Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (July 5, 2017)
4A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL JULY 5, 2017 O PINION Offbeat Oregon History: Annie Oakley with an edge By Finn JD John For The Sentinel I n the summer of 1936, when Edith Mona Bell Hill moved into her cozy hunting cabin on the shore of Dunbar Lake in north-central Minnesota, the neighbors didn’t really know what to make of her. In fact, they didn’t really know who she was — although she’d owned and occasionally visited the cabin off and on for a decade or so. It was said that she was a distant relative of railroad baron James J. Hill. She cer- tainly had money; although she dressed very simply, she drove a great expensive beast of a lux- ury car. She was a single woman living alone with her eight- year-old son, Sam. But within a few days of her moving in, any neighborhood crooks knew better than to think she’d make a tempting burglary or robbery victim. She took the opportuni- ty to make a little demonstration when a neighbor, Art Schimans- ki, came to see her. “They talked for a few min- utes,” recalled David Adams, whose family bought the prop- erty after Mona Bell moved away, in an interview with au- thor John Harrison. “And then Mona said, ‘Stay right there, I want to show you something.’ Art said she went into the cabin and came out wearing a gun belt with two six-shooters. She then turned and shot the clothespins off her clothesline at a distance of about 25 yards, fi ring one gun after the other — left, right, left, right. Art said it was like bang- bang-bang-bang in rapid suc- cession. He said he was aghast. Then she said to Art, ‘You tell the boys there’s a woman back here who knows how to shoot, and will shoot.’ He did.” Mona Bell was one of the most interesting people ever to live in Oregon. Yet she’s most- ly remembered, when she’s re- membered at all, as the mistress of quirky railroad executive Samuel Hill (not to be confused with James J. Hill, his father- in-law, for whom he worked). Samuel is in turn best known for his pet public-service proj- ect, the Columbia Gorge Scenic Highway; the Maryhill Muse- um and its adjacent Stonehenge replica; and the Peace Arch at the Canadian border. But, interesting and colorful a character as Sam Hill was, he was thoroughly outclassed in that regard by Mona. To be fair, everyone was. Mona Bell fi rst arrived in Oregon in the 1910s; she left in 1936 after the federal gov- ernment seized her home for the Bonneville Dam project. Throughout her life, people who knew her always compared her to movie stars: devil-may-care Myrna Loy in “The Thin Man,” Katharine Hepburn in “The Af- rican Queen” — and, of course, Annie Oakley. The Annie Oakley compar- ison is particularly apropos, because it’s entirely likely that Mona Bell knew her. As a young woman, Mona was in the same business. While a student at the University of North Da- kota, where she was studying to be a teacher, she dropped out to join a wild-west show — either Buffalo Bill Cody’s original Wild West Show (featuring An- nie Oakley) or one of the many competing ones that had sprung up to tour the country. Like Oakley, Mona did trick shooting; she also could sing; she did bareback riding; and she even did bronco busting, usual- ly dressed in men’s clothes so as not to shock her Edwardian-age audience. The Wild West show rack- et was one of four occupations Mona Bell pursued in her early years while relentlessly trav- eling as much as possible. The other three were teaching, ad- vertising, and journalism. She’d take a teaching job in a town, work it for a year, move on to another and get a job at the newspaper, work that for a few months, then quit that job to join a wild-west show, and so on. But journalism soon became her primary line, particularly as slowly changing societal norms, along with her growing reputa- tion as a skilled and fearless re- porter, allowed her to leave the boring, frumpy society pages behind. Mona Bell was, in fact, the fi rst female crime-beat re- porter in the country. And it was through journal- ism that she met the love of her life: Samuel Hill. It happened in 1910, after she interviewed him for a story. Hill, of course, found the dashing red-haired bearcat fas- cinating; it’s hard to imagine what man would not. And un- like most men, he was not in- timidated by her prowess and competence, having plenty of his own. Hill was still nominal- ly married to his Catholic wife, from whom he was completely estranged; but for religious rea- sons they could not divorce. Hill and Bell soon were en- meshed in a torrid, decades-long love affair. Throughout it, Bell remained utterly faithful to Hill; but Hill strayed a good deal. The cruelest cut, though, came when she learned that although he loved her, he loved another woman more — he had been carrying the torch for the queen of Romania since he’d fi rst met her in 1893 when she was a 17-year-old princess and he a 36-year-old lawyer lobbying her royal parents to invest in the Great Northern Railroad. But Mona Bell loved Sam Hill enough that she was will- ing to tolerate being number 2. She fi rst came to Portland to be close to him; at the time, he was working with legendary high- way engineer Samuel Lancaster on the Columbia Gorge High- way. Throughout the 1910s and early 1920s, Bell continued her career as an itinerant journal- ist, keeping as near to Sam as she could so that they could be together as much as possible. Then in 1927, she turned up pregnant with his son. Sam professed himself de- lighted and promptly called in a marker with his cousin, Edgar Hill, who traveled to Portland to “make an honest woman” of Mona. Their marriage was a charade that seems laughable to modern eyes: Edgar and Mona were married in the style (but very much not the spirit) of Quaker practice, with Sam of- fi ciating as