McKenzie Magazine Summer/Fall 2022

McKenzie Magazine

Summer/Fall 2022

Contents Super Bloom coming?

A very long span Backcountry Bonus Lost Lookout Building back Searching for an alibi

3 4 8 9 10 14

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this publication or any part thereof in any form, including digital and artistic duplication of photos, maps, graphics, advertisements, or text, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without written permission of the publishers. © 2022 McKenzie River Reflections, 59059 Old McKenzie Hwy. McKenzie Bridge, OR 97413. mckenzieriverreflectionsnewspaper,com, rivref2@gmail.com, (541) 822-3358. *** Cover photo of Blue River Reservoir by Hayden Hope *** Scott Lake

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Will there be a “Super Bloom?”

Brandi Crawford Ferguson

2020 was a super bloom for bear grass. And, it’s rumored “biennial return” will happen again this year......

A meadow full of luminescent flowers can be a arresting sight, and at times might smell like cultivated lilacs. Commonly known as bear grass, Xerophyllum tenax can grow from two to five feet tall and is often found in meadows or bogs. But it can also sometimes be found along ridges, rocky slopes, woods, and clearings.

It can be found growing anywhere from sea level elevations to sites over 6,000 feet. Depending on elevation, plants generally flower in the spring to early summer.

The name bear grass is partly true in that there have been reports that bears like to eat the young fleshy stems and leaves have been found in some Grizzly bears’ winter dens during hibernation. Even though its not a true grass, the plant has also been referred to as Indian basket grass, or elk and deer grass.

Native Americans have used the long, skinny, wiry leaves of bear grass to weave baskets. The fibers can be fashioned into clothing or decorations, and the roasted roots eaten. Elk and deer too can often be observed foraging on the fleshy young flower’s stalks.

Because it’s fire resistant bear grass is often the first plant to sprout after a fire. Like many other native plants, that regrowth is tied to periodic burns for its best regeneration from its rhizomes, which lie just under the soil’s surface.

Because of it’s often striking appearance, bear grass has gained some favoor within the floral industry for arrangements. Leaves of brear grass can be collected from wild populations only with a permits from the appropriate agency. Some of the plants for landscaping or gardens available at native plant nurseries were propagated from seed Sproutings can sometimes surprise passersby when they encounter purchased or collected from wild plants.

3 blooms along the curves of Hwy. 242.

- A long stretch -

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The original Hendrick bridge, named for Caswell Hendricks, was an impressive structure, with two sections - of 240 feet and 180 feet, it was believed at the time to be the longest wooden span in the nation.

The following is an excerpt from an August 27, 1982 article written by then Walterville resident Carl Stephens.

It was reported that the first ferry crossing between Cedar Flat and Walterville was near the curve at the east end of Cedar Flat’s main street. Due to the widening and growing shallowness of the channel through the years, the ferry crossing had to be moved to where the water was deep enough to allow the ferry to operate.

Caswell Hendricks built and operated a ferry at what is now Hendricks Wayside State Park. I have not learned when this ferry was put into operation but am told it was there as of 1877. Mr. Hendricks had a homestead on the south bank of the McKenzie River and had built his house in the vicinity of the McKenzie Hwy. and Deerhorn Road. He operated the ferry for many, many

Mr. Young, a bearded, heart farmer with the gentlest voice and manner in the world, noticed my twitching nose and came to my rescue: “Don’t you think, Mr. Brown, that the blanket is just a leetle strong?” Mr. Brown grunted and slung the blanket aside, whereupon we placed our cold snack on clean, fresh newspapers. There was a certain show of formality observed by these old pioneers in their relations to each other. They did not slap each other on the back like the primitive westerners of the movies and they always “Mistered” each other. End quote.

The ferry crossed the gravel bar on the Deerhorn side (south bank) to the sandy beach on the north side. Just off the present parking lot of Hendricks Wayside. The big cottonwood trees on the north bank now were

years, possibly up until 1897. Fee was 50 cents for years and went up to $1.00.

Mr. Herbert C. Thompson wrote for the “Old Oregon” in the October 1923 issue about his first trip into the mountains in 1891.

