Lost Glories: Old City Hall - Knighton Perfects, Pugh Struggles with Concrete

With news about the Police Station's growth and the seismic instability of New City Hall, maybe it's time to revisit Old City Hall.

Sue Bell writes:

Nothing remains now to mark its presence but a stone shaft and plaque on the southwest corner of Chemeketa and High Streets. Erected in 1989, the monument was installed 17 years after demolition of the original City Hall building when the Civic Center Complex was completed in 1972....

The remaining salvageable material was carted off by wrecking contractor E.S. Ritter to dispose of as he saw fit.

Though the property is now bank parking lot, in a corner which stands the easily overlooked stone shaft commemorating Old City Hall, there are still bits and pieces of the venerable municipal structure scattered throughout the City. In these traces, the memory lives on.

It's a little lonely here.


Not long after it was built it looked like this. Chemeketa is not yet paved here.

Bell continues:

On the 19th of January, 1893, Mayor Gatch and the City Council received recommendations from the Committee on Fire and Water to begin the process of acquiring new City Hall property in order to consolidate all the municipal offices in one central area. An amendment to the City Charter was called for to allow bonding to float a $10,000 indebtedness to the City, which would be added to the $20,000 proceeds from sales of current City property. By April, the Building Committee had completed specifications on the City Hall and were ready to entertain bids on the new construction.

The plans for a "High Victorian Gothic" edifice submitted by Walter D. Pugh were accepted by the Council on April 20th. Pugh's compensation was to be 4% of the contract price for the construction. However, one change in the specifications was recommended at the Council meeting: the clock tower would be 136 feet high, rather than the 156 feet in Pugh's plan.

Here's a much larger image from more recent times, complete with parking meters - be sure to click to enlarge!


One detail that seems have been lost to history is the role William C. Knighton had in the design. According to an article from 1894, just before he was finishing up the Deepwood project (though it didn't get that name until well into the 20th century), Knighton's

first work was to perfect a set for plans for the Salem City hall now under construction.

It would be interesting to know just what this "perfecting" involved! Was it detail work a draftsman might undertake? Was it structural engineering, perhaps for the tower? Was it what we'd today call "value engineering"?

In February 1895, a list of warrants shows that Knighton was still working with C. S. McNally and that Charles Burggraf also had his fingers in the cookie jar!

In any case, in the same report as the list of warrants there was apparent confusion in authority between the superintending architect Pugh and construction superintendent Harrild, and within a few months it had blossomed into a full reprimand over - wait for it! - concrete and masonry:

The report listed several problems with structural concrete, masonry, and iron, and concluded

Architect Pugh has exceeded his authority and has violated the spirit of his contract with the city and laid himself open to just criticism and reprimand by the council.

Maybe it's no wonder the tower on the Grand Theater collapsed in a snow storm! (A correspondent has mentioned another problem tower associated with Pugh, but we couldn't find the reference - we'll update if we can.)

Today the early 70s brutalism of New City Hall probably looks ugly and useless in the same way the chunky Romanesque Gothic of Old City Hall looked in 1972. So that's a cautionary tale about the vagaries of fashion and about probable folly in rushing to vacate and demolish the Civic Center. It's also a little alarming that Salem seems to have a problem with public buildings and their concrete!

But more than anything, it's sad that nothing better than a parking lot has replaced the Old City Hall. That's real ugliness.

(Images: Old City Hall late 1890s and Old City Hall with Parking Meters from Salem Public Library Historic Photograph Collection. It has lots of other images in the collection.)

A Modern Fair Needs more Beer

What stands at the center of the wacky crossroads we call a modern Fair? Beer, that's what!

And if there's an image that ought to express the essence of the Fair, it would be hard to do better than this smiling couple.

A man with hops and his ladyfriend, and everybody's smiling. It's like he just won a crown of hops!

Alas, it's actually from Portland. Journalist John Foyston captured the Governor at the party for the Lucky Lab's neighborly brew, "The Mutt." The Mutt is a fresh hop ale made with backyard hops of uncertain and various provenance brought by friends and neighbors - no purebred, it's all mutt!

The Governor happened to be there, and he smiled. You may recall a note from a couple years back in which we thought he needed a beer. The confirmation couldn't be more gratifying.

There's something timeless about the image. Sure, the Governor doesn't need to pick hops for an income, but maybe there's something intensely regional, local, about our relation to hops and the pleasure we derive from them. (Picking hops, 1930s, Oregon State Library)

As for the Fair, we were talking with friends about the nature of the Fair. What is the proper role for a Fair in the 21st century? Does it have one? Is it too much a vestige of the 19th century?

Management shows the changing role of the fair. From the Oregon Agricultural Society in the 1860s to the State Board of Agriculture in 1891 to Oregon Parks and Recreation in 2006, there's a clear shift from farming to fun. But is it too much an amusement park sideshow today?

Happy people with hops points the way: Maybe beer and wine are the quintessential modern agricultural products! And they bridge so much: bringing together old and new, urban and rural, large and small, entertainment and farming in a way perhaps no other agricultural products do. The drinking, of course, is supremely convivial and sociable!

Can berries, tree fruit, root vegetables, leafy greens, beef, lamb, or pork do all that? A modern agricultural icon has to be something everybody wants to celebrate. Even places out east, like Joseph, Hermiston, and Burns, might have barley nearby. Everywhere in Oregon people toast and drink beer and wine, we're sure of it! Beer is the crossroads drink.

And it turns out there is a small history of beer at the fair.

The official history says that in 1952

The newly created State Fair Commission approved the sale of beer at the State Fair. The order was rescinded a few days later following protests by church groups who didn't like the idea of liquor at an event that attracted so many young people. Beer did not make a comeback until 1971.

In 1958 Lillie Ward, who became Director of the Fair in the 70s, shows the award for "Champion Malting Barley."

