Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 11, 1979)
Paga 6 Portland Obaervar October 11 1979 The H eritage of Cooking Series Pioneering Washington State by Norma Jean Darden for Kraft. Inc. W ith its sprawling seacoasts natural harbors, majestic mountains, untapped forests and fertile valleys, the ruggedness and the beauty o f the Pacific Northwest has challenged the imagination and claimed the souls of the hardy and the adventuresome for centuries. Folktales of ho» the bold an courageous settlers tamed the hazardous terrain are tucked into the memory banks o f all Americans— yet h o * man) k n o * that Blacks played an important and integral part in the process and »ere, from the biginning, significantly involved in Northwest history? Some historians believe that Blacks were aboard the ship that brought Sir Francis Drake, the English explorer-pirate, on his trip around the world in 15"8. As Drake sailed past what is no* California. Oregon and W ashington, he claimed the entire territory for the British. This o f course meant little to the In dians who waved hello and good-bye to him as he cruised by. It also meant little to the United States, who based its claim to the land on voyage by a Bostonian, Captain Robert Gray, 200 years later. With Captain Gray on his first expedition to sell furs from the Northwest to China in 1788 was Marcus Lopez, the first Black man in recorded history to set foot in the Northwest. Unfortunately. Mar cus Lopez’s rendezvous with history was brief. Shortly after touching the soil, he was killed by Indians. The second known Black to enter the Northwest had a much more positive experience with the Indians. His name was York and he acted as interpreter between the Indians and had just purchased a huge and unex fact-finding mission for President Thomas Jefferson in 1804. Jefferson had just purchased a huge and unex plored block of land from Napoleon, who was going broke from his many wars. To find out exactly what he had bought, Jefferson dispatched Lewis and Clark, two Virginians. After the historic charting o f the Northwest Passage, many lone, daring Black cowboys, hunters, fur trappers, traders, cooks and guides joined the westward exodus. Some of these solitary figures were freed Blacks, others were fugitive slaves - all looking for fewer restrictions and greater opportunities Most notable in the 1820 - 30 period were James Beckwourth and Edward Rose. The discovery o f gold was also heard by Black ears, and the lure of untold wealth was a great incentive to many who got the news and could John and M agnolia Gayton w are am ong the spirited Black pioneers of W ashington, settling in Spokane at the turn of the century. Black hom estead of Roslyn around 1900 make the trip . Take the case o f Richard Bogle, a penniless stowaway from Jamaica »ho, during the gold rush, crossed the Plains to the Oregon Territory Bogle managed to find gold twice and moved to \kalla W alla, W ashington, where he opened a savings and loan bank. The sixth generation o f Bogles n o * makes Portland home. But liv in g in Oregon in the nineteenth century was no easy feat fo r Blacks as pioneer George W ashington Bush was to discover In 1844. wishing to move his wife and six sons to a non-slave state. Bush arranged to join a group of white set tlers in a caravan o f 80 covered wagons from Missouri to Oregon. It ROASTS ROUMU BONE CHUCK h t Tin Add i 6.89 P IllJ IU N Y F l o u t ........................................ « „ - ' 1 5 5 H I I S I U I T W H IA T SN A C K S................................ 7.,. '1.39 PUNINA MEOW A U X ....................................... 7 7 m — '4.19 t/iàliutò NAMM'S CANNED BEER I 12 $ 2 « 12 M . Cans HUS MPOsn was an arduous four-month journey of 2,000 miles. During the trip many fam ilies ran out o f supplies and money and Bush assisted them. What Bush and the others d id n't know was that after they began their treck, Oregon declared it illegal for Blacks to own property or live there. Hearing this news on arrival in Oregon, Bush and some o f his friends opted to homestead north of the C olu m b ia on Puget Sound. Ironically, in its border dispute with England, the L.S . based its suc cessful claim partly on the land on which Bush lived. This then placed Bush's property back in Oregon where it was illegal for him to live! Special legislation had to be passed to waive restrictions for him. Later, when W ashington T e rrito ry was formed, his property was part of Washington. Gaeorge Washington Bush, who was a s k illfu l farm er and businessman, went on to become one o f the wealthiest men in the North west. His