Emily Blakely
As It Was ContributorEmily Blakely writes from her rural farm nestled below Sutherlin’s Mt. Scott, a setting rich in natural beauty and inspiration. She has published poetry and prose, and frequently displayed framed works at the Umpqua Valley Arts Center as well as restaurants and libraries in the area. Her interest in writing for JPR’s "As It Was" program came from hearing Kernan Turner speak at her writer’s group meeting, and she has found it to be beneficial in developing her writing skill. Researching local history has become one of her favorite pastimes.
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In the early 1970s, a roving herd of Angora goats grazed along the slopes of 1,200-foot Mount Nebo, in Roseburg, Ore., blissfully unaware they had become…
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What some call “Oregon’s Secret Garden” features more than 300 species of rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias. It’s an early-1900s-style woodland garden…
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Excited by reports reaching Boston in 1850 of gold and new settlements in the West, a merchant named Gardiner outfitted a ship for trading along the…
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Small-mouth bass are not native to the Umpqua River that flows through Douglas County, Ore. The unusual story of how they were introduced begins with the…
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The co-founder of the Southern Oregon Historical Society, Eugene “Debbs” Potts, also built the Historic Pottsville Museum north of Merlin, Ore. He started…
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The World War II draft called thousands of Oregonians into the armed forces, many of them with backgrounds similar to Dick Rone of the Nonpareil…
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Douglas County, Ore, once had 171 school districts stretching across more than 5,000 square miles, compared to 13 school districts serving 47 schools…
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Central Park in Sutherlin, Ore., displays one of 59 surviving steam locomotives in Oregon. It has a wheel arrangement called a “prairie” with two leading…
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Close to the woods of Douglas County, Ore., Sutherlin proclaimed itself the “Timber Town” and initiated Timber Days celebrations in 1948 during the Fourth…
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The first female bugler in the U.S. military, Donna-Mae Smith of Sutherlin, Ore., was inducted into the Bugler’s Hall of Fame in 2009. Smith began her…