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About Port Orford news. (Port Orford, Curry County, Oregon) 1958-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 3, 2008)
Port Orford News Page 6 • September 3, 2008 Life with Brice: ‘The last surrender of a great warrior chief’ By Brice Wagner PON staff writer It was late June 1856 and on a high bench overlooking the ocean was 110 US Army Troops lead by Captain Edward Otho Cresap Ord camped and waiting for the Last holdout band of Rogue River Indians lead by their famous “Chief John.” In Earlier May 1856 Chief John met with the US Army at Oak Flat, on the Illinois River near what is now Agness. The Army officers requested he sur- render and move to a reservation. Other coastal Indian leaders surrendered there. The old warrior chief refused stating “this is my country, I was in it when these large trees were small. My heart is sick with fighting, but I want to live in my country. If the white people are will- ing I will go back to Deer Creek and live among them as I used to do; they can visit my camp and I will visit theirs. But I will not lay down my arms and go with you to the reserve. I will fight. Good-by” On the 24th of May, 1856 a detach- ment of 80 US Army dragoons and artillerymen led by Captain Andrew Jackson Smith made their way down the Illinois, then turning up Rogue River’s south bank and made a river crossing near Big Bend. They were to go to the Big Bend meadows for a surrender spot. The detachment suc- cessfully crossed Rogue River then made camp at Big Bend meadow. A hard coastal Brice Wagner rainstorm hit the area and rain con- tinued all through the following day. Smith was unconcerned that there was no appearance of surrendering Indians that day assuming they had found shel- ter and were waiting for the storm to break. Early the next morning a small party of unarmed Indians came into the army camp. They explained they were an advance party of Cow Creek’s, Applegate band, and Galice Creek’s. They indicated the chief’s; warriors, women and children were making their way down the Rogue River Canyon. The army also heard disturbing news that instead of surrender it would be an attack. Captain Smith had an important quick decision to make. He sent another offi- cer to determine if he could move all his men into a defensive position on a low Photos courtes of “Until The Last Arrow,” and “Valley Of The Rogues,” both by Percy T. Booth Chief John, left, and Capt. Andrew Jackson Smith are shown above. ridge. It was a small area but large enough for all eighty army troops to relocate and defend themselves. All night the army worked to move supplies up hill, on foot, and carrying a disassem- bled mountain howitzer. To the troops rear was a vertical rock face. Below the troops was a lightly timbered slope. The nasty little mountain howitzer was aimed to command the neck of the ridge below. A generous canister of grapeshot was rammed down its throat. It was 11 a.m. and all hell was about to break loose for both sides. The Rogues opened the attack. They took positions behind the entire lower slope sneaking tree-to-tree and bush-to- bush. Then a large group could be seen breaking over an open ridge, with that the Artillerymen opened fire with the howitzer mowing down a swath of small trees and brush around them. The dra- goons followed the cannon blast with a wild charge down hill scattering the Indians into the timber and out of sight. The battle raged on. The company Dr. changed his rifle for his medical bag, as soldiers were falling wounded and two seriously. After two hours of touch and go fight- ing Captain Smith realized his position was precarious and ordered his troops to move to higher ground. Several more soldiers had been hit. The wounded were half carried, half dragged up hill to the summit. With wounded and dying men and very short of water Captain Smith and his officers knew they were in for a fight for their lives. They discovered they were vastly outnumbered and in a very desperate situation. The Rogues were jubilant as they felt they had the Boston soldiers defeated. Old Chief John was in command of his warriors shouting orders. (A later day Oregon historian stated, “It was a spectacle unparalleled in the annals of savage warfare to behold a body of undisciplined men, move obedi- ently to perform the orders of their leader.) Next week, how will the battle turn? Will the soldiers be rescued? Read all about it in “Life with Brice: ‘The last surrender of a great warrior chief.’ Art matters: ʻRun to the Rogueʼ just one of events coming up By Shirley Nelson For the Port Orford News Port Orford Arts Council invites you to the annual “Run to the Rogue” of the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz. Port Orford people will meet at the Community Building on Friday, September 12 from 5:30 to 8:30 pm to welcome runners and others and share a potluck meal. Approximately 250 tribal members participate in some way in this event which starts at the Siletz Reservation to which natives were taken in the 1850s and ends beside the Rogue River at Oak Flats near Agness. Please bring a main dish, salad, or dessert to serve ten people. Musicians are invited to come and provide entertainment. An interesting exhibition opens Sunday, September 14 at Southern Coos Hospital in Bandon from 1 to 3 pm. Approximately forty artists, including some locals, created paintings which were passed on to poets. Approximately thirty poets, also including some locals, wrote poems to complement the visual art. There is a name for this process: (EK fra sis): writing inspired by a piece of art. There was also a reverse process. Poets con- tributed poems which were given to artists for their response in the form of paintings. Painters and poets will be present at the opening reception. For the Arts Council, www.portorfordart.org. “ … art can calm and soothe. It can create a peaceful center to our sense of time, place, and per- son.” — Luigi Salerni, master teacher of theater for the University of Illinois, Chicago. CCEC, from page 1 Heritage Society and Arts Council. McMahan holds degrees in mechani- cal engineering and business administra- tion and a doctorate in business adminis- tration with an emphasis in strategic management from Alliant International University in San Diego. During her career, McMahan managed development and implementation of strategic business and operating plans for Southern California Edison, an organization of 2,000 employees and an annual budget of $500 million. For several years, she represented Southern California Edison on the Board of Directors of the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, the largest nuclear plant in the United States, exercising oversight of budgets, outages, and selection of contractors, materials management and quality assur- ance. The board of directors interviewed all ten candidates yesterday. "We received applications from a lot of very qualified members, so our choice wasn't a simple one," Daryl Robison said. "But after the interviews, we agreed that the experi- ence and knowledge Mr. Dowdy and Ms. McMahan would bring to our coop- erative made them the best choice and we believe they will be good additions to the talent we have on our board. We look forward to working with them." According to CCEC's bylaws, Dowdy and McMahan will serve on the board of directors until the next annual meeting. Members to serve in these At- Large positions will be selected by the membership during the election process prior to the 2009 Annual Meeting. GOCHE, from page 1 Goche was not able to go into each of the four in depth. He touched only briefly on natural resources, saying, “I want to work to ensure thoughtful, con- servative access to our shared natural resources, because they’re the heart of our econo- my and of our very lives.” In regard to education, he thinks there should be more attention focused on vocational education, “because not every- body wants to go to college, and not everybody can afford it or has the aptitude for it.” As far as jobs go, Goche wants to work to “create more small business jobs and more stability in those we already have, because they are the back- bone or our economy … 80 per- cent of the new jobs in this state are small business jobs.” He feels very strongly that Oregonians need to localize their economy more and has a suggestion to how that could be done: “Why couldn’t the state initiate and promote a county- wide or a region-wide ‘local producers’ catalog that would be reflected on a website? … The state could host the credit-card component of the website, so that people could accept credit cards without getting individual merchant accounts, which can often be a daunting experience. And for some minimal printing fee, small businesses [and] local producers could be included in this catalog.” His idea is that the state would then promote the “wis- dom of buying local and edu- cate the people about the exis- tence of this program of the local producers … and market the whole concept, so that even- tually … instead of running to the big box store, you reach over and pick up the catalog and look and see what your neigh- bor is producing. That makes a lot more sense to me as an econ- omy.” With the dollar devaluat- ed and energy prices rising, “we can no longer expect to afford to get everything that we want from Taiwan and China. We need to start looking at what we can do here more and more, and we need to do it soon.” He went on to say that “(buying from our neighbors) makes sense to me - giving all of our money to a company whose profits go to some far-flung place, and we never see any of that again, does not.” Goche has been out going door-to-door to connect directly with voters. “As I knock on doors, and I talk to people, and I hear the heart-breaking stories behind those doors, it’s becom- ing more and more important to me to do what I can to go to Salem and help out.” The heart-breaking stories are one reason that Goche wants to “work to guarantee the avail- ability and the affordability of health care for every Oregonian … a medical disaster shouldn’t have to always turn into a finan- cial disaster … Most of the time those people who relate these stories (of financial disaster due to medical disaster) to us are elderly people. I was raised to take care of and respect my eld- ers, and we’re doing neither with our health care system in this country. Whatever I can to do care for and respect our eld- ers in their health care needs in the late years of their lives, I want to do that.” Laura Teague, Realtor laura@prudentialseaboard.com 541-347-9411 office 888-347-9411 toll free When asked if he supports the idea of socialized medicine, Goche commented, “The phar- maceutical companies, the health care providing compa- nies, and the insurance compa- nies have vilified the word ‘socialized.’ I want socialized medicine the same way I want a ‘socialized’ highway system, water system, sewage system, law enforcement and military. These are essential services that we have agreed to as a society to collectively pay for. In that sense, yes, I think socialized medicine/health care is the way to go.” He is careful to say that “It needs to be a single payer plan. In the United States, the nation- wide average (is that of) every dollar that you pay as a premi- um - if you are lucky enough to even have health care insurance - 34 percent of that goes to administration.” Goche wrapped up his inter- view with some comments on politics. “If you look at any of my literature, none of my litera- ture associates me with any political party. I’m a Democrat. I’m proud to be a Democrat … What I am ashamed of is how … we have allowed partisan politics to tear this country apart. I want people to listen to what I say and read what I write before they pigeon-hole me and stereotype me with some little letter behind my name.” “When we talk about address- ing these big issues … so many of this issues are so big and remote from us in our district … I looked around to see what’s the most I can effect where I live, where the people that I care about live, and this (run- ning for office) is it. That’s why I am doing this. I want to be able to tell my kids and grand- kids that I did everything I could do.” Caroline Clancy, candidate for Port Orford City Councilor, who was present to introduce herself to the public, made this statement to the Port Orford News: “I’m running because I’m tired of moaning about what’s going on. I figure if I’m going to moan all the time, I should stand up and do something about it. This is why I’m asking people to vote for me. We need a council that gets along. We will not all agree all the time, but compro- mise has to happen. Most of all I’m running because I want to run for what’s the best for Port Orford. I have no personal agen- da in any way. I don’t own a business … I’m solely a person who loves Port Orford and wants to do what’s best for it. If anyone wants to tell me what they think is best, I’m willing to listen to everyone.” Pat Piper, candidate for Curry County Commissioner Position No. 2 said that she was “really enthusiastic about the turnout here and the enthusiasm for change in the state and the coun- ty is wonderful. I decided to run because I’m concerned about the county and the fix that we’re in. Whatever we have in our future, I want to be to communicate it to people and to get feedback from them as to what things they want and what things they may have to pay for …I’m really pleased how many people say, ‘Regardless of which party you’re running for, we’re voting for the person this time.’” Asked about the Home Rule Charter, she responded “I’ve very much against it, and the reason is, I think that any time you’re taking away from people the right to vote for who gov- erns them, it’s a mistake. We have commissioners who are now working around 50-hour weeks … to have unpaid com- missioner volunteers, they’re either going to have an agenda of their own that makes them want to do this, or they’re not going to last. I’m on a lot of dif- ferent boards or committees, and the people who hang in there are people who really have a ‘burn’ for whatever the cause is. Nobody’s going to volunteer to work 40-hour weeks for free, or 30-hour weeks, or a 20-hour week. They’re going to have one meeting a month. All the commissioners are assigned dif- ferent projects, like the port or hospice or schools, and they go to those meetings, and they report back to the board of com- missioners, so serving as a vol- unteer commissioner doesn’t just mean going to one meeting, it means being a liaison with all these other groups. It’s very time-consuming, and I think it’s wrong to (expect) volunteers (to) do this.” Dockside Computers The VOTE Clancy, Piper also at Demo HQ opening PON photo by Carol Berger Rick Goche is a candidate for State Representative. PRICE REDUCED !! LOADS OF ROOM FOR ONLY $599,000 This spacious estate features 3BDR/4BA, great room, huge kitchen w/granite countertops & hickory cabinets, bonus room over the large garage, decks, fountains and is situated on 8.55 acres of forested privacy. Within minutes of both Sixes & Elk Rivers. MLS#6107483 Repairs, Upgrades, New Machines 307 Dock Rd. Wilderland School (541) 332-0824 Hwy 101/1st Street in Langlois Now enrolling for the 2008-2009 school year If you have questions or need an application, please call 541-513-8218 At Port Orford Dock by the diversʼ showers and restrooms. Gaming PCs, office, home & college machines, or we can help you find one online. Microsoft Certified Tech on staff. 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