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NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Mine
Continued from Page A1
ter’s Mill in California for
four more years, so not only
was nobody in the wagon
train expecting to find gold
— they wouldn’t know
what it was if they saw it.
In one version of the
story, three young men
went searching for their
oxen and brought back
15-20 colored pebbles they
had found in a stream. Sev-
eral “seasoned” men said
they were copper. A woman
named Fisher kept one peb-
ble but didn’t find out it was
gold until after the ‘49ers
hit it rich in California.
There are many versions
of this discovery story. In
one, children looking for
berries found the gold nug-
gets. In another, a black-
smith put a nugget on an
iron-rimmed wagon wheel
and easily hammered it
flat. In other stories, a
tool box filled with nug-
gets was lost when it fell
off a wagon during a river
crossing.
In one account, children
were asked how many peb-
bles they saw. They said
they could easily fill their
blue bucket. Each com-
pany in the large wagon
train painted their buck-
ets, axes, shovels and other
tools a different color to
keep track of them. The
nuggets were discovered
by the blue company.
Whether or not gold nug-
gets were found by mem-
bers of the Meek Wagon
Train, news about their dis-
covery was not made pub-
lic for several years. More
importantly, they didn’t
know where they were at
the time. The train finally
reached The Dalles in
October 1845, and most of
the settlers continued on to
the Willamette Valley.
The word about the gold
find was out by 1851 when
a party searching for the
Lost Immigrant Mine, as it
was called then, found evi-
dence of the wagon train
on Wagontire Mountain.
Three years later, Ben-
jamin Herron, a member
of the lost wagon train,
led a search party that was
driven away by Native
Americans.
In 1857, James McBride,
another wagon train mem-
ber, left his home in Yreka,
California, and led a search
for the creek where the
nuggets were found. He
returned the next year with-
out success.
Three years later, Nel-
son Cochran and 50 men
reached Wagontire Moun-
tain but were driven off by
local tribes. The next year,
Jacob Currier returned
with 44 men and searched
from the Deschutes River
to the Malheur River. They
reported finding only yel-
low rocks that “resembled”
gold.
That same year, a man
named J.L. Adams got into
serious trouble when he
bragged in Portland that he
had found the Lost Immi-
grant Mine. He put together
a party of 58 men, per-
haps large enough to fend
off attacks, and headed for
the Blue Mountains. When
it became apparent Adams
didn’t know what he was
doing, a lynch party formed.
But the party ended up giv-
ing him the boot and started
Contributed photo
Joseph Meek, left, was an active Oregon politician, U.S.
marshal and sheriff. His brother Stephen Meek, right, was a
mountain guide and later miner. Both were fur trappers in
Oregon’s early history.
home. On the way, they hit
gold at Griffin’s Gulch, set-
ting off the gold rush near
Baker City.
In 1862, Tom Turner
led a group out of Willa-
mette Valley to find the lost
mine and ended up find-
ing gold instead along the
Boise River. The next year,
Michael Jordan led 29 men
in a search of the Owyhee
Mountains in Idaho. They
never found the legendary
site, but they found gold
along Jordan Creek and
established the Silver City
District.
Stephen Meek him-
self got gold fever in 1868,
Verdict
Continued from Page A1
D’Amore represented Mat-
thew Allison and his wife’s
estate. D’Amore said he has
seen road rage cases before
but not like this.
“This should never have
happened,” he said. “Never.
Four commercially licensed
drivers engaged in these
activities for such a long
period of time.”
Decou, Peter Barnes and
Corey Frew were driving
semitrailers for Utah-based
Smoot Brothers Transpor-
tation from Salt Lake City,
Utah, to Eugene, according
to D’Amore, depositions,
court documents and police
reports in the case. Barnes
said he was near Moun-
tain Home, Idaho, when he
had the first “run-in” with a
motorhome driver who cut
him off on the freeway and
slammed on the brakes to
shoot for an exit.
Jonathan
Hogaboom
of Taylor, Michigan, was
driving the 45-foot-long,
$750,000 luxury motor-
home for Horizon Transport
from Indiana for delivery in
Oregon. Hogaboom and the
three truckers met up again
on Highway 20 in Eastern
Oregon.