He recalled the following as the left. “The struggling cross road village of Springfield, or Slab Town as it was nicknamed due to its sawmill. But as we proceeded the mountains steadily narrowed down on us until we entered groves of maples and other native woods, anticipating the timber line. My journal records that we lunched near Hendricks Ferry. I recall distinctly the scene: A little green Jummock for our table with a spread of alders. Mr. Brown, a sturdy old Englishman with gray chin beard streaked with tobacco juice and a gruff manner that belied his kindly heart, slung off his saddle and lay the steaming horse blanket for our table cloth.

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non-existent then. In fact there was some gravel bar on the north bank too and the little stream that comes out of the picnic area now was a good sized slough emptying into the river in those by gone days.

Sol Dotson lived on the north bank. His house sat about where the driveway comes into Hendricks Wayside now. Mr. Dotson is reported to have run the Hendricks ferry from about 1897 until about 1904. At that time Grant Hendricks, son of Caswell Hendricks, returned from eastern Oregon and took over operating the ferry until it was replaced by a covered bridge, which was completed in 1908.

Somewhere during the years of the Hendricks ferry the following mishap took place. A Mr. Elwood Bowerman had a homestead on the hill almost due

4

north-northwest of the present bridge. He was returning from Eugene/Springfield one evening and requested to be put across the river at the Hendricks Ferry. The river was up and running very high with lots of drift logs and debris. After much persuasion and against his better judgment, the ferry-man finally set out to put Mr. Bowerman across on the ferry. Having reached about midstream, a log floating by struck the ferry, breaking the cable and setting all drifting down stream.

The men decided that the horses would have a better chance of survival if they were set free.

They unhitched and unharnessed the horses and backed them off the ferry into the water so they might swim out to shore. One horse managed to do this but the other was caught in the current and swept below the ferry. The ferry then drifted into a log jam, crushing the horse by the impact.

The horse was not killed and men from the area gathered and helped get it out onto high ground. The horse’s injuries were bad enough tat it would never be able to work again. The county bought Mr. Bowerman a new team to replace the injured horse. This happened about tree miles down river from the crossing in back of the present Greens Gravel Plant off Camp Creek Road.

At one time the water was very low in the river and a steam engine tractor attempted to “ford” the river at the Hendricks ferry crossing. However, the water was deep enough to get into the fire box and drown out the fire. Due

Curtis Irish Collection

The year the Hendricks Ferry was constructed is unclear but it continued in operation until 1908. to mis-calculation on this and not having enough head of steam in the boiler, the engine lost power and stopped near mid-stream.

A crowd gathered to watch the proceedings. A team of horses was summoned, a line ran to the disabled steam engine and it was pulled to shallower water where the fire box was above water line.

Dry wood was kindled and soon a head of steam was built up and the engine was under way again on its own power.

The covered bridge was built a hundred yards or so up stream from the ferry crossing. The south end rested on the huge

boulder the L.L. and Pat Ray have built their round house on a few years ago. The bridge was of two spans: 240 feet and 180 feet with 142 feet of approach on the north end and 20 feet of approach on the south end. Thus it reached from Deerhorn Road to half way across the picnic grounds of the Hendricks Wayside. It had the distinction, I’m told, of being the longest wooden bridge in the nation at the time it was built. Just think of all the timbers, planks and other lumber it would take to build that 582 plus feet of bridge

and t was all done for a total cost of $13,100.00.

Stubs of piling from the center piers can still be seen near the south shore. Sticking up out of a pile of big rocks. Not many years after the bridge was built, the river started washing around the base of this pier and threatened to undermine the pilings that the middle of the bridge sat on. John Vaughn and several other men from the Walterville area along with David Stephens and sons, came to the rescue. With teams

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In the spring of 1895, the county commissioners purchased the ferry boat and fixtures for $80.

It continued as a free service until it was replaced by the bridge. and wagons they hauled big rocks from the cliff on the hill west of the Walterville Power House, over to the bridge. The flooring planks were removed and rocks rolled of the wagons and down around the pilings tat were being undermined.

At another time shortly after the bridge was built, the hill on the south bank had been logged off and the slash was being burnt.

A burning log rolled down the hill and came to rest in the end of the bridge. Someone was quickly summoned with a team and the log was drug away before it could set the bridge afire, which it was very much in danger of doing.

The covered bridge was also marred by a tragedy in later years.

Charlie Deadmond, an honorable young man who had grown up in the Walterville area and was very well liked, picked this spot to

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commit suicide. The entire community was shocked and saddened when the news of this tragedy was received.