minister. Then, fol- lowing a few photographs of the happy couple posing on a beach as if honeymooning (in which Edgar glares into the camera like a trapped gorilla) the happy couple fi nished the day with a trip across the river to Vancou- ver for a quick divorce, and pre- sumably the groom was thereaf- ter left to his own devices whilst the bride and the minister galli- vanted off on the honeymoon. Motherhood didn’t change Mona much. Most sources agree she was not very good at it. Samuel gave her a hilltop mansion overlooking the Co- lumbia River at Bonneville, but she didn’t stay in it as much as most new mothers would. Baby Sam was left with relatives many times while she traveled off on the rodeo circuit or to travel overseas. Then, in February 1931, Sam- uel Hill developed the infection that would shortly kill him. Mona traveled to the hospital to see him one last time. Re- fused entry, she fi rst disguised herself as a nurse and tried to slip in; this didn’t work, and she was recognized and ejected. Re- alizing that all the nurses knew one another, she tried again, dressing as a janitor. This time, it worked, and she got to say Mona Bell and Edgar Hill pose for a photograph at the beach shortly after their “marriage.” Photo courtesy Finn JD John. goodbye to him before he slipped away. Perhaps as a tonic to her bro- ken heart, Mona left shortly thereafter for a tour with the Schell Bros. Circus, with which she was billed as a cowgirl radio singer doing old-time and cow- boy songs. She was getting older, though, and the wild pleasures of bronco busting and trick shooting were starting to give way to the more contemplative pleasures of gar- dening. In her later years, Mo- na’s great passion was fl owers and gardens. By 1936, her Bon- neville mansion was a spectacu- lar showplace. And that may be why, when the government started con- struction of the Bonneville Dam, it was so very insistent on including the house in its eminent-domain proceedings. It needed 14 acres of Mona Bell’s land at the foot of the bluff for the construction; but the house on the bluff was not in the way. Mona was convinced the gov- ernment was determined to take it because the project manager wanted the house for himself. If so, she had the last laugh, if a bitter one; the manager was transferred back east just after the house was handed over. Mona Bell asked for about $100,000 in compensation for the property. The government laughed and offered about $25,000. And there the battle lines were drawn as the case headed off to court. Nearly a year and two tri- als later, the government was forced to pay Mona roughly $80,000 for the place. It paid up only after being directly threat- ened by the judge. With much bitterness despite her courtroom victory (which had cost her nearly half the amount she won in legal fees), Mona shook the dust of the Beaver State from her feet and moved back to that lakeside cabin in Minnesota. In Minnesota, the aging Mona carried on, living very frugally to pay for the extensive world traveling that she still loved and keeping a magnifi cent garden. She later moved to Riverside, Calif., where, on June 1, 1981, she died at age 91. In a playful song about a Vi- ennese composer named Alma Mahler Gropius Werfel, sing- er-satirist Tom Lehrer ends his fi nal verse with the words, “The body that reached her embalm- ment was one that had known how to live!” The same, and then some, can certainly be said of Edith Mona Bell Hill. Dr. Fuhrman: Getting enough zinc on a plant-centered diet Z inc is a mineral essen- tial for immune func- tion, growth, wound healing, reproduction, protein structure, neurotransmitter re- lease in the brain and insulin secretion, and it supports hun- dreds of chemical reactions. C ottage G rove S entinel (541) 942-3325 Administration James Rand, Regional Publisher Gary Manly, General Manager ................................................. Ext. 207 gmanly@cgsentinel.com Aaron Ames, Marketing Specialist ........................................... Ext. 216 aames@cgsentinel.com Tammy Sayre, Marketing Specialist ......................................... Ext. 213 tsayre@cgsentinel.com Editorial Caitlyn May, Editor. ................................................................. Ext. 212 cmay@cgsentinel.com Zach Silva, Sport Editor ............................................................ Ext. 204 zsilva@cgsentinel.com Customer Service Carla Williams, Offi ce Manager .............................................. Ext. 200 Legals, Classifi eds .......................................... Ext. 200 cwilliams@cgsentinel.com Production Ron Annis, Production Supervisor ............................................. Ext.215 graphics@cgsentinel.com (USP 133880) Subscription Mail Rates in Lane and Portions of Douglas Counties: Ten Weeks..............................................................................................$9.10 One year ............................................................................................. $36.15 e-Edition year ...................................................................................... $36.00 Rates in all other areas of United States: Ten Weeks $11.70; one year, $46.35, e-Edition $43.00. Zinc-rich foods include beef, oysters, crab, veal, lamb, pump- kin and sesame seeds, pine nuts, peanuts, soybeans, cashews, wild rice, oats and mushrooms. However, zinc-rich plant foods also contain substances that in- hibit zinc absorption, phytate in particular. It is important to note, however that phytate has benefi cial health effects despite its tendency to lower zinc ab- sorption. Phytate is a storage form of phosphorus and min- erals in plant seeds. Originally viewed as an “anti-nutrient,” eventually benefi cial actions of phytate were discovered, such as antioxidant and anti-cancer effects. The presence of phytate also reduces glycemic