The truckers and Hoga-
boom raced to pass each
other, cut each other off and
pulled in front of each other
only to slam on the brakes.
Hogaboom on more than
one occasion blasted the big
RV’s air horn when he was
next to one of the semis and
flipped the bird to one driver.
Matthew and Sara Alli-
son were heading east from
Crater Lake. Two days ear-
lier they took in a concert
in Portland, then hiked in
Mount Hood National For-
est and at the last minute
diverted to see the grandeur
of Crater Lake. He told the
jury he was glad they went.
“Those are some of the
Kicker
Continued from Page A1
But asked whether she
had the political support to
get the idea to pass, Brown
hedged, saying the proposal
could “stimulate the conver-
sation” among lawmakers.
“We are still having a dia-
logue,” Brown said. “I think
this is still a very tough road
to hoe.”
House Republican Leader
Contributed photo
A judge awarded Matthew Allison $26.5 million in damages
after a road rage incident involving commercial drivers
resulted in the death of his wife, Sara Allison, June 5, 2016.
best memories that I will
hold on to for the rest of my
life,” he said.
For the first time in two
years, Matthew Allison
could again enjoy the out-
doors with Sara. In 2014 he
developed leukemia. Sara
Allison, a pharmacy tech-
nician, helped her husband
stay on his drug schedule
and took him to doctor’s
appointments, including to
see specialists at the Hunts-
man Cancer Institute in Salt
Lake City. She cared for him
and worked full time.
The blood disorder led to
surgery in November 2015
to reverse necrosis on Mat-
thew’s right hip. The physi-
cal therapy lasted until about
April 2016. Coming out of
that, they planned the trip to
Oregon.
“It was our way to cele-
brate having got through that
tough time together,” Mat-
thew said at trial. “It was a
much-needed break.”
They took off from Cra-
ter Lake with Sara driving.
They stopped in Burns, their
halfway point, to fuel up and
switch seats.
Matthew testified Sara
saw how exhausted he was,
so she decided to let her hus-
band sleep as they left Burns.
The crash
The three semis and the
RV continued their peril-
ous actions heading west on
Highway 20.
Carl Wilson of Grants Pass
was skeptical.
“I don’t think it’s a good
idea,” Wilson said. “Once
again, people look at that as
their money, and they want
that back.”
Republicans have long
railed against soaring debts
in the state’s pension system,
which pose a threat to public
budgets around the state.
Brown’s plan would send
$250 million that would oth-
erwise go back to taxpayers
to schools to help them pay
Wednesday, June 5, 2019
Barnes was in the lead,
about a minute-and-half
ahead of the rest. Hoga-
boom in the RV was behind
him. Decou was in the third
spot, and Frew brought up
the rear. Decou earlier tried
to pass the RV. Barnes got
on his radio and said an
eastbound car just drove by
him and it was safe to pass.
Decou pulled out at the edge
of a passing zone to make
his move.
Within a moment he
was driving in a no passing
zone and had maybe 90 sec-
onds to get back in the lane.
Hogaboom did not let that
happen. Decou told Oregon
State Police, when he hit the
gas, Hogaboom punched it
as well. He said he tried to
get over two or three times,
but the RV blocked him out.
The state trooper asked him
why he didn’t slow down
and get back in the correct
lane.
“Because the more I
slowed down, the more
he slowed down.” Decou
replied.
Hogaboom claimed he
was going about 60-65
behind a small BMW car,
according to police reports
and court documents, and
coming into a curve the car
slowed and he had to slow
to make the curve. That’s
when he saw the semi trying
to pass.
Hogaboom said he was
irritated and had to slow
increasing bills toward pen-
sion payments for public
workers.
An increasing share of
local government budgets
goes toward paying employ-
ees’ retirement costs.
Oregon owes about $26
billion to retirees that it is
currently unable to cover.
Brown’s is not the first
idea to withhold some of
the personal income kicker,
which lawmakers last did in
1991.
Sen. Kathleen Taylor,
leading 30 men on what
was later characterized as a
“wild goose chase.”