But well before that, Salem Beer has a long history at the fair. (The first ad at top from September 1, 1906, the second from September 18th, 1902.)

More recently, last year Rogue was at the Roof Top Pub, but they don't seem to be there this year, and the publicity for the pub stinks.

It's good that the homebrew contest made it back after the Legislature corrected an OLCC mess. But they oughta have a demonstration hopyard and vineyard, a pilot winery and brewery, and a bigger family-friendly pub - they could to tell a history of Oregon and of farming through beer and wine. That sounds like a proper fair for the 21st century!

Governor Kulongoski and the Oregon National Guard

Earlier this month we toasted the raid on Abbottabad, a great accomplishment of one Chief Executive.

We should not forget the commitment of another Chief Executive. As the President said in his address announcing the raid and its success:

The American people did not choose this fight. It came to our shores, and started with the senseless slaughter of our citizens. After nearly 10 years of service, struggle, and sacrifice, we know well the costs of war. These efforts weigh on me every time I, as Commander-in-Chief, have to sign a letter to a family that has lost a loved one, or look into the eyes of a service member who's been gravely wounded.

So Americans understand the costs of war.

And no recent Chief Executive has faced that cost more directly, personally, and truthfully, over and over, than Governor Kulongoski.

A toast to the former Governor, his commitment to the Oregon National Guard, and to the lost.

Mayor Lachmund Snarls and Calls Opponent "A Great Big Noise"

At City Council yesterday, amity was the order of the day. The new Mayor said

"I'm excited for the opportunity to work together," [Mayor Anna Peterson] said. "We must come to this chamber to work together.

To citizens in attendance, Peterson said: "We cannot do this job alone. We need you here with us. We need you to volunteer on boards and commissions."

And, after being elected President of Council, her one-time opponent Councilor Chuck Bennett said

I'm really excited to be working with Anna. I think she's going to do a great job as mayor.

But a century ago, things weren't always so polite - as indeed they could still become today, though today's skirmishing seems to be done in the press, blogs, twitter, and youtube rather than in person at public meetings.

Still, there's nothing courtly about the antagonism in this August 1911 episode with Mayor Lachmund. The rhetoric is also funny. What journalist today would make classical references like "fidus achates" in a newspaper?!

(Ken Burns would like the baseball metaphors, though.)

LACHMUND AND DURBIN CROSS BATS

DURBIN GOES OUT AT FIRST THROUGH CHAIR'S RULING - IS CAUGHT OUT AGAIN AT SECOND AND DIES WITHOUT REACHING HOME PLATE

"He is a great big noise; that is all."

Coming, as it did, from Mayor Lachmund, and being addressed to his lieutenant - Councilman Durbin - that remark caused the spectators in the council chamber last evening to prick up their ears with surprise because it marked the break between the mayor and his Fidus Achates and they had expected to find the two working together as they have always done heretofore.

But while the remark came as a surprise to the spectators it brought none of the elements of surprise to those who had had their ears to the ground for the past week, for they had heard Councilman Durbin remark that at this particular meeting of the council he was going to remark the motion calling for the construction of the Twelfth street bridge, one of the mayor's pet measures, clear out of existence. When those remarks reached the ears of the mayor he incidentally said that when it came to remarking on that question that he would have a few remarks to emit, and that when he got through he would hang Durbin's hide on the fence to dry, and he did, as did not even have a "look in" with the mayor last night.

Opposes Building of Bridge

The battle of words came when Durbin introduced a resolution asking for the reconsideration of a motion carried at a previous meeting of the council providing for the construction of the Twelfth street bridge. He recited in the resolution that it would take all the money in the bridge fund, $7,530.70, to build the bridge, and that in the opinion of a number of councilmen this money should not be put all in one bridge but be scattered among the districts in need of bridges.

Throws Down Gauntlet

When the resolution was introduced Durbin arose to speak in its behalf and Mayor Lachmund, calling Councilman Eldridge to the chair, took a seat on the floor. Just as he was leaving the mayoralty chair, Durbin shouted, "That is right; you are the man I am looking for" and then from then the fight was on - it was a battle royal.

Shuts Off Talk

Councilman Durbin had but barely got started delivering the nice little speech he had been preparing for days on the subject when some one move to table the resolution and some on [sic] else seconded the motion. Durbin proceeded to continue his talk, but a point of order was raised on the ground the motion was not debatable, and Chairman Eldridge ruled him out of order.

"Is the gag rule to be applied to me; am I not going to be given the privilege to talk?" shouted Durbin.

Chairman Eldridge advised him the motion ws [sic] not debatable but he immediately launched out again.

The mayor raised the same point of order again and the chair ruled with him.

Agin [sic] Durbin asked if he was not going to get a chance to talk.

"Not today, but tomorrow," answered the mayor.

Nothing to Talk on Now

The motion was then put to a vote with Durbin still standing and protesting against the gag rule. After it had carried he tried to continue his discourse and now he was confronted with the rule that he was barred from talking because there was nothign before the house to talk on.

But whether he had a subject or not he seemingly wanted to talk, and the mayor again objected, saying "you are talking to the walls now; there is nothing before the house."

Councilman Huckstein moved to grant Durbin the courtesy of the floor, but the mayor objected, and finding himself worsted on all sides, Durbin sat down; it was enough to make almost anyone sit down.

Then the Clash Came

The council went on with its business and Durbin sat silently by evidently looking for an opportunity to break in on the proceedings with a bridge talk.

The opportunity came when a motion was made that a committee be appointed to confer with the Salem, Falls City & Western Railroad company relative to the city co-operating with the company in building a double-decked bridge across the river, and he was on his feet in a minute.

In a general way he opposed the motion and then he drifted back to the motion that had been tabled.

The mayor called him to order, saying the river bridge was under discussion and no other, but the chair ruled against him, and the mayor excepted [?]. Durbin continued to roast - to send hot shots at the council for enforcing the gag rule on him. Finally he sat down and then Lachmund came to bat.

