Lessons learned in the crash ended up saving countless lives in subsequent at-sea ditchings, but those lessons came at a price: Four people died, including the co-pilot who had saved everyone's life. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1950s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1712a.pan-am-845-ditching-off-coos-bay-472.html)

WPA writer Sara B. Wrenn's oral history interview with Miss Jean Slauson of Oswego and two of her young cousins, sharing some of their family stories, oral and written. Part 1 of 3 parts. (For the transcript, see https://www.loc.gov/item/wpalh001975/ )

The “Jackson County Rebellion” faded away after political boss Llewellyn Banks shot a policeman with a .30-06 during an attempted warrant service. Coverage of the whole debacle won the Medford Mail-Tribune a Pulitzer Prize. (Medford, Jackson County; 1930s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1605d.jackson-co-rebellion-part3-392.html)

For leaders of the “Good Government Congress,” the Great Depression was a golden opportunity to crystallize popular bewilderment into hatred that could be used to grab for power. And it worked ... too well, as it turned out. (Medford, Jackson County; 1930s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1605c.jackson-county-rebellion-part2-391.html)

An autocratic populist from southern California, arriving in Medford in a flashy Cadillac, managed to position himself as a leader of the poor and disenfranchised. The results would rock the county, and the state, to the core. (Medford, Jackson County; 1920s, 1930s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1605b.llewellyn-banks-murder-boss-390.html)

Jack Graham had planned for the airliner to explode over the Wyoming mountains; but the plane got out late, and the bomb went off a few minutes after takeoff — while he sat with his wife and son in an airport cafe. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1950s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1711d.united-629-dynamited-on-flight-to-pdx-471.html)

WPA writer William C. Haight's oral history interview with gold miner Carl Hentz, talking about gold mining lore. (For the transcript, see https://www.loc.gov/item/wpalh001947/ )

In 1923 when Oregon’s KGW Radio launched the world’s first radio variety show, it became almost a nationwide sensation within just a few months. At its peak, it had listeners in all but four U.S. states along with the territories of Alaska and Hawaii, as well as most of Canada and Mexico. All three of the U.S. Presidents who served in office during its run — Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover — were at least occasional listeners.

The show was called The Hoot Owls, and it may actually have been the single most influential radio program of all time. It showed the industry the possibilities of a semi-scripted radio variety show, and it launched the career of Mel Blanc, the voice of most of the Looney Tunes characters.

And yet because early radio wasn’t able to be recorded, all we have left of The Hoot Owls today is a handful of scripts and a songbook. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1920s, 1930s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/24-06.kgw-order-of-hoot-owls-on-the-air-649.html)

As his countrymen and colleagues succumbed to the enthusiasm and propaganda for joining the conflict, only Senator Lane and a handful of other lawmakers kept their wits. But Lane paid dearly for his commitment to sanity. (Sellwood, Multnomah County; 1910s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1307b-harry-lane-war-hero.html)

Norwegian freighter got off course, piled onto Peacock Spit; a cutter pulled it off, and motor lifeboat crews rescued its crew, and the wallowing ship was pulled to port and repaired. A happy ending? Well, not for the Russians, it wasn't. (Columbia River Bar, Clatsop County; 1930s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1105a-coast-guard-rescued-future-soviet-gulag-ship.html)