What comes to your mind when I mention the name “Balch”?

For most of us, it’s the sordid, nasty tale of Danford Balch, the first Portland resident to be hanged for murder, a fate he earned in 1858 by reacting to his stepdaughter’s elopement by chasing the young couple down with a shotgun and murdering his new son-in-law on the Stark Street Ferry (here’s a link to the Offbeat Oregon article about that).

And yeah, that’s one way to make it into the history books!

Half a century ago, though, most Oregonians would instantly recognize the Balch name from a more benign, and certainly a more important, historical character, who probably was distantly related to Danford — Frederic H. Balch, the author of what may actually be the most important and influential work of literature in Oregon history: a misty, mythical novel titled The Bridge of the Gods: A Romance of Indian Oregon, published in 1890.

In part, the reason Frederic’s name is so seldom recognized today is that he died young. The Bridge of the Gods was supposed to be Volume One of a six-part saga telling the story of the Oregon country. But tuberculosis claimed him when he was just 29 years old, leaving the great work unfinished. (Lyle, Washington Territory; 1890s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/2501b.frederic-balch-bridge-o-gods-684.512.html)