Mayor Airs Vocabulary

"Councilman Durbin is making a mountain out of a mole hill - he likes to hear the sound of his own voice," snarled the mayor.

"The pleasures of victory are momentary but the stings of defeat are everlasting. He is a grandstand player and talks of the councilman from the silk-stocking ward is but hot air - he is a great big noise, that is all; a darned good winner but a poor loser."

That settled it. The council passed the motion and the mayor named the committee and the council went on with its business.

The clash between the two was the first that has occurred since they entered upon the duties of their respective offices and it certainly was a merry one for a beginner.

(Top Image: Old City Hall, circa 1895
Middle Image: Frank Durbin, Sr (1899), Oregon State Library)

Bridge Controversy Nothing New - 1911 Debate over Union St. RR Bridge

Today's eristics in the Statesman over a footbridge between Riverfront Park and Minto-Brown are nothing new.

Just as forces opposed the rehabilitation of the Union Street Railroad Bridge, forces, including Mayor Lachmund, opposed the construction of the bridge in the first place.*


Supporters of the bridge took out a large ad on Thursday, February 23rd, 1911, early in the discussion and planning for the bridge. The ad copy touches on some of the very same issues, with the Coast Guard today succeeding the War Department!

To the ordinary man the building of a bridge across the Willamette, providing one had the money, ought to be a very simple matter, but the Salem, Falls City & Western railroad is finding it to be an exceedingly complicated proposition.

Yesterday John H. and Charles L. McNary, attorneys for the road, forwarded to the secretary of war a request for permission to build a draw bridge across the river at the foot of Union street in this city. This request is accompanied by the plans and specifications for the struture, which will cost $100,000.

Last Monday the council passed a franchise giving the railroad the right to construct this bridge, and last week the state of Oregon gave its consent for the same thing by the passage of a bill through both houses of the legislature. So far about the only department of the government that has not had a finger in the pie are the counties of Polk and Marion.

The war department exercised authority in the matter because the Willamette is a navigable stream. However, it is believed that as soon as the department sees the plans, which provide for a draw sufficient to permit all vessels that ply the river to pass, the permit will be granted as a mere formality. Were the bridge to be a high one, there would undoubtedly be some delay, for then the government would probably send its engineers here to investigate.

The railroad company is pushing the preliminary work as rapidly as possible, it is hoped to begin construction on the bridge in the course of 60 days, and to complete it some time this summer.

Kingwood Park was an early gridded subdivision in the flats in West Salem.

In the same paper a news piece appeared.

BRIDGE GRANT TO BE VETOED

MAYOR LACHMUND DISAPPROVES OF FRANCHISE GRANT TO FALLS CITY ROAD

BELIEVED THAT SUFFICIENT COUNCILMEN WANT ROAD TO OVERIDE THE VETO

Significant Remarks by Mayor Made at the Time the Franchise Was Passed Are Recalled When He Said That He Had Nothing to Say at That Time But Intimated That He Would Latter

That Mayor Lachmund may veto the thirty-five year franchise granted to the Salem, Falls City and Western railroad at the last meeting of the city council is the latest development in the fight that has been waged by the road for permission to lay its tracks on Union street and to span the Willamette with a hundred thousand dollar bridge.

While the mayor has not declared publically that he will use his ax on the franchise, it is well known that he has been opposed to the franchise.

Mr. Lachmund is out of town at the present time and it was therefore impossible to secure a statement from him on the matter. However the Statesman has it from an authoritative source that the mayor has said he would send in a message to the council stating his objections to the franchise.

At the last meeting of the council the franchise passed by a vote of nine to four after considerable discussion. During the consideration fo the bill in the committee of the whole council, Councilman Durbin was in the chair and he asked the mayor if he wished to say anything upon the subject. HIs honor replied that he did not at this time but that he would later.

This remark is significant now in view of the knowledge that the city executive is to use his power of veto.

The main opposition to the granting of the franchise was because the road was to use steam, it being contended that a steam road would make the street unpleasant as a residence district. John H. McNary, representing the road, stated that it was impossible for the road to use electricity.

The grant runs for thirty-five years and gives the road the right to use the streets and to construct a bridge across the Willamette at the foot of Union street.

It is believed that by the people interested in having this road pass through the city on the way to the Abiqua timber and to Silverton, that the council will override the mayor's veto. This will require ten votes if all the members are present.

*We may have more to say on this as hopsman and mayor Louis Lachmund seems to have been especially contentious and cranky in an interesting, though also disagreeable, way. (And more on Lachmund here.)

Remember the Hops Strike of 1933 this Labor Day

In September 1933, as the 21st Amendment repealing Prohibition was nearing ratification, local hops pickers went on strike.

The strike was not long, nor did it seem to be especially widespread. But by striking at a large hops ranch, strikers effectively increased the season's wage by 50% for all pickers.

(The Oregonian, Sept. 14th)

The walk-out had started on Wednesday, September 13th. Faced with "filthy" sanitary conditions, and increased sorting demands, which had cut daily take-home pay by half, the pickers had had enough.

They organized a strike committee and walked out.

By Thursday afternoon, Louis Lachmund settled.

LARGER YARDS FOLLOW LEAD OF LACHMUND

Peace Prevails Along Hop Front After Growers Offer $1.50 Cwt.

Double Crossing of Wage Agreement Among Growers Alleged

...

Thirty cents ended a 30-hour strike of 1200 pickers on the McLoughlin [McLaughlin] hop ranch near Independence when Louis Lachmund, owner "played poker" with the crowd Thursday afternoon and by 4 o'clock the yard gang was hard at work attempting to pick sufficient hops to fill one kiln before night.