son, ca rrying on his tradition o f leadership and social service, was twice elected to the Washington State Legislature. This same son, William Owen Bush, had displayed his prize wheat at the Cen tennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, winning the gold medal in w orld co m p etitio n and thereby publicizing the resources and oppor tunities waiting in the Northwest. But the Northwest was still far away from the roots and ties o f most o f the newly-freed Blacks. True, some had gone purposefully, some had drifted there, and others had been taken as slaves or as personal servants; but active recruitment was the catalyst that brought the first m ajor Black m ig ra tio n to W ashington in 1888. It all started when the Northwest Improvement Company, a mining subsidiary o f the Northern Pacific Railroad, was faced with a strike. James Sheppardson, a Black coal m iner, p o litic a l activist and per suasive orator, was hired to gather Black miners and bring them to Roslyn, W ashington, in order to get things rolling again. From Alabama. South and North Carolina, Virginia. Illinois and all points along the way, Sheppardson collected his men with the inducement o f high wages and steady work. The first train brought the men and the second brought their families. O ff the second tra in stepped H a rrie t T a ylo r W illia m s , a lone woman traveling with a two-and-a- half year old son. She had joined the pilgrimage in Illinois to escape a sour marriage and start a new life. Her daughter Ethel Craven, grandson Willie Craven, and grand daughter Beulah Craven H art s till live in Roslyn and strong are their memories o f when coal was kin and two thousand Black miners and their families were in their heyday. “ Shepparson had told the men to expect some contusion on arrival. Mrs. Craven says. “ But for people just out o f slavery, born in trouble, accustomed to trouble and needing jobs and money, they »ere not put o ff coming They didn’ t expect the people to be so cross, though,” says Mrs. Craven, explaining h o * an angry armed mob met the train. For quite some time the newcomers were te rro rized and only the ta lle st, strongest men with the longest nfles were sent to town to purchase groceries. But eventually tempers cooled and dissidents moved on or went back to work Roslyn got used to the idea that it was suddenly fifty - two per cent Black. Much later, some in the coal miners' union would agree to admit Blacks so they w o u ld n ’ t break strikes. This was not accomplished, however, u n til the m iddle o f the twentieth century, when coal was on its last leg as a major commodity. Meanwhile, in turn-ol-the-century Roslyn, things settled down to a peaceful coexistence. Perhaps it was because o f the common dangers the men shared, like fear o f the dread black-lung disease or the threat o f collapsed mine shafts, cave-ins and explosions that k ille d tw o and three at a time. Or the fact that when the men emerged from the shafts a f ter up to sixteen hours o f work, it was impossible to tell the color o f one man from another. At any rate, black culture snuggled unmolested into the Northwest mountains. People began planting vegetable gardens and growing peonies, pan sies and sweet williams around their doors just as they had done at home. Children made “ coal flowers’ ’ by adding epsom salts to pieces o f coal and dyeing the resulting crystals with food color. Life went on. For blacks two churches were established, two saloons and restaurants were opened, with social clubs and lodges fo r men and sewing and quilting clubs fo r women flourishing. On weekends, traveling haberdashers came up to o u tfit the fa s h io n conscious who didn’t like mail-order clothes. For those in the marching band or on the baseball team, special uniforms were also made. Mme. de Neal, a beauty expert from Seattle, made periodic jaunts bringing the latest in hairstyles, hair preparations skin potions and make-up aids. M instrel shows and road shows also found th eir way to Roslyn. There were many such shows in the Northwest and one, "T he Dixieland Show" in 1909, featured Ms. Nora Hendrix who settled in the N orth west and later became the grand m other o f rock star J im i H en drix. Everybody in Roslyn followed Bing Crosby's career with interest because his father »as the bookkeeper at the company store. According to Ms. Craven there was never a lack o f local entertainment either. Many good musicians were in the town and after church suppers Boome Braxton was known to play a mean banjo for dances. But all was not fun and games. There was a lot o f drudgery , toil