About 1925 a steel bridge was built about 100 yards below the ferry crossing. When it was finished and the old covered bridge was to be removed, school was dismissed at Walterville. The teacher and students walked all down to the river and stood on the new bridge and watched while the county crews dynamited the covered bridge to smithereens.

The covered bridge at “the Narrows” had to be removed the same way.

In 1963 the present concrete bridge was built just down stream from the steel bridge, which was then dismantled and removed.

About two years later one span of it was rebuilt at Deerhorn Point to replace the flood damaged wooden bridge there.

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Because the Leaburg Canal was built in the late 1920s with teams of horses and mules, the projHFW WRGD\ XQIRUWXQDWHO\ KDV VWUXFWXUDO GH¿FLHQFLHV that must be addressed. Due to the discovery of excessive seepage through the embankment near Cogswell Creek, EWEB dewatered the Leaburg Canal at the direction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in 2018.

This assessment determined that the Leaburg 3URMHFW ZRXOG KDYH D VXEVWDQWLDOO\ QHJDWLYH ¿QDQcial value (i.e. the revenue generated is less than the investment cost) for the rest of its FERC operating license, which expires in 2040.

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GDQJHU RI D FDQDO EUHDFK Long-term, EWEB must decide between investWith the canal dewatered, EWEB initiated a com- ing in the Return to Service (RTS) of the project or prehensive risk assessment of the entire canal to moving toward decommissioning the project while better understand the level of investment required adapting its Stormwater Conveyance (SWC) functo ensure long-term safe and reliable operation. tion of carrying water from tributaries to the river.

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Watch a video of EWEB Generation Engineering Supervisor Mark Zinniker as he tours the Leaburg Project to explain how EWEB generates electricity and the current structural issues with the project: eweb.org/ leaburgcanal

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Return the site to pre-construction conditions, including removing the dam and building a new bridge, restoring Leaburg Lake to river form, and removing the canal and repatriating tributary creeks to return to the river.

Return sections to pre-project conditions, including creating a new spillway at Johnson Creek and modifying Luffman Spillway. This alternative converts risk reduction measures into a long-term solution wherein the reinforced canal continues carrying tributary creeks to the river.

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Build a new hydro powerhouse near the Luffman Spillway with a nameplate 6.2MW capacity and convert the four miles of canal downstream to carry only tributary stormwater on to the McKenzie River.

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EWEB Staff held seven information sessions in Leaburg this spring and summer to answer community members’ questions about the project and to record feedback on the potential social impacts of each proposed alternative.

EWEB Commissioners will deliberate the Triple Bottom Line Assessment at an open-form Board Meeting on October 26 and are expected to direct staff to pursue either decommissioning or return to service at the December 6 Board Meeting.

All EWEB customers are invited to provide feedback for consideration by your elected Commissioners.

Share your comments using this link:

Study engineering diagrams of the four alternatives at: eweb.org/leaburgcanal

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Backcountry Bonus

Olallie Trail Complex, USFS

The upriver sections of the Valley are home to a concentration of opportunities for mountain biking, according the McKenzie River Ranger District - particularly in the Olallie Trail Area .

3506 Castle Rock Trail Beginning at O’Leary Mountain Trail #3321 near O’Leary/Castle Rock Trailhead, Castle Rock Trail #3506 heads northeast along the base of Macduff Mountain. The trail passes through an old mixed

conifer forest, crossing Cougar Creek and continuing northeast to Forest Road 480. The trail crosses the road and sidehills west up the southeast side of Castle Rock.

The trail switches back, continuing a steep uphill grade to its terminus at a scenic viewpoint at the top of Castle Rock.

When combined with other trails in the area, the O’Leary Trail Complex makes for a world-class mountain biking trail. The trail is a 22-mile, single-track loop with an intense backcountry feel. The CogWild IMBA has designated it an ‘Epic Ride,’ a ride that is “technically and physically challenging, more than 80 percent single track and at least 20 miles in length.”

3309 Echo Trail Beginning at Echo Trailhead, Echo Trail #3309 travels downhill southeast through shrubs and thinned stands of coniferous forest. The trail meets Forest Road 552, becoming the road as it winds southeast, then breaks off again bearing east sidehilling down and through steep drainages before ending at Forest Road 1993 and East Fork, Lower Trailhead.

