The region recalls the Old West. Herds of wild horses still roam freely here in the sagebrush, coyotes and black bears abound in the hills, and schoolteachers have been told to be vigilant for cougars while the children are playing at recess. In small towns like Colton, another species of local wildlife can be seen at the bars, often wearing holsters with sidearms. Logging and farming seem to be the main businesses here, but economic growth is not on most people's agenda. Ever since the hippie counterculture discovered the area in the mid-1960s, the major crop has been marijuana. But the Feds claim they are at least making progress in eliminating the once-ubiquitous meth labs hidden in the woods. For visitors to Colton, a car in good working order is a necessity. A cell phone is a smart addition, but reception is spotty. It is equally important to travel with a friend. The main reason the back roads are generally unsafe is that rifle shots at lone drivers are a common report. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, one of the more notorious of shooters was Edward M. Nelson (1908-1992). Nelson had become inreasingly paranoid that people were trying to steal his land, his inventions, and his paintings. As a result, he became fiercely protective of these three treasures, which he considered sacred. From the high vantage point of his property, he could spot anyone approaching on the country road and would drive them away by firing upon them. Everyone in town knew he was a dead shot with his rifle. Those few who were allowed to enter his property also knew him as Melvin E. Nelson, the old hermit artist. As the creator of "Original Astral-Planetary Art," Nelson signed his paintings with the initials "M.E.N," which also stood for"Mighty Eternal Nation." But Nelson knew nothing of art before he moved to his hilltop farm in Colton. He was born in Traverse City, Michigan, in 1908, and little is known of his youth or family except that he claimed to be a descendent of Admiral Lord Nelson and of Martin Luther. In 1942, at the age of 35, he suddenly abandoned his wife and infant daughter in Michigan and moved to Portland. There he found work as
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an electrician at the Willamette Iron & Steel Company, a major shipbuilding firm during World War II. After the war, he worked as a "troubleshooter and investigator electrician," and by 1957 he was working as an installer for the phone company. Around 1958, he invited an old buddy, Cleo McClintock—whom he called "Mac"—to move with him to Colton, where he had purchased a beautiful 80-acre tract in the rolling wooded hills with cabins, barns, and several dilapidated outbuildings and trailers. McClintock had just filed a patent for an "air engine" that took advantage of the heat built up from the compression of pistons. In Colton, both men finally found the remoteness considered ideal for the privacy they required to further develop their electronics and inventions. The two men referred to themselves as brothers, and McClintock even assigned ownership in his air engine patent to Nelson, which sold in the 1970s. The local rumor was that both men had worked on radar research during the war. One barn on the property was filled with unusual generators, coils, radar equipment, antennae, and various types of electronic gear, including three of Nelson's creations: a "cyclotronic generator," for levitating objects; an "anyzager," or "instrument of truth," a device to achieve astral projection and the tool with which "God can see all things upon the earth below"(and perhaps deriving from the German Anzeiger, or "indicator"); and a "planetron," which Nelson claimed was capable of generating cosmic energy in much the same manner as a nuclear accelerator. The planetron had a viewing window through which Nelson would record his views of outer space and attempt to receive communications from unidentified flying objects. Colton is in a region of Oregon well known for its numerous UFO sightings. The famous "flying saucer" photographs that were published in the June 25, 1950, issue of Life magazine were snapped by farmer Paul Trent over his fields in the nearby
town of McMinnville.These and other records of UFOs created in the middle of the twentieth century helped ignite a nationwide surge of interest in the phenomenon. For Nelson, the UFOs were a confirmation of his quest to explore the link between two universes, the cosmos and the atomic world. He claimed to have seen UFOs land on his farm many times, and he wrote and
spoke frequently about the extraordinary lights he saw at night. A major fault line also runs through the region, and earthquakes are common. Nelson soon came to believe that a vast underground alien base lay hidden beneath his property. He claimed to be able to detect the difference between a true earthquake—such as the one that had caused so much damage to his first
UNTITLED (Photo Genetics) n.d. Pigment on paper 12 x 17" Courtesy Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York
UNTITLED (Photo Genetics) n.d. Pigment on paper 11 x 13/ 1 2 " Collection of Selig and Angela Sacks