming a center for healing.
By accident of nature Ashland has
many mineral springs nearby: Lithia, soda, and sulfur.
People would come for miles
around to drink and bathe in our healing fluids. Water was
piped into town for drinking and
to supply the natatorium. The possibilities for Ashland as
a destination health spa caused
much public excitement and brought about a bond election
to finance the expansion of our
small park into a larger mineral springs and travelers park-
- now our much heralded Lithia
Park.
The town was flourishing both
economically and intellectually, and it continued to
attract bright and talented
people. By now Ashland had library and hospital facilities, and
was producing its own electricity
to power business as well as home needs. The citizens
had every reason to be full of
hope for the future.
On Fools And Their Money_
In the early 1920s a couple of
odd occurrences took place near town: The Shale City fi-
asco and the Great Train Robbery.
It is said that there are two things that will cause a
person to consider
"opportunities" that sane folk would avoid like a porcupine in heat:
fear and greed. These are two
stories about the latter.
It was the 4th of July, 1922,
when Greed came to Ashland in the form of H.W.
Hartman. Hartman caused a
commotion in the Plaza when he set up a scale model of a
contraption called a "retort,"
which, he knowingly assured the gawkers, could extract oil
from shale; tease Texas Tea from
solid rock; coax Black Gold from ordinary stone.
"Separate these rubes from their
dough," was what he was probably thinking when he
pointed out to the assembled mob
that northeast of Ashland there were huge shale beds.
Hartman painted a picture of vast
riches being sucked out of the Earth just a few miles
outside of town; a fantasy of
immense wealth for anyone smart enough to put up the
capital to finance a full-scale
working retort. The townspeople responded as Pavlov would
have predicted, dishing out a
goodly portion of their hard-earned savings to form an oil-
from-shale syndicate. They cut a
road through the forest to the shale beds and built a 250
ton full-sized retort in what was
now being called "Shale City."
When they loaded the retort up
with shale and fired her up, a couple of big surprises
sprung themselves on the
investors: the retort didn't work, and Hartman had skipped
town.
Undaunted, the investors raised
more cash, built a bigger and better retort, filled it with
shale, and fired it up again. The
machine that had promised so much but had delivered so
little immediately melted down
into a pile of broken dreams.
Around the same time that Hartman
was sweet-talking Ashlanders out of their money,
the three DeAutremont brothers--
Roy, Ray and Hugh-- were trying to talk four Southern
Pacific Railroad employees out of
their company's money. They weren't talking so
sweetly, though; they were
robbing the No. 13 train in the mountain pass just south of
Ashland.
Now, the DeAutremont brothers
would never be mistaken for rocket scientists. As if to
prove that point, they used way
too much dynamite trying to open up the mail car; the
train and the loot was vaporized
in the process. Unfortunately, the 3 trainmen and 1 postal
clerk lost their lives in the TNT
overdose.
The DeAutremonts fled the
country. World-wide, all-points bulletins followed them
around for 4 years until they
were eventually apprehended. It still ranks as the most
publicized crime ever on Southern
Pacific Railroad lines.
Clouds On The Horizon
These stories notwithstanding,
the hopes and dreams of Ashland's citizens were largely
realized through the first
quarter of the Century. But there were ominous clouds on the
horizon. The Chautauqua meetings
were dying from competition with other forms of
entertainment, and the resort-spa
idea never did generate the big business that early
proponents envisioned.
A major setback occured in 1927
when the Southern Pacific Railroad built a new track
east of Ashland through Klamath
Falls, sending its passenger service around the Rogue
Valley altogether. The railroad
had been an integral part of Ashland's growth and the
railroad district was a viable
part of the city's commercial interests. A good part of
Ashland's payroll left town with
the railroad.
Not long thereafter the Great
Depression wrought economic havoc everywhere.
Businesses that couldn't survive,
perished. Businesses that were being transformed
anyway by newer technologies,
just went away quicker. The malaise lasted well into the
'40s, when economic revival eased
the city back to its feet again.
The experiences of the previous
two decades would change forever the economic fu-
ture of Ashland. Old industries
like the sawmills and the ranches and the orchards would
be receding in significance over
the next 40 years. New industries like tourism, retail shops
and the theater, whose seeds were
planted in those dark years, would grow to fill in the
void.
The Future
In 1966 the Interstate Freeway
opened for traffic through Ashland, and the effect was not
unlike the connecting of the
railroad 80 years earlier. Travelers could easily course the
West Coast along this asphalt
track; the wealth and beauty of this area was again
accessible to the millions of
citizens of Metropolis Americana who longed for green
valleys, lakes and streams
abounding in wildlife, and the slow-paced lifestyle of a small
town like Ashland.
Responding to the increased flow
of visitors that I-5 delivered to our doorstep, a large
scale revitalization of the
downtown business area began in the early '70s. Many of the
familiar commercial stores were
painted, remodeled and turned into fashionable shops and
restaurants catering to the
summer tourist trade. The Shakespearean Festival expanded to
the Angus Bowmer Theatre and the
Black Swan Theatre to accommodate the visitors
coming to experience Ashland's
theatrical offerings. The lodging industry mushroomed to
handle the waves of visitors
coming to town. A whole new industry sprang up to tap the
tremendous wealth of outdoor
recreational opportunities: whitewater rafting, downhill and
cross country skiing, fishing,
camping, backpacking, mountain biking-- the list goes on.
Over the years the citizens of
Ashland established a college, organized the region's first
library, hosted the educational
Chautauqua meetings, built a magnificent city park,
published a newspaper, provided
for its own water and electrical systems, built and staffed
a community hospital, offered
several health-giving public mineral spas, supported a world
renowned theatrical group, and
continually revitalized and upgraded the downtown
business area and outlying
historical districts. Along the way Ashland has managed to
keep its streets clean, its crime
rate below national averages, its buildings free of garish
neon signs and billboards, and
its industries clean and service oriented.
Ashland is approaching the end of
this century once again full of hope and excitement
for the future. With a
comprehensive plan in place for the equitable distribution of our
resources, and for the efficient
use of our talents and abilities, Ashland will continue to
attract pioneering spirits like
the Helmans whose courage and vision have given Southern
Oregon this remarkable community.
Oh, by the way... we do accept
Visa and American Express now, and we'll deliver all
the pizza you want!
For more information on the
history of Ashland:
Ashland: The First 130 Years
by Marjorie O'Harra
Southern Oregon: Short Trips Into
History
by Marjorie O'Harra
Mill Creek Journal: Ashland,
Oregon 1850-1860
by Kay Atwood
Over The Siskiyous
by Jeff LaLande
Lithia Water
by Barton Gately
The Ashland Public Library
503-482-1151
Southern Oregon Historical
Society
503-488-1341
Email:
annette@annettepugh.com