November 2023 History Forum
Our third History Forum was a great success, if I do say so myself! Each of the previous sessions have been fabulous, but more on the “lecture” side of things rather than like a true Forum. So, today before I introduced our Guest Historians, I put on my old Teacher’s Hat and explained (sort of) the difference between a lecture during which you mostly listen and then leave and a Forum which requires your engagement afterwards and maybe even during. I also explained that I wouldn’t be “moderating” so much as acting as a Harridan* to get their participation going. (*Harridan: shrew, harpy, harpy, termagant, vixen, nag, crone.)
I’m not sure what part of all that introductory business played in today’s success, but there were questions and comments and speculations and ideas galore both during and after each of the presentations. Steve Rogers spoke first about the story of Willie Kiel but enriched it with information about the towns that were settled 70+ years later in the area when the railroad came in. And about the pluses and minuses of historical fiction and of taking Jane Kirkpatrick to see Willie’s gravesite and…
Michael’s talk on Pacific City centered around a power point program showing Washington Hall’s original plat map for promoter (or shyster?) Elijah White’s dream city and a number of maps “locating” where it was relative to what is there today — like Ilwaco and the Coast Guard Station. He told about Ed Loomis and Wallace Stuart’s sawmill there — the first in Washington Territory and then the Forum members circled back to Steve and asked why it (the boiler for the sawmill) wasn’t in the South Bend park along with the Oysterville jail cell. (And, yes, there was some razzing about the Kidnapping of the County Seat with Steve expressing the wish that it was still here and the Oysterville folks smiling sweetly that they were so glad in retrospect…)
Dr. Elijah White — Promoter, Dreamer, Shyster? Photo Courtesy of Oregon Historical Society
Michael also took the opportunity to tell folks about some of the easy (and many free) sites now available online where information is available with a minimum of effort for those with maximum interest. All in all — people stayed beyond the noon time stopping point, eating cookies (provided by Carol and Tucker) and chatting about a gazillion aspects of Pacific County history that they were curious about or knew about. And I didn’t have to be the ‘H’ word at all!
If you weren’t there today, for a little taste of what you missed, you might try reading articles that have been in the Chinook Observer not all that long ago. This one about Willie Kiel:(https://www.chinookobserver.com/life/saints-or-sinners-characters-of-pacific-county-sad-strange-tale-of-willie-kiel/article_c1d18bf8-314e-11ee-87e1-2b7268dd1cfc.html) And this one about Pacific City: https://www.chinookobserver.com/life/once-upon-a-time-in-pacific-county-pacific-city-almost-but-not-quite-real/article_a459c236-6ec2-11ea-a87f-572127498811.html
And lest you think I’m being self-serving (probably not for the first time) I would point out that each of the speakers did suggest that their listeners check out the articles — at least for an overview of today’s Forum presentations. In addition, the video of today’s Forum should be available soon on YouTube — just type in Pacific County History Forum YouTube.
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