Rooster’s Action In Garden Stuck
In Myrtle’s Craw, Too

…a note from history

Start with one resourceful pioneer woman named Myrtle Lee, add a greedy rooster by the name of Old Dominic, subtract one saucer full of cucumber seeds and you have the ingredients of a story from Oregon’s history.

It was a spring morning on a newly settled Oregon homestead. Memories of the long, wet winter spent in the hastily constructed cabin and of the dangerous overland trek in the wagon train were beginning to fade. At the end of a furrow being energetically tilled by the matriarch of the pioneer family sat a saucerful of cucumber seeds – perhaps the only cucumber seeds in Oregon.

Assigned to act as guardians of the saucer’s precious contents were Myrtle’s two daughters, Liza and Johanna. Freedom after the enforced confinement of the winter months was too tempting, however, and their attention wandered from the seeds to a game of hopscotch.

This was the moment for the ravenous rooster. In a twinkle, an appreciative thief had an unexpected breakfast.

Their mother’s screech and the rooster’s hasty retreat across the farmyard convinced the girls that some action was called for. A chase soon brought the criminal before his judge and jury, combined in the person of Myrtle Lee.

Was he doomed for the axe? Would he be next Sunday’s dinner?

Myrtle dashed for the cabin, leaving her disconcerted daughters holding the struggling fowl. She returned, a straight-edge razor and a needle and thread extended in each hand, determination in her eyes.

Now girls, each of you grab one end of that rascal’s neck and pull,” Myrtle commanded. “And don’t let him wiggle!”

Quickly she slid the razor through the skin and into the craw of the rooster’s neck. Out spilled the precious seeds, along with the gravel that soon would have pulverized them into a digestible mash.

Almost as an afterthought, Myrtle used the needle and thread to make one or two hasty stitches in the incision. Old Dominic, a look of complete astonishment on his face, was thrown to the ground. An epitaph followed him: “Sink or swim Live or die. I’ve done what I’m willing to do for you.”

Within minutes, Myrtle was kneeling down, pressing each rescued seed into the earth with an earnest prayer for its survival.

Now it was late summer. A row of bountiful cucumber plants were thriving in the garden. Future cucumber harvests were assured.

Liza and Johanna, the set of accumulated wisdom on their young shoulder, played happily in the yard. Their games did not take them far from the carefully tended garden.

And Old Dominic? Old Dominic strutted in the hot summer sunshine, pecking happily at the tasty bugs and grass seeds. But he did not go near the garden. Perhaps dimly but firmly remembered was the unpleasant aftertaste found in a saucer full of cucumber seeds.

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Basket Making Required Two Skills

Old baskets made of splint are wonderful additions to any collection of either wooden ware or basket. The making of these baskets involved two distinct skills. The first was preparing the wood itself. The second involved the weaving.

Ash and white oak were the trees most commonly used for splint. They were cut for splint in the spring, when the sap was running. The bark was peeled off and the tree left to weather for several weeks. Then the wood was split lengthwise along the growth rings into strips about three inches thick.

These strips were pounded with a mallet until they were only one half inch thick, smoothed, and cut into desired widths. The finished pieces were submerged in water until they were needed; this kept the strips pliable.

By the mid-19th century, some baskets were factory made, and some of the processes mechanized. These later baskets can be spotted if they have used nails or staples, if the wide splints are evenly cut and/or if there is a wire bail handle.

A variety of interesting specialty baskets were made of splint. A mixture of curds and whey, wrapped in cheesecloth, was put in a cheese basket, which rested over a tub. The whey drained through the basket and into the tub.

An apple drying basket was rectangular in shape, and long and shallow. It was designed to rest on the window sill of an open window. One half projected out into the sunshine; the other half stayed in the kitchen. Periodically, the position would be reversed.

Splint also was used to make goose baskets. These were round and stood about three feet high, with a diameter of around a foot. The splint was woven solid and many of the baskets had lids. While some say the baskets were used to put the goose in, head down, while he was being plucked, more generally it is accepted that the baskets were used to store the feathers and down.

Other specially made splint baskets were for digging clams and trapping eels. Many more mundane general purpose baskets were made also, of course.

Examples of splint baskets are shown in Baskets, by Nancy Schiffer (Schiffer Publishing.)

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Stubborn Man Uses Ladders To Reach Home
Atop 200-Foot Column Of Dirt

...a note from history

At one time, in the general area which now includes the Seattle Center, was a great mound of clay soil called Denny Hill. At the top were an ornate hotel, a Catholic school, the Denny school and a few residences.

These places were hard to get to. One had to climb twisting, often slippery, paths or wooden stairways. Eventually, Seattleites tired of the climb and it was decided to pull the hill down.

The engineering task that produced the Denny Regrade was a real test of ingenuity. Using sluicing hoses, steam shovels and picks and shovels, Denny Hill was torn apart and transported by belts or horse-drawn wagons to Elliott Bay. There, barges transported the hill into deeper water and dumped it. Denny Hill still rests at the bottom of Elliott Bay.

Most of the residents of the hilltop moved reluctantly; they had had a wonderful view,. One man proved especially stubborn, and the hill was removed from around him. For a long time, his house perched on a 200-foot-high column of clay. He commuted by ladders to the ground below.

Eventually, though, he tired of hauling supplies up the ladder and surrendered his property to be dumped in the Bay with the rest of the Hill.

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Root Beer Finds Market With
Temperance Advocates

An example of the Hires Root Beer mug with the curly-haired Root Beer boy.

Charles Elmer Hires was a born entrepreneur and when a landlady served him some root tea in 1870, he immediately saw that it had possibilities. He began to experiment with possibiities for this drink and eventually ended up with a combination that was a mixture of “hops, ginger, sarsparilla, juniper berries, spikenard, birch bark and dog grass.” His friends found it tasty.

A minister friend convinced him to take the drink public, in the interest of temperance, and suggested the name Root Beer to appeal to those whose usual drink was considerably stronger.

The drink was sold at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876, and following that, dried flavoring packets were sold to pharmacies. It was made into a liquid concentrate in the 1880s and sold through grocery stores.

In 1905, Hires decided to enter the growing soda fountain market, and sell his syrup in that way.

He contracted with the German firm of Villeroy & Boch/Mettlach in 1907 to make some ceramic mugs. This advertising mug has become a great favorite with collectors of Hires Root Beer memorabilia.

It was made in three sizes. All three sizes pictured the Hires Root Beer boy holding the same mug. He was a round-faced little fellow with long curly hair. The mugs were made as part of an incentive plan to promote fountain syrup sales. Retailers were offered the mugs based on how many gallons of root beer syrup they ordered.

Other advertising pieces followed, but the Root Beer boy mug was often seen in these, also. For instance, an advertising pocket mirror was made in 1908 which showed a pretty girl drinking Hires Root Beer out of, of course, a mug picturing the Hires boy.

In following years, the boy’s appearance changed somewhat, as did the shape of the mugs, but he continued to be an important symbol of the company.

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