Lachmund had acceded to six of seven demands presented by the "strike committee," standing pat on refusing to pay the two cents a pound demanded. Leaving an elevated platform in the midst of the throng, Lachmund disappeared but returned a short time.

"I have just learned that several of the yards are paying $1.20 per hundred pounds for picking," Lachmund stated. "The hop growers association agreed to $1 per 100 pounds but they have seen fit to increase this becuase they are afraid of trouble in their yards. Well, I am going to call their offer and raise it to $1.50 per 100 pounds and make them walk the chalk line by going them 30 cents more."

The Horst, Wigrich, and Livesley ranches followed.

Interestingly, the need for sorting appears to have been an unintended consequence of fighting mildew. In order to have more hops, the growers had used "lavish" amounts of fertilizer and increased the number of vines per plant. Rather than merely increasing hop cones, the combination caused wild overgrowth, which aggravated mildew and increased the need for sorting.

Where this fits in a more general history of Willamette Valley labor or even a more specific history of hops picking, we aren't able to say just now. We haven't found any other evidence of strikes at hops yards, and we feel confident in saying they didn't happen often. But pickers might have struck occasionally. If strikes were very rare, it may be relevant that this was early in Roosevelt's first term. We just don't know. We also don't know about organizing. It is interesting that the Oregonian's tone is much more serious and threatened than the Capital Journal's, which is decidedly jocular.

Any readers with interests in the New Deal or Labor history out there?

(Capital Journal Front Page, Sept 15th, 1933. Note the New Deal National Recovery Administration logos!)

Beer on the 4th: 1876 Centennial & 34 Years Later in 1910, a Century Ago

We're not sure if any neat thread ties the 4ths of July from 1876 and 1910. In 1876 the Statesman may have taken with week off, and there are few details about the 4th locally. In 1910 there is much more in both the Statesman and Capital Journal. The presence of beer in both seems to reflect other, more important, issues.

Safe drinking water and health, temperance, and above all, the Civil War shaped the major conversations around the 4th.

Indeed, Garry Wills has argued that

The Gettysburg Address has become an authoritative expression of the American spirit - as authoritative as the Declaration, and perhaps even more influential, since it determines how we read the Declaration. For most people now, the Declaration means what Lincoln told us it means, as a way of correcting the Constitution itself without overthrowing it.

In 1876 Ulysses S. Grant was President. His Presidential administration was decidedly less successful than his Union Generalship. Nevertheless, his Memoirs is one of the touchstones in American letters and prose style.

Locally, Sam Adolph was advertising his beer. Advertising and editorial were not clearly delineated in papers at this time, so it might be best to consider these advertorial! Water quality was an issue, so the boiling in beer-making would sterilize the water and make for a more healthy beverage. It should not be surprising to see it pitched at families therefore!

"Adolph's bottled lager stands unsurpassed on this coast. He delivers it to families nearly as cheap as water."



"Adolph's beer is carrying off the 1st prize in the way of most extensive trade. He is prepared to supply families with bottled beer, or the article in any sized kegs."



In many ways more interesting than the beer notices is this significantly larger ad from a Portland wine merchant. "California Claret," "Sonoma White Wine" and "St. Helena White Wine"* show just how established were the Napa and Sonoma brands in 1876! But the emphasis on "Rhine Wine" and the whites suggests just how different was popular taste - sweet and white, not red and dry, prevailed.

A year later, in 1877, Klinger & Beck opened their brewery.

A century ago, in 1910, 34 years after the 1876 celebration, William Howard Taft was President. By this time lynchings were common, and from this standpoint Grant's approach to Reconstruction and his support of the 15th Amendment was decidedly more progressive. It is awful to read nearly daily in the paper about lynchings in this early part of the 19th century.

This 4th of July ad for the Meyers department store in the Reed Opera House, appears to show a Union and Confederate veteran reconciling in friendship as a metaphor for mercantile service and the quality of goods. As we saw with the differences between February 14th and February 12th, 1909, the Civil War cast a long, long shadow.

Graphically, the ad is interesting for the way a block of supplied art was inserted into a local ad designed and set at the newspaper.

At the bottom of the ad is a teaser for the Cherry Fair. At least as far as newspaper coverage is concerned, it was a bigger deal than the 4th of July.

This front page cluster shows that the Cherry Fair was competing with the 4th for space in the paper!

Falls City, a logging town in the foothills of the coast range, appears to have had the biggest area celebration in 1910, followed by Stayton, and then in town at Marion Square. The ballgame held near the State Hospital was also a notable event.

Though the Union St. Railroad Bridge had not yet been built, the Falls City, Salem & Western line connected West Salem to Falls City. This map is from a promotional pamphlet, How to Get to Falls City: The Queen of City of Polk County, published by Sunset magazine and the Southern Pacific Railroad. It shows the interurban rail system of a century ago, shortly after the bridge was completed. Falls City and Corvallis are about equidistant from Salem. West Salem to Falls City took one and a quarter hours according to a 1911 schedule.

Some celebrations were held in dry towns or counties. The celebration at Marion Square had a heavy temperance and WCTU presence on the schedule of speakers and events. According to this piece,

The men who have thronged the bottling works at the big Salem brewery the last two days, getting their suitcases filled with bottled beer to pack off into dry counties south and west of Salem looked solemn and guilty but they numbered hundreds....

Many drayloads were shipped by express...Boxes, barrels, and kegs...- all containing straigh Salem brewery products went out to dealers and private parties all determined to have something wet in connection with Fourth of July celebrations. The day of liberty and freedom when the eagle screams and the British are once more routed from the battle fields of the revolution is not to go off without parched throats being refreshed with something besides river water more or less polluted with sewage. The big Salem brewery reaps a golden harvest from the business of the dry counties...So goes the merry battle over booze...As the druggists and bootleggers now all help sustain prohibition, the day may come when the brewers will find this their most profitable traffic and will also sustain the farce called voting people dry.

