Page A-8
Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, November 21, 2018
The Plaques of E Clampus Vitus:
Collier Logging Museum
The Plaques of E Clampus Vitus—Umpqua Joe No. 1859
& Humbug Chapter No. 73
The 43rd in a continuing series of articles prepared by Bill
Wensrich
“If you ain’t plaque’n, then you ain’t Clampin’”
Living history day at the Collier Logging Museum was
the date Oregon’s E Clampus Vitus Umpqua Joe Chapter set for
their 2012 summer Doin’s and historical monument dedication.
Robby “Fosdick” Robinson, second Humbug (club president)
of the Chapter was hell bent to erect three plaques during his
term and establish an Umpqua Joe Chapter plaque presence
in counties other than Josephine. The old abandoned Spring
Creek campground just north of Klamath Falls was selected
as the June weekend clampsite. Located at famous Spring
Creek headwaters, mosquitos were found in record numbers.
Nonetheless, intrepid redshirts camped and clamped without
complaint and a lot of DEET®.
The Collier Logging Museum is located within the
boundaries of Collier Memorial State Park. Two brothers,
Alfred and Andrew Collier, donated 146 acres to the state of
Oregon to create a park honoring their parents. Located at
the junction of Spring Creek and the Williamson River, the
locale offers campers an idyllic retreat. The outdoor museum
includes interesting, rare, and representative logging artifacts.
At the museum a window of time provides views of logging
practices and technology that affected the development of this
region and its culture. A tour through the grounds provides
visitors with a glimpse of how logging evolved from using
horses, oxen, and felling axes to modern diesel tractors and
trucks.
Glenn Hearrell, Chapter founder and Old Prospector,
talked to Klamath County representatives who suggested ECV
plaque the Logging Museum. Robby dug up logging museum
by Grand Sublime Bill Wensrich
information and visited the museum on living history day
in 2011. Working with Oregon State Park staff, he obtained
their approval to set the plaque using a logging theme for the
historical monument.
A friend of Robby’s suggested he use an old saw blade
and have a welder cut out the script on the blade face. An old
36 inch logging mill circular saw blade was obtained from a
collector in Lakeside, Oregon. A computer program was used
to cut the wording. Operating overnight, the computerized
cutting operation suffered a power outage ruining the plaque
saw blade. Recovering from this fiasco, a steel sheet was
obtained and a replica saw blade was cut out. It was on this
second try steel sheet that the actual plaque history script was
cut. Although a terrific plaque ensued, the Chapter learned how
easy it is to go way over their historical monument erection
budget.
Master craftsman Hearrell and his work crew mounted the
saw blade plaque on an ingenious wooden frame of fir logs that
compliments the Logging Museum theme. The redwood slab
on which the plaque replica saw blade is mounted was obtained
in Gasquet, California near Crescent City on the coast.
The dedication ceremony was held Saturday, June 17,
2011. Park ranger Joel Brain, civilians and plenty of redshirts
were on hand. “Molar” Mike Johnson, a friend of Glenn’s from
the Billy Holcomb Chapter prepared the historical keepsake
event handout. The next day the park hosted living history
day where period re-enactors demonstrated various logging
practices and the use of old equipment.
To view this plaque take Highway 97 40 miles north of
Klamath Falls, Oregon. Turn left into the Collier State Park
Museum parking lot. There on the left hand side you will find
the ECV historical monument. While you’re there enjoy a
picnic lunch, walk along Spring Creek and tour the outdoor
museum. It will be an enjoyable day well worth your time.
And what did the Clampers say to conclude the plaque
dedication? A hearty “What say the Brethren?” was followed
by an even more emphatic, “Satisfactory!”
Bill Wensrich serves on the E Clampus Vitus board of directors.
His recently published guide book for the ECV Transierra
Roisterous Alliance of Senior Humbugs titled “The Trail to
Sailors’ Diggin’s from Paragon Bay” is available for purchase
from the nonprofit Del Norte County Historical Society
Museum located at 577 H Street in Crescent City, California.
(Courtesy photo for the Illinois Valley News)
Umpqua Joe members Ruben Robles (left), Leo
Champagne and XGNH Glenn Hearrell.
The Farrier’s Corner: by Ray and Michelle Smith
George Washington, the father
of our ... mules?
Many of us grew up hearing various
anecdotes related to George Washington
– some of them historical facts, some of them
fanciful folklores. As such, we think of many
things when we think of Washington. Mules
are generally not one of them. Perhaps they
should be. And not just mules; mammoth
donkeys, too. Yes, old George was an early
mule fancier.
Although mules are an iconic symbol of
the pioneer days, they were not so common in
North America during the early to mid-1700s.
Horses were quite common during this period.
Oxen and burros were beasts of burden as
well. Mules, not so much. George sought to
change all of that.
Washington was an accomplished
horseman and, by all accounts, an excellent
rider. He loved horses and hounds. Yet, he was
also known as a practical man, and his mule
enterprise was born out of this practicality. He
became curious about mules when he learned
that they were believed to be more sure-footed
than horses, more economical to feed and
generally tougher. Mules work hard, require
1/3 less food per day than horses and can
go longer without water. Washington began
to envision how mules could improve the
efficiency of farming.