4347 Horsepasture Mountain TraiL Beginning at Olallie Trail #3529 near Horsepasture Trailhead, Horsepasture Mountain Trail #4347 starts a gradual climb east up Horsepasture Mountain. The climb quickly becomes steep and the trail switches back up the side of Horsepasture Mountain through shrubs,

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A Lost Lookout

streams, and forest hillside. The trail then breaks out into an alpine rocky mountaintop, where it continues to the top of Horsepasture and the former site of the old Horsepasture Mountain Fire Lookout.

This viewpoint offers panoramic views of the Three Sisters and other mountains in the area.

4326 King-Castle Trail Beginning at King’s Castle Trailhead, King Castle Trail #4326 travels south and east up the northern and eastern side of Castle Rock. The trail meanders uphill over several streams and through an old growth coniferous rainforest. The trail switches back in some steep sections, climbing to and crossing Forest Road 480 before heading west and ending at Castle Rock Trail #3506.

When combined with other trails in the area, the O’Leary Trail Complex makes for a world class mountain biking trail. The trail is a 22 mile, single-track loop with an intense backcountry feel. The IMBA has designated it an ‘Epic Ride,’ a ride that is “technically and physically challenging, more than 80 percent single track and at least 20 miles in length.”

3321 O’Leary Mountain Trail #3321 On this 9.1 mile trail hikers are afforded excellent views of the McKenzie Valley, Three Sisters peaks and Cougar Reservoir. The trail crosses McLennon, McDuff, and O’Leary Mountain. There are some unique rock formations (pinnacles) along the way.

Beginning at O’Leary / Castle Rock Trailhead, O’Leary Mountain Trail #3321 heads east, switching back steeply up a large ridge through an old growth conifer forest. The trail continues uphill, following Forest Road 3321 until it passes below a panoramic viewpoint on Macduff Mountain. Passing the mountain, the trail drops into a saddle, then side hills east below McLennan Mountain. The trail occasionally breaks out of forest into rock outcroppings, then hooks north to reach its terminus at Olallie Trail #3529.

When combined with other trails in the area, the O’Leary Trail Complex makes for a world class mountain biking trail. The trail is a 22 mile, single-track loop with an intense backcountry feel. The IMBA has designated it an ‘Epic Ride,’ a ride that is “technically and physically challenging, more than 80 percent single track and at least 20 miles in length.”

The Olallie Mountain Lookout quietly left the scene during autumn, two years ago. Destroyed by fire in 2020, its demise wasn’t discovered until that summer.

Built in 1932, the structure had been the last standing fire lookout in the Three Sisters Wilderness and was among the 800 to 900 similar structures located around the state in the 1930’s and 40’s. Perched at 5,592 feet, it was accessed via the Olallie Mountain Trail.

The Rebel Lookout, another longtime survivor in the Three Sisters area, was lost in the Rebel Fire of 2017. Olallie had almost been destroyed in that year’s Olallie Trail Fire, when the flames from the blaze stopped just short of the structure’s foundation.

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Resilient rebuilding - 3 approaches Better Than Sticks

No, that’s not a castle or a fortress that’s taking shape in Vida.

It’s actually a high performance, sustainable, zero-energy home.

The structure includes breathable, fire-resistant, thermally efficient walls made out of shredded wooden pallets and concrete. It’s on a parcel Bob Adams and Anita Ragan bought from Jeff Helfrich in 2003? Located downstream from Bear Creek, it came with an enviable history dating back to 1949 when Prince Helfrich built his home and shop there.

After their purchase, Bob and Anita kept busy remodeling the property as their retirement retreat. They’d almost completed that work when it was consumed by the Holiday Farm Fire.

The loss caused Anita to look for a replacement option that was both fire and earthquake resistant.

She found her answer by following up advice from their architect - EMA Architecture. They connected her with Shelter Works in Philomath, a company that’s been in business for 25 years. It makes Faswall building blocks from mineralized recycled wood, combined with cement that the company says will “last for centuries.”

Besides being able to custom order for specific projects, Bob and Anita said they were impressed by the company’s on site support. When the time to start

Bob Adams’ and Anita Ragan’s choice of fire, wind, and earthquake resistant construction materials is the basis for a new home that’s being built to last. construction approached, a crew from Shelter Works went to Vida to familiar the couple and their local contractor Mekyael Camara of Beauty and Beyond.

“It was a unique situation for us,” Bob says, “but we found them relatively easy to work with.” He also gave good marks to the materials involved because the result “provides a considerable amount of thermal mass that will hold the heat or cold inside the house and make it more efficient.”