(At the bottom is an ad for Chamberlain's Stomach and Liver Tablets, which "gently stimulate the liver and bowels to expel poisonous matter, cleanse the system, cure constipation and sick headache.")

*The St. Helena wine could well be that of Charles Krug. Here's an 1881 biography, a discussion of the St. Helena Viticultural Club formed in 1875 with Krug as a principal, and the modern incarnation of Charles Krug Winery owned by the Peter Mondavi family.

Beer is a Liquid Food, Allays Irritability, and Eases Pain

On this election night we need a restorative. From February, 1905.

Beer is a Liquid Food

Salem is Salem

The United States Government Considers Beer a Nutritious Liquid Food

Owing to HOPS being one of the chief ingredients of beer, physicians prescribe beer as a sodasive, tending to sooth, to allay irritability and ease pain. The best of NERVE TONICS.

The MALT EXTRACT in beer furnishes the nutritious elements. It builds up the human system, furnishing new tissues in place of those wasted.

The small amount of ALCOHOL in beer is just enough to furnish a proper stimulus, so necessary to restore the worn out energy. In the true sense of the word beer should not be termed "An Intoxicant." The proportion of alcohol in beer is hardly 3 - 1/2 percent.

It's* USEFULNESS as a TEMPERANCE drink is being recognized the world over. Beer drinkers rarely, if ever, care to imbibe the more ardent liquors. The drinking of beer weens men from the stronger liquor habit, and consequently conduces to temperance and sobriety. Germany the greatest beer drinking nation, uses comparitively little strong liquor.

SALEM BEER is absolutely pure, cleanliness being the WATCHWORD. The highest grades of malt and hops are used in brewing. As a refreshing and invigorating beverage it cannot be excelled. It is the equal of any eastern beer, now on the market.

Every bottle of Salem beer is Pasteurized after it has been sealed. Salem beer fills all the requirements of high class temperance beverage.

TRY SALEM EXPORT BOTTLED BEER AS A HOUSEHOLD BEVERAGE AND YOU WILL BE CONVINCED

Salem Brewery Assocation
Salem, Oregon
Phone Main 2131

*Ha! they didn't know its/it's back then, either

Dueling Editorials on Hops and Prohibition

It's election season! One of its funniest features is what Jack Bogdanski calls "election porn." Election literature is just as exaggerated and stylized as pornography. The genre is a simulacra of the real: it's all about posture and gesture. Real passion is as rare in the one as the other.

Somebody should publish Salem's best examples!

As an example of the arbitrariness and posturing of political claims, we have here a couple of pieces on hops and prohibition.

Prohibition threatened, of course, to remove the market for hops (see the 1909 cartoon here). Prohibition forces worked not only to remove the demand for alcoholic beverages but also to cut down on the supply of the raw materials. As nearly a sine qua non for beer, hops could be strategic.

We have, it turns out, a fascinating example of the turn to hops. This might be the strangest newspaper piece CT has encountered in our research. We're still not quite sure what to make of it.

One day in May 1910, the paper ran a pro-prohibition piece. It ran among news pieces. Then, the very next day, the paper re-ran the prohibition piece and added, side-by-side, the anti-prohibition piece, whose rhetoric appears to have been taken directly from the pro-prohibition piece. These also ran among news pieces - a baseball score and a note about the spring and start of hops. The way the pair was presented make the whole look on the surface like a clumsy parody. Our preliminary take is that it was meant to mock prohibition forces and their arguments.

If you have a better reading, we're all ears!