In 1885, a letter in the
Oregonian newspaper set
off mass speculation. Let-
ter after letter came in with
various and new accounts
of the lost gold find, which
by that time had become
known as the Blue Bucket
Mine.
In 1890, a prospec-
tor named White found the
grave of a woman from the
lost wagon train who died
along the South Fork of
the Crooked River. But she
had died before the nuggets
were found, and he ended
down further. Near milepost
156, he saw the car coming
in the other lane. The car
Sara Allison was driving.
He said he jammed on the
brakes to get space with the
BMW, and the BMW did the
same thing, leaving no room
for the semi.
Decou also saw the Ford
Focus, and Sara Allison saw
the semi.
She jerked the car to the
right and off the road and
into the dirt. Decou hit the
brakes, slid and turned to the
left.
The semi plowed into
the car, mashing the driver’s
side.
Matthew Allison told the
jury Sara woke him.
“I remember hearing her
scream my name moments,
moments,” he said, “…
moments right before …”
He also said he saw
Sara in the car in her final
moments. He said he didn’t
think he got to say goodbye
to her.
The aftermath
Matthew Allison moved
back to Ohio, where he was
from, to live with his father.
They have a complicated
relationship, he testified, and
eventually he moved in with
new caregivers.
He
underwent
hip
replacement surgery in June
2018. Almost a year later,
the career National Guards-
man who hiked national
parks walks with difficulty.
He told the jury one word
described his life since the
crash: “Miserable.”
He suffers panic attacks
while driving. He won’t ride
as a passenger at night. He
has nightmares about the
crash and seeing Sara. When
he wakes, he realizes again
she is gone.
He said, at his lowest, he
considered suicide. But he
feels better, more stable. He
wants to move closer to Salt
Lake City to be near the can-
cer institute, but he has no
family near there.
D-Milwaukie, and Rep.
Karin Power, D-Milwaukie,
proposed using the money
that would otherwise go back
to taxpayers to pay down a
portion of the debt. That bill
has not received a public
hearing or a vote.
Two weeks ago, House
Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Port-
land, proposed keeping half
of the $1.4 billion kicker for
transportation projects.
Brown describes her
idea as a measure to stimu-
late rural Oregon’s economy
up searching in the wrong
direction. That led to a gold
rush at Rattlesnake Creek.
No gold was found, and
White disappeared.
Charlie Brown, a Canyon
City celebrity and founder
of the Grant County His-
torical Museum, joined a
search party in 1897. They
found relics they believed
came from the lost wagon
train between Immigrant
and Silver creeks. Decades
later, Brown claimed the
Blue Bucket Mine was
either in Canyon Creek or
Spanish Gulch.
The search for the Blue
Bucket Mine continued into
the 20th century. A group of
prospectors from Spokane,
Washington, claimed they
had discovered the site near
Dale in 1936.
Charles Hoffman relied
on a detailed daily diary
kept by Jesse Harrit, a
young cattle driver on the
Meek Wagon Train, to
guide him on a 1974 expe-
dition that carefully traced
the lost wagon train’s route.
In his 1992 book, Hoffman
said he found the lost site,
but a close reading never
reveals just where that site
is.
Gold rush historians who
philosophize about the Blue
Bucket Mine have various
explanations for its loca-
tion. Some theories are geo-
graphical, naming actual
rivers and creeks. Others
believe flood waters long
ago buried the site with silt,
so it will never be found.
And a few suggest a
reclusive miner found the
site, panned it clean and
never said a word to anyone
about where his riches came
from.
“I lost everything that
night,” Matthew said at trial.
“I lost my spouse, I lost my
companion, I lost my health
in a sense. I lost my career. I
fell hard. I fell hard.”
D’Amore said the $26.5
million verdict is fitting and
the largest jury verdict for a
trucking wrongful death in
the Pacific Northwest. The
jury recognized how won-
derful Sara Allison was,
he said, but the award also
serves as a strong deterrent.
“We want to send a mes-
sage we have to stop this on
our roads.” he said. “If you
look at statistics, road rage
is getting worse, not just
among civilian drivers but
worse among professional
drivers.”
Oregon caps damages for
wrongful death at $500,000.
