Oregon is a state with more than its share of buried-treasure legends. But the one that gets the most attention, and until fairly recently attracted by far the most treasure hunters, is the lost Spanish gold of Neahkahnie Mountain. Like most buried-treasure stories, it’s a near certainty that nothing is[Read More…]

Late one spring evening in 1917, a man named A.L. Sauvie was trying to sleep, and not having much success. The problem was his downstairs neighbor, who had gotten roaring drunk and was now verbally abusing, and physically beating, his wife. Complicating the situation even further was the fact that[Read More…]

Among musicians and fans of old-time string-band music, Benjamin Franklin Jarrell is basically royalty. As a member of one of the most influential bands from the golden age of old-time music — DaCosta Woltz’s Southern Broadcasters — old Ben helped preserve that classic Appalachian-mountain style of fiddle-and-banjo string bands. His[Read More…]

I. Building. By early 1941, the U.S. Army knew it was about to get sucked into at least one of the wars that were already raging around the world. The Selective Service and Training Act had passed the previous fall, and already young American men were being drafted into the[Read More…]