THE OREGON VOTER CAN TAKE HIS CHOICE OF THESE TWO

WANT OREGON FARMER WITH COMMON SENSE HOPE TO INSTRUCT PROHIBITIONISTS IN THE ERROR OF THEIR WAY	WANT TO KILL HOPS IN STATE DRY FIGHT HOPE TO PLEAD WITH FARMER TO GIVE UP THIS CLASS OF CROPS
Wanted, some live, able and level-headed farmer, who can persuade the Oregon prohibitionist that he will profit himself and the world at large by adhering to the principle of common sense instead of accepting as "facts" the intemperate, exaggerated and baseless conclusions promulgated by the "Oregon Dry in 1910" management.	Wanted, some live, able economist, who can persuade the Oregon farmer that he has greater profits in some other form of cultivation than hops. Apply to the management of the "Oregon Dry in 1910" movement.
Leading workers in the common sense campaign say such arguments are possible. They have an outline of what can be said on the subject, but they wanted it presented in a cold, precise, business form to which the prohibitionist cannot answer. They want some husky farmer with plenty of mental gray matter to take it up, who will go among the prohibitionists, talk to them, argue and plead. And they want the work done soon. Before the November election has come around, they want the prohibitionists convinced, so that they will be among the leaders in the throng of sensible people who are asked to do everything in their power to keep Oregon among the sane and progressive states.	Leading workers in the prohibition campaign say such arguments are possible. They have an outline of what can be said on the subject, but they wanted it presented in a cold, precise, business form, to which the farmer cannot answer. They want some man to take it up who will go among the farmers, talk to them, argue and plead. And they want the word done soon. Before the November election has come around, they want the farmers convinced, so that they will be among the leaders in the throng of people who are to be asked to do everything in their power to make Oregon wholly and absolutely "dry."
Some of the common sense movement leaders have been figuring on this topic. They say that the energy, money and time now wasted by the impracticable application of the mental qualities possesed by prohibitionists and some conscientious but misguided people, could be devoted to a "common sense" movement of regulating and controlling the liquor traffic in the real interest of a permanent temperance movement. Temperance, meaning moderation and sobriety, is practical and of vast profit to all concerned, while prohibition is a delusion, and consequently impracticable. But further than all this, they argue, temperance requires self-control on the part of every individual and strength of character, both of which have a wholesome, permanent influence upon the human race, and aid to upbuild the body along lines laid down by human as well as divine laws. Against this they place prohibition, a delusive theory, which if attempted to enforce, causes demoralization, breeds hypocrisy and disrespect for law and is in every sense a sumptuary measure that is tyrannical, unscriptural and unchristian.	Some of the prohibition leaders have been figuring on this topic. They say that the rich land now devoted to hops can be made to yield a multitude of very profitable crops. These crops, they insist, are more regular than hops can [be] and the prices at which they can be sold annually do not fluctuate like the price of hops. But further than all this, they argue the crops which they mention have a wholesome, permanent influence on the human race, aid to upbuild the body, or furnish clothes or other necessities for the human tribe. Against this fixed, permanent product, they place hops, which, they say, enter almost exclusively into malt liquor products.
If the probibitionist advocated real temperance his teaching would upbuild the bodies into which it is assimilated, say the real "common sense" reformers. Common sense laws, based upon practical experience and in harmony with the rights of a liberty-loving people will bring about a permanent benefit through enforcement. A law that is respected gives permanent comfort. The enforcement of a sumptuary law causes strife, resistance and sore heads and hearts.	"If the farmer grows potatoes, his crop upbuilds the bodies into which it is assimilated," say the reformers. "If fruit is the yield, cereals or general agricultural products, there is a permanent benefit from their consumption. If a clothing product is taken the raiment gives permanent comfort. But if hops are harvested, the consumer only gets a red nose."
This is the economical aspect which the commonsense reformers view. But they want another branch of economy taught to the conscientious but misguided prohibitionist, and that is, that it would be far better for him to give his support and money to the local parish minister or priest to encourage him in his daily work in preaching the doctrine of the lowly Savior in the literal and practical manner as the Savior and his apostles taught it many years ago [...] at large and the prosperity of the nation as a whole.	This is the economical aspect which the prohibitionists view. But they want another branch of economy taught to the farmer, and that is how he can get just as heavy money returns from his land by doing away with the hop crop for all time.
If any practical, stout-hearted professor in the Agricultural College has this problem worked out, he can earn a crown from the "common sense" forces by expounding it just now, so that it may be taken up and taught throughout the length and breadth of this state of Oregon and whenever prohibitionists may be found.	If any professor in the Agricultural College has this problem worked out, he can earn a crown from the "dry" forces by expounding it just now so that it may be taken up and taught throughout the great hop region of the Willamette Valley.

(Sorry, I can't figure out why there's a giant space above the transcription!)

Beer and the Fragility of Old Media: Change at the Statesman & Oregonian

You know we love beer, here at CT. And while we use new media, we also love old media. It's great to see the Ram's seasonal get some coverage in the Statesman.

But on the same day as the Oregonian is whacking a substantial part of their newsroom, coming after at least two rounds of buy-outs, it's a bit alarming to see the pint get the high-quality front page real estate as if the piece was legitimate news, something more than a repurposed press release.

The change in old-media is old news. Still, as the good professor says at the Oregon Economics Blog, the continuing degradation of the fourth estate should be a cause for alarm for all of us.

A toast to good journalists who have lost their jobs, and to all the jobless in the Great Recession. This change is no fun.

Built more than Bush House: W.F. Boothby Water Booster, Controversy Buster

Wilbur F. Boothby was perhaps the first notable architect in Salem. But he did much more. He was also a bit of a public polemicist!

Before the era of licensing and specialization, prior to designing buildings he was originally trained as a carpenter and then engineer. One of the most interesting episodes of his civic life is the controversy surrounding the start of the Salem Water Company.

In her fascinating series of year-by-year snapshots of Salem, Virginia Green suggests that in 1876,"Salem began to solve its water problem." The 19th century history of Salem's plumbing is little known, but a lengthy statement in the Statesman from January, 1878 suggests that the water works and 80-foot water tower built in 1876 together were far from solving the problems.

Salem, in fact, struggled for over a half-century to solve the problems. We've already noted the typhoid scare of Christmas 1909 and how Mayor Lachmund torpedoed the 1911 effort to tap into purer mountain water.

But long before the final water success in the 1930s, Boothby was active in Salem city life. His main buildings are mostly known, though in Architects of Oregon Richard Ritz cautions that the exact extent of Boothby's design work is not always known on buildings to which his name has been attached. Boothby is celebrated for the 1872 County Courthouse¹, the Bush House, First United Methodist Church, the Eldridge block, and the J Building at the State Hospital. Gaston suggests he might also have worked on the Capitol and the Penitentiary. Other than the Bush House, however, his residential work is not known. Boothby died in 1912 and is buried in the Pioneer Cemetery.

The part of his history that is largely forgotten is his role as President of the Salem Water Company. Frank Mauldin mentions Boothby in his history of Salem water, Sweet Mountain Water. About the water tower Mauldin notes

it was a huge mistake to assume the cistern would supply sufficient water without testing it before building the water tank and installing the steam powered pump. When the cistern failed, another mistake was made in not ending the suction line upstream in the main river channel instead of in the Willamette Slough...

(Detail from Birdseye Map of Salem, 1876 at Historic Map Works. Cistern in middle left; County Courthouse in upper right; Reed Opera House and White Corner / Breyman Blocks along Court street in center.)

A short decade after construction the water tower had outlived its usefulness. The leaky tank was regarded as an unsightly landmark...with increasing public criticism the water company decided to demolish the water tower in the 1880s.

Mauldin discusses Boothby's role as engineer and president, but as his interest is mainly the 20th century, and does not extend to architecture, he doesn't connect the dots between Boothby the engineer and Boothby the architect. But the connection is also is unknown to Ritz and given but one line in the Salem Downtown Historic District Nomination.

We can at least highlight the connection here. The 1870s were full of engineering difficulties, outright failures, and political maneuvering around the delivery of tap water. This was the Gilded Age, after all. Tracing out the full extent of that history is beyond our scope here, but a long apologia Boothby arranged to have published in the Statesman establishes his centrality to the problem of water and gives much of the flavor and bitterness of the controversy.