U.S. District Judge Patricia
Sullivan allowed the jury to
award the far greater amount
because the Allisons lived in
Idaho, which has no cap on
noneconomic damages in
wrongful deaths.
Frew was the only driver
not a defendant in the civil
case. Still, Smoot Enter-
prises fired him, along with
Barnes and Decou. Smoot
also agreed to pay $900,000
to the Allison estate in a
settlement before the jury
handed up the verdict.
Horizon did not set-
tle and remains on the
hook for the rest of the
$26.5 million.
Only James Decou, 35,
faced criminal charges in
the fatal crash. He pleaded
guilty in August 2017 to
second-degree manslaugh-
ter and received a prison
sentence of six years, three
months, with credit for the
time he was in jail. He is
an inmate at Eastern Ore-
gon Correction Institution
in Pendleton.
A spokesperson for
D’Amore’s firm said Hoga-
boom now drives for Swift
Transportation, the larg-
est trucking company in the
United States.
and add jobs. She says those
communities haven’t fully
recovered from the Great
Recession.
“We have the opportu-
nity to make these one-time
investments in rural Oregon
that will really ensure that
their communities can con-
tinue to thrive,” Brown said.
“This will help ensure resil-
ience should the economy
change.”
Wilson said he met with
Brown and other caucus
leaders Thursday. During the
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
Grant Union High School
graduate Tanner Elliott
speaks with Sen. Jeff
Merkley during a town hall
visit in John Day on May 30.
Merkley
Continued from Page A1
internet to influence elec-
tions, he said.
Russia will continue its
election meddling, Merk-
ley said, further accelerat-
ing division within the U.S.
Other governments might
follow Russia’s lead in this
effort. The U.S. response so
far has been totally unsatis-
factory, he said.
Adele Cerny expressed
concern about President
Donald Trump’s attitude
toward war and the lack of
funding and staffing in the
State Department needed for
diplomatic efforts.
Merkely referred to two
amendments that recently
failed to pass in the Senate
Foreign Relations Commit-
tee. One called for Congres-
sional approval for use of
U.S. military forces in Ven-
ezuela and the other called
for the same for Iran.
A possible explanation
for why Congress leaves
it up to the president when
it comes to use of military
power overseas is the fear of
making a mistake, Merkley
explained. If Congress calls
for use of military power
and the facts are wrong, it
can look very bad for Con-
gress. If Congress withholds
military power when in fact
it’s needed, that could be
worse, he said.
When Grant Union senior
Tanner Elliott asked if elim-
inating the electoral college
was a good idea, Merkley
said yes. The system might
have served a purpose 200
years ago, but presidential
candidates need to be cho-
sen by direct election as a
way to reduce the extreme
tribal divisiveness currently
seen in U.S. politics. Merk-
ley said he introduced a con-
stitutional amendment to
provide for direct elections,
but he didn’t think it would
get very far.
One day earlier, Merk-
ley announced he had intro-
duced a bill to create eco-
nomic opportunities in
forest-dependent communi-
ties while reducing the risk
of catastrophic wildfires.
The Wildfire-Resilient
Communities Act would
establish a $1 billion fund
to enable the Forest Ser-
vice to increase the pace
and scale of catastrophic
wildfire reduction projects;
empower federal agencies
to work with local commu-
nities to plan and prepare
for wildfires; permanently
reauthorize the Collabora-
tive Forest Landscape Res-
toration Program so more
projects can receive fund-
ing in a fiscal year; and cre-
ate a County Stewardship
Fund that would provide
payments to counties equal
to 25% of stewardship con-
tract receipts on federal land
within their counties.
“Folks here in Central
Oregon and all across our
state know firsthand that
increasingly severe wildfires
pose major threats to the
health and economies of our
communities,” Merkley said
in a press release.
meeting, Brown explained
the proposal and said she was
going to release it publicly.
Wilson said that the kicker
was “sacrosanct” among the
22 Republicans in the House.
“I think everybody’s a lit-
tle bit concerned about it,”
Wilson said of his meet-
ing with the governor and
caucus leaders. “It sounds
nice. The goals seem good.
But I think it doesn’t mat-
ter, whether you’re from up
north or down south, people
still want their kickers.”