There are aspects of the work

that are different from traditional stick walls, Mekyael admits, especially when it comes to planning ahead. The Faswall process involves stacking blocks atop each other and inserting rebars as a wall rises every 4 to 6 feet.

Since all the electrical wiring and plumbing goes inside the walls, conduit, pipes and fixtures all need to be pre-positioned before a concrete pumper arrives to fill the wall sections.

The project has offered new methods and considerations in the building process, according to Mekyael. “The material is solid and relatively straightforward in its usage. Faswall can be incorporated into the traditional building process cleanly and easily and provides some additional benefits to the building and the occupants,” he says. “These are all exciting aspects of building with this material.”

Both the homeowners and the contractor agree that the incorporation of the different materials into the build has taken advanced 10 planning and execution.

25 lb. Faswall blocks include a lightweight outer “sandwich” of Rockwool insulation.

The blocks stack easily, with no need for specialized equipment.

After a wall is 4 to 6 feet tall - and rebars, wiring, and plumbing are in place - concrete is poured inside the blocks to stabilze sections that were stacked inside temporary wooden frameworks.

“In this build,” Mekyael adds, “I’ve had the opportunity to work closely with and coordinate directly with the entire building team including owners, architect and engineer to create a successful outcome for all.”

Bob, who retired as a maintenance supervisor in Eugene, and Anita, who’s employed as an Environmental, Health & Safety Manager in Corvallis, have been able to help keep some of the costs down with their own “sweat equity” - helping stack a good number of blocks themselves. That too is something the Faswell suppliers encourage.

So will the end result still make people think they’re driving by a castle or a fortress? Not likely, Anita says. Surfaces of the composite blocks are highly adapt-

able. Inside the house, drywall could or paneling could easily be nailed on. Outside, stucco might be an option or siding could be applied. “When we’re done,” Anita says, “you won’t know it’s any different from any other house.”

Summing up as well, Mekyael said, “I look forward to seeing this house up and alive with happy owners for years to come.”

though, had some good news.

“We had terrific insurance,” Betsy is happy to report. Unlike so

many of the horror stories she’s heard from others, Country Financial acted quickly, sending a check that fully covered their losses in just two weeks.

“There were no lists, no nothing,” she says. During a phone call to an agent in Illinois he simply told her, “Your house burnt down, you have insurance.”

With that go-ahead, the couple decided to replace their home in the same manner they used when they first built it in 2003 - ordering a replacement from Timberhaven Log Homes.

The Middleburg, Pennsylvania based company sells complete homes that are delivered to homesites ready to be assembled.

Timberhaven advertises their offerings as, “A one-stop service available at a surprisingly affordable price.”

Beyond Stick-Built

Further upriver, Frank & Betsy Pitcher thought they would continue to enjoy their log house just east of Blue River. Like many others, though, fire took not only their vacation getaway but all the trees on their heavily wooded riverfront lot.

The Pitcher’s fire aftermath,

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One of the three truckloads of home building components that arrived on the Blue River log cabin homesite.

Frank says Betsy wasn’t sure about the price part but he reminded her there were plenty of savings if, “You don’t have to keep going back to Jerry’s to get much when the kit includes 10% more.’”

That’s proven to be true because Timberhaven’s kits are shipped with more of almost all the individual items needed to build a home. The only things not

included are the flooring, plumbing and electrical fixtures.

All the components needed to construct a log cabin are packaged and shipped from the factory. The Pitcher’s home arrived on three semi truck loads. Before leaving the Timberhaven factory a photo is taken of each load so the purchaser can compare it to what arrives on their land. Betsy approves of the process, saying it

was much simpler that trying to match everything to a print-out list - like they did with their first cabin kit.

Helping out with the verification process was the father-son team of Todd and Brandon Mitchell. Traveling the U.S, the Mitchells are part of the construction support services Timberhaven offers - in addition to custom designs, engineering and complete

packages.

Beyond knowing what was delivered, the Mitchells also had arrived to go to work. Over the next 6-7 weeks they assembled the home’s walls, rafters and roofing.

This time around, rather than natural logs, the new cabin was built using “engineered logs.” For that process, raw materials go to the sawmill like a regular log, where they’re cut and kiln dried. Sections are then glue-laminated, followed by rounding on the edges to resemble tradition logs.