The entirety of the statement is almost 1800 words. It has its longueurs. But the 19th century political rhetoric is pretty great. Not much in the way of pulled punches!

A STATEMENT
By W.F. Boothby, President of the Salem Water Company, in regard to the Action of the City Council

Since public attention has of late been frequently called to the Salem Water Company by certain persons who seem desirous of making false impressions on the public mind concerning it, and who for that purpose do not hesitate to purposely and deliberately utter falsehoods concerning its organization, the means used to procure it charter from the city, and the conduct of its members since it has been in existence, I regard it but due to the company, as well as those who wish to deal fairly and to judge justly between the company, the city and its citizens, that I submit a brief statement...

In the year 1870 the Common Council of the city of Salem advertised for bids to furnish the city with water for a term of years. The time for receiving bids had nearly expired and the term of office of the members of that Council had nearly expired before any bids were presented.

The vote had taken place at the end of a council term in special session. Criticism focused on the timing.

The persons who have made their attacks on the Water Company have not hesistated to more than insinuate that the members of that Council had been influenced by corrupt means, applied by the Water Company, to pass the ordinance. This infamous and cowardly charge is as well answered as any way by giving the names of the members of the Common Council at that time.

Here are the council members at the time.

First Ward – W.L. Wade and R. Williams. Second Ward – J.L. Starkey and J.G. Wright. Third Ward – B.F. Drake and L.S. Skiff. Fourth Ward – J.H. Bridges and J.C. Brown. Not one among them whose name is not sufficient to prove the utter maliciousness of the untruthful scoundrels who made such imputations.

Boothby here may protest too much! The vigorous denial suggests, of course, that quite the opposite was the case. In any event, the revolving door of public-to-private jobs was a problem back then, too, not just in the legislature, and some new jobs gave the appearance of impropriety.

It should be borne in mind that the charge that Mayor Smith and Recorder Waymire were in the Council at the time this ordinance was passed is wholly false, and also that they did not become owners of their stock of the company until long after work commenced.

When a new City Council was elected and seated, they attempted to nullify the contract and waterworks facilities.

The company completed their works and began to furnish water under their contract in 1871, and continued to do so for over two years, when, in utter disregard of their solemn obligation, duly and regularly entered into by the city, under which the company had invested a large sum of money and in such a venture as made it impossible to get it back again, another Council voted to repeal so much of the ordinance conferring the charter upon them, but left in full force all the provisions requiring the company to supply water to the city – and act which was undoubtedly induced by just such false charges as certain loathesome creatures are now making to prejudice the public mind against the company.

Then came a series of settlements, attempts at changing the contract, and double-dealing. There were also wild disputes over the valuation of the Salem Water Company's waterworks. They culminated in a dispute which appears to have got personal.

The fact is, that the money now owed by the company in this city, which has been expended in these works, is more than double the sum named, and this sum is but a part of the cost of the works. I will further state that no officer in the company has or is to draw one cent salary for services done for the company; and that each and every year the company has been compelled to levy assessments on its stock to pay interest, moneys borrowed, and running expenses... [Alderman] Murphy has repeatedly charged that the Water Company were wholly responsible for the late trouble with the Hook and Ladder Company, and that the Water Company had improperly and corruptly interfered with the late election in this city. I desire simply to say that in both of these matters the man who uttered them knew that he was not speaking the truth, and the remarks were only made in his desperate, wanton and cowardly ambition for revenge.

After this, what more could be said? The final peroration is a bit of a let-down, perhaps the exhaustion of one with the weaker case. Unfortunately this letter is plucked like a plum out of the pudding, and CT has not researched its context. Still, it reads more like bluster than substantive critique or defense - and where there's smoke, there's likely fire!

In conclusion I desire to say that any person who will take the trouble to examine the matter will see that the rates originally agreed to be paid to the company, viz., $150 per month, was less than any city on this coast is supplied with the same quantity of water for. I know the people desire to deal justly, act honestly, and do that which is fair, but since this water supply is necessarily a tax upon the city, it is made a pretext for base men playing the part of contemptible demagogues, to misrepresent, by bare lies, the true condition of affairs and to mislead those who do not have the time or opportunity to ascertain the facts.

W.F. Boothby,
President Salem Water Company

As we've mentioned before, as a source of flavored and pre-boiled water, beer was a beverage much safer than tapwater. We are likely, therefore, to understate the importance of beer in the daily lives of people struggling against the frequency of water-borne gastro-intestinal illnesses. Beer was good for you in important ways!

¹ See correction here. Boothby was part of the construction firm and possibly engineer; the design is more securely ascribed to W.W. Piper.

Monmouth Moots Post-Prohibition Prosperity

Who says Prohibition's not relevant these days?!

In the Statesman recently was news that Monmouth citizens are petitioning voters to repeal the ban on hard alcohol.

This was surprising.

Monmouth is proud of its heritage as a dry town, of course. The city's walking tour says it right at the top! (Though perhaps that's more like making lemonade out of lemons...)

But I thought they were selling and serving alcohol now. Turns out it was just beer and wine. According to the article petitioners needed to get 676 valid signatures by December 15th to place on the ballot a proposal to broaden the list of currently permitted liquors. The earlier repeal effort was more narrow:

In 2002 petitioners spirited a drive to allow the sale of beer and wine. Proponents of the current drive cite economical factors favoring the sale of hard liquor and hard-liquor drinks as central to their objective.

Monmouth is a college town, after all.

In a tourism report released September 2009, the lack of restaurants was a barrier to visitors and tourism in Monmouth.

[S]urvey respondents expressed concerns that the current liquor laws might be restricting interest by restaurants.

