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William Cornett

William Cornett has lived in Oregon almost as long as he can remember. His writing and photography have appeared in numerous newspapers, magazines, and scientific reports. He supervised or worked on historic and prehistoric archaeological excavations around the Pacific Northwest and Northern Great Basin. For a while he taught part-time at Portland State University, Linfield College, and Clark Community College. He spends his days writing, reading, and hiking. 

Author's Entries

  • Clark Gable in Oregon

    William Clark Gable’s path to Hollywood began shortly after he stepped from a boxcar near Bend in 1922. While in Oregon, he worked in a sawmill, in the hop fields as a picker, for the Meier & Frank department store in Portland, and for the Oregonian's classified-advertising department. …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Edward Boyce (1862–1941)

    Before moving to Portland in the early years of the twentieth century, Edward Boyce was reviled in the city’s newspapers. As the first president of the Western Federation of Miners, he had expanded the range, power, and influence of the union, and the Oregonian called him a dangerous degenerate, a …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Hill Military Academy

    Hill Military Academy was a prominent military school in Portland, Oregon, during the first half of the twentieth century. The school’s founder, Joseph Wood Hill (1856-1930), modeled the private boys secondary school after similar institutions in the United States. Hill, like other proponents of military training for young boys …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Kalmiopsis Wilderness

    The 179,850-acre Kalmiopsis Wilderness, located in southwestern Oregon in the rugged Siskiyou subrange of the Klamath Mountains, is the third largest wilderness in the state. A portion of the current Kalmiopsis was originally protected by the U.S. Forest Service in the 1940s and subsequently was included in areas protected by …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Newberry National Volcanic Monument

    Newberry Crater, as it is commonly known, is a large shield volcano east of the Cascade Range in central Oregon. The area was named for Dr. John Strong Newberry, a naturalist with a U.S. Army expedition in 1857-1858 whose purpose was to survey railroad routes through the region. The over …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Oregon Caves Chateau

    The Oregon Caves Chateau was constructed between 1931 and 1934 as an overnight lodging in a ravine near the entrance of the Oregon Caves National Monument. Designed by local architect and builder Gust Lium, the gable-roof structure was built of Port Orford cedar and other materials native to Mount …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Paisley Caves

    The Paisley Caves—more formally known as Paisley Five Mile Caves—in south-central Oregon are among the oldest archaeological deposits in North America. The seven creases that create the caves were etched into a low basalt ridge during the ice age by waves moving across Lake Chewaucan. In the summers of 1938 …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • The Firebrand

    From 1895 to 1897, a group of farmers in Sellwood, a town on the Willamette River southeast of Portland, published an influential anarchist newspaper. The masthead of the Firebrand, a weekly publication, proclaimed its mission: “For the Burning Away of the Cobwebs of Ignorance and Superstition.” Unlike many anarchist …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Vaughn Street Park

    Vaughn Street Park, as most Portlanders called it, was built in 1901 by streetcar-line owners C.F. Swigert and E.I. Fuller. The park, which filled an area north of Vaughn Street roughly between 24th and 25th Avenues, provided a home diamond for professional baseball in Portland until 1955. Built and rebuilt …

    Oregon Encyclopedia