Manufacturers say engineered pieces are not only resistant to warping, shrinkage and settling,

A close look at a Timberhaven log shows it’s actually formed from 90% kiln dried 2x8’s.

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Now that the cabin has been completed, a number of passersby have been commenting at how attractive it looks. One, though, was a long haul trucker who’d delivered a load of materials. After stopping on his way heading east, the smiling man walked up their driveway admitting he’d always been curious about the big packages on his truck because, “I never knew what you bought.”

More Than A Dream

Back in March Pastor Doug Farrington of the Living Water Family Fellowship gave some details on what could become a community meeting center on the 8-acre parcel where the congregation’s church burned in 2020.

At that time he told a story about how an angel investor had made a significant cash donation to help the church recover.

Since then a non-profit foundation has formed are plans have been developed to create a $7.5 million McKenzie Civic Audito-

An artist’s rendering of the proposed multi-purpose McKenzie Civic Auditorium. rium. Organizers say the center, which will be owned and operated by a secular foundation, will focus on serving the community as an economic driver for tourism by hosting retreats, meetings and gathering for businesses, associations, and churches from the Eugene Springfield area.

The new facility could also fill

the need of having a local daycare facility. In addition to hosting events and daycare, supporters believe, “The center will be a dramatic and essential rallying point for our own community.

It will serve as a place to gather and plan and rally as the region continues to come back from the fire.”

Beyond those important uses, the facility will serve as resource center where those struggling to live their lives in the re-merging community can find the help they need. Living Water Family Fellowship, while gifting ceding ownership, will be an important

long-term tenant in the facility.

To reach its goals, the McKenzie Civic Auditorium is requesting $2.5 million in federal support for the construction of the new building to leverage an additional $2.5 million state request in 2023.

So far, public support for the project has already leveraged $1.5 million towards a targeted goal of $2.5 million in foundation and private philanthropy.

Supporters of the prject can lend financial support at: https:// www.faithstreet.com/church/living-water-family-fellowshipblue-river-or/giving

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Wanderers were desperate for an alibi

By Finn J.D. John In Charles Maturin’s classic 1820 Gothic horror novel Melmoth the Wanderer, a sinister scholar named Melmoth, having sold his soul to the devil in return for an extra 150 years of life and suffering from the worst kind of buyer’s remorse, wanders the Earth in search of someone who will, essentially, take over payments for him. If he can find someone to buy out his contract, as it were, he can die in peace and go to heaven — or, at least, not automatically be sent to hell.

In the summer of 1898, two young Oregon men found themselves in a similar situation. They had murdered a wealthy rancher on a trip across the Cascades, then belatedly realized how bad it would look to show up at the end of the trip without him. So they searched with increasing desperation for someone to lie under oath for them by swearing they had seen the three of them arriving in the valley together.

It didn’t work — for them or for Melmoth.

The story started in March 1898, when 22-year-old Courtland Green moved to Condon to work. He had a friend there, another 22-year-old named Clarence Branton. Both Green and Branton had sweethearts in the McKenzie River valley, but weren’t in a financial position to get married. Both were on the lookout for ways to make lots of money really fast. And Branton had a plan to do just that.

Branton’s plan involved a local rancher named John Linn, who was rumored to carry a purse with $1,000 in gold (worth $30,000 in 2018 currency) as walking-around money. Branton had sweet-talked Linn into partnering up with him on some horses. Soon it would be time to

Oregon Historical Society Claude Branton on the gallows, about to be hanged for the murder of John Linn, on May 12, 1899.

— probably a .32, although the newspaper accounts don’t specify — and he now got that out and, after a whispered conference with Green (who apparently was getting cold feet) walked over to Linn with it and shot him several times.

Of course, the first thing the two of them wanted to do was find the $1,000 Linn reportedly carried. In that, they got a disappointing shock: all they found in his purse was $65 and an I.O.U. for $800. Linn had lent almost all his walking-around money to a friend before leaving on the trip.

But the short summer night was no longer young, and they had a body to get rid of before dawn.

Branton and Green gathered wood and expanded the campfire into a massive funeral pyre. They

bring those horses over the pass to the McKenzie River valley to market. It was easy: they’d murder Linn in the most remote part of the trip. Between the $1,000 and the proceeds of the sale of the horses, they’d both have all the money they needed to set up housekeeping, and be right there in the McKenzie valley ready to pop The Question. One wonders if they made plans to be Best Man in one another’s wedding.

