A teacher at the Wagner Creek School, Willis J. Dean, believed children should be taught science, health and practical skills, but never religion. He was also a spiritualist. Dean taught at the school, located at present-day Talent, Ore., from 1884 until he retired.

A Rogue River Courier newspaper article from 1913 affords a glimpse of the decline of commercial fishing on the Rogue River.

About 10 years after the 1964 Christmas-week flood wiped out bridges and more than 200 homes along the Rogue River, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built a dam near Shady Cove, Ore., submerging whole communities under Lost Creek Lake.

In 1948, Klamath Falls began work on a popular new four-lane highway on the city’s north side to reduce heavy traffic that wound along narrow streets in residential neighborhoods along Biehn and North Ninth streets.

Minneapolis banker Delroy Getchell arrived in Medford, Ore., on a sparkling day in January 1909, seeking a mild climate for retirement. He liked the looks of the place.

Francis Gustavus Swedenburg settled in Ashland in the early 1900s and became a leading citizen by founding the city’s first hospital and becoming its chief surgeon.

During the 1970s and early 1980s, many people throughout the world sought ultralight aircraft as an affordable way to fly. Lightweight and slow-flying, they were subject to fewer regulations than other airplanes.

Charles Nentzel was a year old in 1833 when his family immigrated to America from Bavaria. He grew up in New York, assisted his father as a blacksmith, and became a jeweler’s apprentice.

William Bybee of Jacksonville, Ore., was a popular, respected citizen. Married with a wife and children, he owned a house and had twice served as sheriff. The community was shocked when on March 27, 1886, he was accused of murdering his nephew Thomas Bybee.

During Prohibition in 1925, a group of Curry County Circuit Court jurors decided to corroborate the evidence during the trial of Mormon Brown, a small-dairy farmer recognized for producing consistent batches of fine, clear, white-lightning liquor.