As most people know, mules are the
sterile hybrid offspring of a male donkey and a
female horse. They are rendered sterile due to
an uneven number of chromosomes resulting
from the hybridization. So, George could
not simply purchase a john and a molly mule
and make baby mules. There-in lies the rub;
he needed a donkey. He also needed a large
donkey if he intended to produce large draft
mules.
Fine large donkeys were available in
Europe at the time. The best supposedly
came from Spain, but the story gets more
complicated. George couldn’t simply send off
to Spain for a mail order donkey. No breeding
stock mammoth donkeys were allowed to
leave the borders of Spain without express
permission from King Charles III of Spain.
George had to somehow petition the king in
order to acquire a donkey.
George initially attempted to procure
jacks in 1780. Unfortunately, the Cuban
merchant acting as intermediary died before
the deal could be completed. Another four
years would pass before any further action
was taken to acquire the animals. In 1784, a
U.S. diplomat attached to the Spanish court
approached the king to express Washington’s
interest in mammoth jacks.
The Revolutionary War had been fought
and won by the time Washington entered
into his mule breeding venture. Luckily for
George, his reputation had spread far and
wide and the king of Spain was a big fan.
He shipped two large breeding stock jacks to
Washington. According to Thomas Jefferson,
the king replied with, “Two of the very best to
be procured and sent to you as a mark of his
respect.” Unfortunately, one died in transit.
The other arrived safely at Mt. Vernon, with
his handler, in 1785. Washington named him
“Royal Gift” and soon began marketing him at
stud, serving both mares and donkey jennets.
Royal Gift became quite a celebrity,
touring all around the southern states
advertising his stud services and promoting
the practicality and usefulness of mules and
mammoth donkeys. Yet despite his pedigree,
Royal Gift proved to be a less than eager
breeder. He was frequently sulky and refused
to cover mares and jennets. When he was
successful at breeding, few offspring resulted.
Washington’s sense of humor was displayed
when he remarked, “If Royal will administer,
he will be at the service of your mares. But
at present he seems to be too full of royalty
to have anything to do with a plebian race.”
Washington eventually began keeping Royal
Gift in the regular company of two jennets and
his breeding ability improved.
Sadly, Royal Gift suffered serious injuries
resulting in permanent lameness while on loan
to a South Carolina planter in 1793. He was
never able to work or breed again and was
retired to pasture. He died in South Carolina in
1796.
Following the death of Royal Gift,
Washington used two other jacks for breeding.
One, Compound, was the offspring of Royal
Gift and a very successful breeder. The other
was an unrelated jack named Knight of Malta.
In 1785, at the beginning of his mule breeding
odyssey, Washington owned 132 horses at
Mount Vernon. By 1799, that demographic
had changed and Washington owned 27 horses,
20 donkeys and 63 mules. It all started with
Royal Gift. As a result, many American mules
and mammoth donkeys can trace their lines
back to Washington’s animals.
Information from Bakma, Johannah.
“Royal Gift (Donkey)”. Washington Library
for Digital History. George Washington
University. www.mountvernon.org/library.
Oregon marijuana prices dive - and sales soar
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) —
Rampant overproduction in Oregon’s
market for legal, recreational
marijuana has produced a 50 percent
drop in prices, according to state
economists. That widely documented
collapse has been tough on farmers
and retailers - but a boon for
consumers.
A new state analysis finds
the price collapse sparked a big
uptick in marijuana purchases and a
corresponding increase in associated
tax revenue, the Oregonian/
OregonLive reported .
“Lower prices are helping to
drive the volume of sales higher
and induce black and medical
market conversions into the legal,
recreational market,” said Josh
Lehner of the Oregon Office of
Economist Analysis.
Recreational marijuana sales
in Oregon will be nearly $543
million this year, up 29 percent from
2017 and well above economists’
expectations, forecasts show.
When Oregon legalized
marijuana four years ago,
expectations were enormous for
the newly legal market. The state
created incentives for producers to
leave the black market, leading to
overproduction and the ensuing price
decrease.
A state study found the retail
cost of a gram of marijuana plunged
from $14 in 2015 to $7 last year.
Recreational marijuana remains
a small industry, relative to the
size of Oregon’s economy. For
comparison, economists note that
cigarette sales are 40 percent higher
than marijuana sales. But legal
marijuana is growing fast - state
forecasts suggest it will be a billion-
dollar market in 2025.
While Oregon has no general
sales tax, it does levy a 17 percent
sales tax on marijuana. Marijuana
taxes generated nearly $70 million in
revenue last year and are forecast to
generate nearly $90 million in 2018.
State forecasters believe
marijuana may eventually play a
more important role in the state’s
economy.
“The real economic impact
from recreational marijuana will
come not from the growing and
retailing, which are low-wage
and low value-added market
segments,” economists wrote in a
revenue forecast issued last week.
“It will come from higher value-
added products like oils, creams,
and edibles, in addition to niche,
specialty strains.”
The rise of marijuana in
Oregon could evoke the emergence
of craft brewing in the state, the
economists wrote, with value-added
production augmented by a cluster of
suppliers and support industries.
“The long-term potential of
exporting Oregon products and
business know-how to the rest of the
country remains large,” economists
wrote, “at least once marijuana is
legalized nationwide.”