Stories of Southern Oregon:
Hear the stories. Meet the storytellers.
BY MAUREEN BATTISTELLA AND THALIA TRUESDELL
The Stories of
Southern Oregon
folks will be back
in the Applegate
this spring. Join
them for a preview
of video interviews
and to honor
the Applegate
storytellers at
Ruch Library on
Saturday, May 5,
from 2 to 4 pm,
and at the 2018
Vern Arnold (above) is
Mc K e e B r i d g e
videotaped as he tells
Celebration on
his story at the McKee
Saturday, June 9.
Bridge Centennial
Both events are
Celebration in 2017.
free and open to Ryan Rabjohn (right),
the public.
in old-time attire, adds
The Stories of his story to the growing
Southern Oregon
Stories of Southern
is a project
Oregon project.
t h a t o r g a n i ze d
community
forums about the region’s agricultural,
timber, and mining heritage. Thanks to
funding from the National Endowment
for the Humanities, the project has
digitized family photos and artifacts and
collected more than 175 video interviews.
All this represents a rich historical and
contemporary archive available for
public use through the Southern Oregon
University Hannon Library’s digital
collections, the Southern Oregon Digital
Archives (SODA). The archive increases
awareness of heritage work life and
enhances the importance of preserving and
sharing community values because history
is now and history is everywhere.
The Applegate stories
Stories of hardships, connections, and
successes abounded. Some pioneers had the
foresight to record their experiences and
struggles in journals and letters. Poems,
quilts, photographs, and headstones in
overgrown cemeteries also tell stories, some
from over one hundred years ago, some
more recent.
“We are creating history now,” said poet
Paul Tipton, “with this storytelling project
and the unique stories, which are part of
local history, that people will ponder in
the future.”
The Stories of Southern Oregon project
began to document the history of the
people in the Applegate Valley in June
2017 at the McKee Bridge Centennial
Celebration. Huddled under a canopy
while the rhythm of the rain kept time with
the Old-Time Fiddlers, folks began sharing
their stories, recording their histories, and
scanning precious photographs.
Unsure if they qualified to assume a
place in the history of the Applegate, some
curious residents approached cautiously
and were drawn in and encouraged to
relate their relatively recent experiences
of the last 40 or 50 years, assured that
their contributions are valuable to local
history. One resident recited poetry and
another sang an old spiritual as the camera
rolled. Environmental activist Chris Bratt
spoke of his growing interest in preventing
logging, mining, and herbicide use and
the success that local groups have achieved
in that area. Ryan Rabjohn talked about
what it was like to live in the 1940s. Diana
Coogle told tales about living in the woods
and writing about what that life was like.
Two weeks later, the story project
continued at Ruch Library. The library’s
community room is a busy place, and
many patrons are there daily to use the
computers. It is the perfect place to share
stories, jokes, and zucchini (!), and the
librarians hear it all. They knew whom
to talk with, whom to call, and whom to
encourage to share their stories.
A t t h e Ru c h St o r y D a y s , t h e
environmentalists’ point of view was
balanced with stories of mining for gold in
the 1980s and 1990s. Gold miner Glenn
Wadstein was pleased with the work he
accomplished in leveling the tailings piles
at the old Sterling Mine, improving the
land, and bolstering the local economy. He
brought with him videos showing his crew
of men and women operating equipment
to retrieve the gold overlooked by earlier
miners. He drew satisfaction from his
research into mining and working in the
community. “Thank you for encouraging
me,” said Glenn Wadstein. “Now I know
my life’s work will not be forgotten.”
Residents understand the importance
of heritage documentation and are eager
to participate. “I am grateful we can
all be recognized as valuable to future
generations,” commented Paul, “and that
they will have access to our tales and the
history of the Applegate Valley in our
libraries through the Stories of Southern
Oregon project.”
See the stories
See the Stories of Southern Oregon
on YouTube and in the Southern Oregon
Digital Archives at soda.sou.edu, and join
the storytellers for a reception at Ruch
Library on May 5 and at the McKee Bridge
Celebration on June 9. If you contributed a
story or photographs, you’ll be able to pick
up a CD/DVD of your video and images
at either event.
For more information, contact Maureen
Flanagan Battistella at 541-552-0743 and
battistem@sou.edu or Thalia Truesdell at
541-899-7438 and ttruesdell@jcls.org.
Maureen Flanagan Battistella
battistem@sou.edu.or
Thalia Truesdell
ttruesdell@jcls.org
Applegater Spring 2018
3
A geranium you don’t want
BY BARBARA MUMBLO
Shiny geranium (Geranium
lucidum), a noxious weed new to the
Applegate, was recently found in the
vicinity of Forest Creek on Bureau of
Land Management (BLM) land. You
may have read Suzie Savoie’s article
about it in the Fall 2017 Applegater.
This plant is fairly small, is a non-
native annual, and spreads very
aggressively. It’s on list B (“a weed of
economic importance that is regionally
abundant”) of the Oregon Department
of Agriculture’s (ODA’s) noxious weed
list. (Visit oregon.gov/oda/programs/
weeds/oregonnoxiousweeds/pages/
aboutoregonweeds.aspx for more
information.) The infestation of shiny
geranium is estimated to be about
40 acres.
So far, the shiny geranium is
known only at the Forest Creek
location, a small site on private land
that is being worked on, and a few
small sites upstream of Gold Hill Be on the lookout for the shiny geranium, a noxious
weed recently found in the Applegate.
along the Rogue River. It is easily
Photo: Bruce Newhouse.
transported by soil movement since
its seeds are tiny. I heard that a friend
of mine accidently brought it home,
probably having picked it up on his boots
while fishing.
Two other non-native geraniums
commonly found in the Applegate are
Dovesfoot or Crane’s Bill (Geranium molle)
and Cut-leaved Crane’s Bill (Geranium
dissectum). However, these two geraniums
are not the pests that shiny geranium is
since they don’t spread as rapidly. One of
the features to look for to distinguish shiny
geranium from these species is its red stem.
Also, the leaf is not hairy and has a waxy
The Dovesfoot geranium is non-native but is
appearance, so it seems shiny compared to
not considered a pest. Photo: Steve Matson.
the other two.
There may be more shiny geraniums
out there than we know. We are planning
to contact private landowners near this site
to see if the plant might have moved onto
their property. We would also appreciate
your help in keeping an eye out for it as
you travel around the valley.
The plan is to start control efforts for
this infestation this spring. Participating
in this plan are the Applegate Partnership
and Watershed Council, the Medford
District BLM (Ashland Area), ODA,
The Cut-leaved Crane’s Bill is another non-
Jackson and Josephine Cooperative Weed
native geranium that is not considered a pest.
Management Areas, and Applegaters. This
Photo: en.wikipedia.org.
plant can make a monoculture, as has been
Leave me a message if you think you’ve
seen in the Willamette Valley. We hope to
keep it from becoming more widespread found this plant, and I’ll come check it out.
Barbara Mumblo • 541-890-2091
in southwest Oregon, especially in the
bamumblo@gmail.com
Applegate Valley.