Author's Entries

• Eight Dollar Mountain

  Located in southern Josephine County near the town of Selma, Eight Dollar Mountain contains forest, grasslands, and bogs hosting a botanical diversity remarkable even for Oregon. It is bordered to the west by the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest and rises to more than 4,000 feet. There is some …

  Oregon Encyclopedia

• Ghost Towns of the Illinois River Valley

  Few ghost towns in Oregon have such colorful histories as the small towns, mining camps, and settlements in the Illinois River Valley in Southwestern Oregon. This was one of the first areas in Oregon where gold was discovered following the gold strike at Yreka, California, in 1850. Many of these …

  Oregon Encyclopedia

• Henry Haefner (1884-1978)

  Henry Haefner was an early forester and oral historian in the Siskiyou National Forest. A 1908 graduate of Iowa State University, he began work for the U.S. Forest Service in July of that year. His first assignment was with the Coconino National Forest in Arizona, working in a crew …

  Oregon Encyclopedia

• Kerbyville

  Kerbyville was named after James Kerby (or Kirby), who filed his original homestead in 1855. The Kerby post office was established there in September 1856, with James Kerby serving as the first postmaster. Kerbyville was chosen as the county seat in a county election a year later, beating out Grants …

  Oregon Encyclopedia

• Waldo (city)

  Located just south of Cave Junction and a few miles north of the California state line, the town of Waldo grew out of a large gold-mining settlement first known as Sailor's Diggings. The area was settled in 1852 by sailors who jumped ship in Crescent City, California, and discovered gold …

  Oregon Encyclopedia

• William Bernard Milbury (1872-1916)

  William Bernard Milbury was the first federal forest ranger in western Curry and southwest Coos Counties when he was hired to work the Port Orford District of the newly formed Siskiyou National Forest in 1907. Given the harsh conditions and isolation of the assignment, it took a special kind of …

  Oregon Encyclopedia