and tension. As the child o f a miner and the wife o f "rough-hand Sam, the coal-digging m an," Ms. Craven says that two things caused most marital rifts. One, the husband wearing his “ Smokey Joe” in the house. "The whale oil used to light the flame in front o f the helmet smelled up the whole house.” And, two the wife not preparing the bath, which was a must for the soot-riddled miner. The water had to be hauled in, stored in a shed, heated on the stove, then poured in a large tin tub in the k it chen. ‘ ‘ M any a woman were threatened with a black eye for not getting it hot enough," joked Ms. Craven. Cooking was a skill that truly held a miner’s wife in good favor because large meals were thought to give the miners stamina for their tough work. Breakfast was, by necessity, a lavish meal with all-night oatmeal topped with brown sugar and cream for star ters followed by a slab o f bacon, ham, sausage, eggs, grits, flapjacks, frie d cornm eal mush or strike biscuits (created durin g a one- month strike when no one could at- fo rd much lard), plus syrup and every manner of fruit— fresh, dried, stewed, or preserved. They knew how to start the day in Roslyn! As Beulah Craven Hart tells it, men without full lunch pails were not even allowed into the mines by the company. First, it was a waste of time to bring out a miner collapsed with hunger, and second, if the men were trapped and some killed, the survivors would have to rely on the lunches o f others. So, into the lunch pails went pork chops, fried fish or chicken, sandwiches, sweet potatoes or fried apple pie. Then o f course came supper time A m o n g th e h is to ric a l treasures B eulah C raven H a rt holds is a photograph of Jam es Sheppardson. a Black coal m iner w h o in 1888 brought tw o trainloads of Black men to w ork in the mines near Roslyn. for the tired and hungry miner. " I f you had a strong man, he might catch you a bear, then you could skin it and have bear steak or ste* for your main course," said Ms. Craven, and she was not joking! The holiday that meant the most to the blacks o f Roslyn »as Eman cipation Day It was celebrated with a picnic on August 4 because that's the day that news o f freedom reached the N orthw est. For the Emancipation picnic everyone con tributed something--a dish, money or time to watch the fire built three days earlier, barbecue the meat, or just fan the flies away. “ We always had drinks, even during P ro h ib itio n ," says Ms. Craven. "P eople would get together and tell stories o f their youth. This was a rip-roaring to w n!" A ll that good eating not w ith standing, some o f the Roslyn settlers tound mining too hazardous to lile and limb, many owed too much to the company store, and for others the deep snow and frigid mountain climate (fifteen degrees below zero was too severe.) so they moved on to Tacom a, Spokane and Seattle. Now, Ms. Craven, her daughter, and her son W illie Craven are the only three Blacks who still live there. But W illie Craven is the mayor o f o f the tow n, and they are again holding the Emancipation picnic for friends and relatives who remember that Roslyn was the cradle for many Blacks who are in the Northwest today. The influx o f the recruited Black labor force was to have a profound influence on the lives o f Northwest Blacks for decades to come. But as the Black population increased so did the attitudes that many had hoped were buried on the trip there. They, who had ventured to the Nor thwest looking for greater freedom and found it in 1880s, suddenly were faced with anti-Black laws in the 1910s. Leaders o f the group buckled, down and worked harder so that th e ir children and newcomers wouldn’ t face the same dilemma. Ms. C orinne T a y lo r’ s father, Charles H. Harvey, arrived in Seattle in 1887 when it was a real pioneer town and conditions were poor. He liked the yearround moderate weather that Seattle mysteriously en joys and felt he had a chance for unlimited employment. In 1889 most ot Seattle was burned by a terrible (Please turn to page 7 col I) T L O O K F O R T H E B IG " T I I A Sure Sign of Good Taste FANCY: SNOBOY ir Gotten M M », ..i--” ' - . - ' Cross Rib Roast BONELESS USDA Choka B m I Green Beans Corn J L ftft Standby: 4 Si«v« 0» French S lic e d ...................................... Standby Cream Style or Whole kernel SE 20th Et D IV IS IO N SE 72nd b FLAVEL NE 15th b FREMONT W BURNSIDE el 21»t SAN RAFAEL - 1510 NE 122nd T S Foreet Grove 2329 PACIFIC Oregon City - 878 MOLALLA Candy ,051 SW l i t LLOYD CENTER 28* 17« 28* „ 144’ OSE D IV IS IO N « 6 6 SE POWELL NE 74th b GLISAN HILLSBORO M 0 SE OAK E 1 L