The Monmouth City Code on alcohol is curious - maybe even draconian. Section 40 of the City Code contains the laws against selling liquor of more than 14% alcohol - so even many wines, strictly speaking, would not be legal. Hardly any American Zinfandel or California reds would qualify, and certainly no fortified dessert tipples. The consequences for violating the code? A $250 fine plus confiscation:

40.320 - Confiscation of Liquor. Whenever any officer shall arrest any person for violation of Sections 40.110 to 40.395, such officer shall take into his possession all intoxicating liquor or other property which the person arrested has in his possession, or on his premises, which apparently is being used or kept in violation of Sections 40.110 to 40.395. Upon the conviction of such person or forfeiture of bail by him should the court find the intoxicating liquor and other property has been used or kept in violation of Sections 40.110 to 40.395, the court shall enter an order forfeiting the liquor to the Oregon Liquor Control Commission and the other property to the city (Ord. 697, sec. 9).

This is clearly directed towards someone operating a speakeasy or otherwise dealing in liquor in quantity. But still!

So anyway, Prohibition's hardly just a relic from the last century! Raise your next glass to Monmouth or buy 'em a drink!

Rampaging Roosters, Horrific Hens: Fowl Fear

The chicken here, rendered in stark black, appears ready to pounce. It is in the attack posture. In a self-consuming frenzy, it will become a mini-berzerker, drawing blood and lacerating flesh.

Some time ago, an urban anthropologist and folklorist suggested that one of his chief informants, Tommy Elliot, might have collected ballads, songs, or other sayings about chickens. This cannot come soon enough. For a poetics of poultry is urgently needed.

Still, until we can get a more definitive reading, it seems clear that Visions of Wasting and Apocalypse lurk behind the urban chicken. Adding to a newspaper piece this morning, one commenter wrote:

But what about our race to embrace Third World cultures?

Affluence could hardly be more anxious. Get these people a beer!

Update:Over at DSS, Emily has turned up some rooster rhymes! They're a little bawdy and the first stanza starts like this -

It takes me back to the good old days
when chickens ran the yard.
My cock would come out every morning
and stand up straight and hard.

Head on over to read the rest!

(Chicken in Bush's Pasture, circa 1900 - Salem Library Historic Photos Collection)

Rapids and Pools

Emily's note about Robert McCauley's "big f-u to 19th century’s more destructive values" at Hallie Ford caught my attention. McCauley's show wasn't on the CT radar, and I appreciated the alert and the review.

Playing with conventions of European genre painting of the 18th and 19th centuries is something I find interesting.

In or affixed to the paintings were lots of cameras and containers, to me signifying the ways we try to capture and immobilize the complex stream of existence. Ways we literally try to contain time - indeed, sometimes to kill time or living creatures. These symbols ran counterpoint to all the water, stream, and falls imagery in the paintings.

Since Capital Taps has a thing for Dutch still life painting, the set of paintings that most struck me were the "Mixed Metaphor" series. Here's Mixed Metaphor XIII. I read the painting as a literal enactment of the words "still life." These are living creatures, immobilized. I did not read them as the product of taxidermy! (Though, of course, the animals are also a painting - but that's a little too meta...)

The animals also cracked me up a little, and while I'm not sure McCauley intended for them to be humorous, they amused me, and I enjoyed the little bit of whimsy amidst the "f-u" seriousness.

Emily didn't remark that upstairs is Heidi Schwegler's "Slipping Underwater," a show that also invokes water and looming immobility.

Schwegler's art doesn't grab me. Or maybe I should say I didn't get it. Your mileage may vary. Here are a couple of bits by fans. Catherine Chandler approaches Schwegler from her own work as a metalsmith. Jeff Jahn writes extensively about Portland artists. The pieces are finely crafted, but they left me pretty empty.

Downtstairs, because water was on my mind, Constance Fowler's painting of the Salem Waterworks attracted my attention. It's labeled "south Commercial," and the slope of the hill confused me. I think the image is reversed, because when you are looking uphill from Trade and Commercial, Boise Cascade site is on the right, and the site of the waterworks (the Fire Station site) is on the left. Two photos that show a similar view are here and here. The second one, in particular, shows the slope and angle that I expect to see in the unreversed painting.

Salem drinking water came from the Willamette until 1938, when Salem started drawing water from the North Santiam. This Willamette water was spiked with sewage, both from local sources and from upstream sources. It's not difficult to imagine how the Santiam water might be regarded as "pure" and "sweet."

Here's a view of the pumping station from 1895. I believe it's taken from the approximate site of the paper mill, looking to the east. It's hard for me to make out the course of the waterway, but Pringle Creek (then also called Mill Creek) swoops north just beyond the waterworks, and the bend remains today underneath Liberty street.

Here's a detail of the
Pumping Station circa 1900. It shows the actual slope of the hill as much less steep than in the Fowler painting. The house or office just behind the pump house is visible in both photos.

It's not surprising that the Salem Brewery was one block north of the water works. Brewers needed lots of water, and once the water had been transformed into beer, the boil and fermentation had rendered it much safer to drink than water from the taps.

The works was demolished in 1964, and the Civic Center built just a few years later as part of Salem's first "urban renewal" project.

Now, in 2009, we are demolishing a similar industrial site, the Boise Cascade site, for another attempt at renewing the urban fabric. What will history's verdict be?

City Hall and the library are designed in a style that hasn't aged well - aesthetically, the Civic Center is not very pleasing, and structurally it is seismically unstable. I understand that a new City Hall will need to be built. It's sad that a civic monument like that should only have a 40 or 50 year lifespan. The Civic Center site, too, has a limited range of uses, and it is desolate outside of business hours.

Hopefully the Boise redevelopment will contain a wide enough range of uses that it will be appropriately lively around the clock, and will be designed and built in a way that ages better than the Civic Center site. Nearly everyone wishes the old City Hall remained instead of the parking lot we have today.