effects of the foods it is present in, and may bind toxic metals, reducing our absorption of these harm- ful substances. Preliminary re- search has also suggested that phytate could help to prevent kidney stones and vascular cal- cifi cation. Grains, beans, seeds and nuts are the foods highest in phytate. In addition to phytate, a number of other factors reduce zinc absorption, including older age, iron, calcium, protein qual- ity, protein intake and folic acid. Zinc status in vegetarians and vegans: A 2013 review of 34 studies concluded that zinc sta- tus is lower in vegetarians than omnivores; in particular in fe- males and vegans. Zinc require- ments for those on a completely plant-based diet are estimated to be about 50 percent higher than the standard recommendations of 12 mg/day for females, 16.5 mg/day for males. Therefore, in addition to eating natural foods containing zinc it is reasonable to take extra supplemental zinc to assure adequacy on a vegan or near-vegan diet. Zinc may protect against depression. Zinc is a crucial nutrient for the brain; as men- tioned above, zinc is needed for neurotransmitter release. Zinc may also act to reduce oxida- tive stress in the brain. Low zinc levels could potentially lead to a tendency toward anxiety and de- pression. I have observed some female vegans, in my medical practice, who developed de- pression and anxiety which re- solved after supplementing with additional zinc. Some people may have higher requirements. In scientifi c studies, blood zinc concentrations are consistently lower in depressed vs. control subjects. Furthermore, the se- verity of depression was found to increase with the magnitude of the zinc defi ciency. Because of these fi ndings, zinc supple- mentation is being investigat- ed as an adjunct treatment for depression, with promising re- sults. The association between low zinc and depression appears to be stronger in women com- pared to men. Zinc and the prostate: Normal prostate cells contain very high levels of zinc, higher than any other body tissue. However, if prostate cells become cancer- ous, they lose their ability to accumulate zinc. There is evi- dence that zinc has anti-cancer effects in the prostate, how- ever, the relationship between zinc and prostate cancer risk is somewhat unclear. Some stud- ies have reported increased risk, some have reported decreased risk and others found no rela- tionship at all. One study, which placed mice on one of three different diets—zinc-defi cient, normal, and supplemented, suggested that optimal levels of zinc are protective, but defi ciency or excess promotes prostate tumor growth. This is apparently valid in humans too. The VITAL study followed over 35,000 men for 3.5 years, who completed a questionnaire asking about their supplement use over the pre- vious 10 years. Men who had been supplementing with 15 mg or more zinc per day had a 66 percent decrease in the risk of advanced prostate cancer com- pared to men who didn’t supple- ment. There was no association between zinc supplements and overall prostate cancer—except in men who ate more vegeta- bles. Importantly, the authors found that men who both sup- plemented 15 mg or more of zinc per day and had a higher intake of vegetables did have a reduced risk of overall prostate cancer. However, men taking the same amount of supplemen- tal zinc with a lower intake of vegetables did not reduce their risk. Another study found that long-term (10 or more years) supplementation with zinc was associated with a 53 percent reduction in breast cancer risk. This research suggests supple- menting with zinc most likely is of signifi cant benefi t, especially in those that eat a healthful veg- an or near-vegan diet. Dr. Fuhrman is a #1 New York Times best-selling author and a family physician special- izing in lifestyle and nutritional medicine. Visit his informative website at DrFuhrman.com. Submit your questions and com- ments about this column direct- ly to newsquestions@drfuhr- man.com. The full reference list for this article can be found at DrFuhrman.com. *Note: This column fi rst ap- peared in The Sentinel on July 8, 2015. Letters to the Editor policy In foreign countries, postage extra. No subscription for less than Ten Weeks. Subscription rates are subject to change upon 30 days’ notice. All subscritptions must be paid prior to beginning the subscription and are non-refundable. Periodicals postage paid at Cottage Grove, Oregon. Postmaster: Send address changes to P.O. Box 35, Cottage Grove, OR 97424. Local Mail Service: If you don’t receive your Cottage Grove Sentinel on the Wednesday of publication, please let us know. Call 942-3325 between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Advertising Ownership: All advertising copy and illustrations prepared by the Cottage Grove Sentinel become the property of the Cottage Grove Sentinel and may not be reproduced for any other use without explicit written prior approval. Copyright Notice: Entire contents ©2017 Cottage Grove Sentinel. The Cottage Grove Sentinel receives many letters to the editor. In order to ensure that your letter will be printed, letters must be under 300 words and submitted by Friday at 5 p.m. Letters must be signed and must include an address, city and phone number or e-mail address for verifi cation purposes. No anonymous letters will be printed. Letters must be of interest to local readers. Personal attacks and name calling in response to letters are uncalled for and unnecessary. If you would like to submit an opinion piece, Another View must be no longer than 600 words. To avoid transcription errors, the Sentinel would prefer editorial and news content be sent electronically via email or electronic media. Hand written submissions will be accepted, but we may need to call to verify spelling, which could delay the publishing of the submission.