That night they made camp around 9 p.m. at a place called Isham’s Corral, one or two dozen miles west of the pass near Alder Springs. Linn had spread his bedroll near the fire and was peacefully sleeping; it was now or never. Branton had brought along a cheap five-shot Iver Johnson American Bulldog revolver

tended it all night, trying to completely destroy Linn’s corpse, which they chopped up with an ax to encourage better burning; and the next morning it was still smoking prodigiously, drawing a good deal of attention from nervous residents miles away, who feared it was a forest fire breaking out.

Leaving the bloody ax there beside the still-burning fire, the two of them then drove the horses down toward the valley, where they hoped to sell them. Along the way they met several people, who commented on the smoke and wondered if they knew about it. It was finally beginning to dawn on them that, when Linn’s disappearance was remarked, they would be the prime suspects, having been seen leaving Con-

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Eugene Guard An artist’s sketch of the fence around the county jail, and the gallows which was built next to it, published the day of the execution in the Eugene Guard. don with him and arriving in the McKenzie valley without him.

What to do?

The two of them decided what they needed was to find some rustic sucker willing to perjure himself by swearing that he had seen the three of them together, bringing the horses down.

And so commenced Branton and Green’s Melmoth-like wanderings through the McKenzie Valley, horses in tow, looking for friends old and new who would be willing to perjure themselves in exchange for the pick of the herd.

Branton even made a fake beard so that he could pretend to be Linn at one spot. This didn’t work, though, because the rancher he was trying to fool recognized his voice.

The two of them tried several times to sell the horses, too, but no one would take them because Linn wasn’t there to sign the bill of sale.

Eventually it dawned on Branton that they were basically doomed, and his best shot was to cut and run. So the partners split up. Branton ended up in Kansas with the $65; Green, however, stayed in Eugene.

jail until the sentence could be carried out, and it was immediately clear he was a desperate man. When he was brought back to his cell, the instant the handcuffs were off him he leaped on Deputy Day, grabbing for his revolver. The two of them fought over the gun for a second or two; then the sheriff arrived and grabbed Branton by the throat, choking him until he let go.

Later Branton made a fake gun, carved out of pieces of food, and tried to bluff his way out of the joint by pointing it at Sheriff Withers. Withers, having good reason to know Branton wasn’t armed, said, “Oh, come off it,” and Branton passed it off as a joke.

Finally, on May 12, 1899, Claude Branton’s sentence was carried out. His wanderings were finally over; but, unlike Melmoth, he wasn’t expecting damnation to follow. He’d been baptized in prison, and spent the morning of his execution in Bible study.

(Sources: Goeres-Gardner, Diane L. Necktie Parties: Legal Executions in Oregon 1851-1905.

Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton, 2008; Allen, Cain. “Claude Branton hanging, 1899,” oregonhistoryproject.org. Oregon Historical Society, 2006; Eugene Guard archives Jul-Nov 1898)

It may have been their plan all rather than death. He served 10 along for Green to finger Branton years of that sentence in the Orif the heat came on, and Branton egon State Penitentiary before to be gone on the lam. In any being conditionally pardoned by case, that’s how it went down. the governor.

Green, whose psychological But Branton — with the help of state had deteriorated badly and Green’s testimony — knew very whose alcohol consumption rate well he couldn’t even hope for a had skyrocketed, finally couldn’t break like that. And sure enough, Finn J.D. John teaches at Orstand it any more and confessed when the verdict came in, it was egon State University and writes to a friend, Lane County Sheriff’s “guilty of first-degree murder,” about odd tidbits of Oregon hisDeputy John Day. Day took his and the sentence was hanging. tory. Contact him at: finn@offbefriend directly to the district atBranton was kept in the county atoregon.com or 541-357-2222. torney, and the jig was officially up.

Branton had underestimated the difficulty of life on the lam, and perhaps the fact that he and Green had spent weeks wandering around bugging people to perjure themselves about having seen a missing man without anyone apparently getting wise had led him to an underestimation of the intelligence of his fellow man. In any case, a month or two later he paid a visit in Eugene and was nabbed on the spot.

Green, brought to trial, shocked the court by pleading guilty despite the strong probability that it meant the gallows. He lucked Eugene Guard out, though: the charge, when it was made, was second-degree A photograph of the crime scene published in the Eugene Guard on the murder, meaning a life sentence 15 day of the execution.

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