Standing in the Gap for Oregon

Crater Lake You visit the earth and water it, You greatly enrich it; The river of God is full of water; You provide their grain, For so You have prepared it. You water its ridges abundantly.  You settle its furrows; You make it soft with showers, You bless its growth.   Psalms 65: 9-10   The county of Klamath, like Josephine County, is also along the southern border, touching California to the south, Jackson County to the west, Deschutes due north, Lake to the east and Lane and Douglas counties to the northwest. It was established in 1882 and named for the local Klamath Indians. The county has around 66,000 population with 20,000 of that in Klamath Falls, the county seat.   Klamath County contains beautiful country and includes Crater Lake and Crater Lake National Park, which was established in 1902 as the fifth national park in the United States.    Those who came to Oregon in the first wave of immigrants in 1843 and the years afterwards until better routes were made, were required to

  But first… Rogue River Oregon Much has happened since I began this blog post on Josephine County. On September 8 th we evacuated from our house in Molalla due to the Beachie Creek and Riverside fires. Although our house survived there was damage to our family timberland which was in the path of the Beachie Creek fire, and in a domino effect, my daughter and I then relocated to Oregon City.   While I know of writers – journalists, novelists, war correspondents – who write in the midst of chaos, bombs, forest fires etc., I don’t seem to have inherited that ability. But as we get settled, I am once again taking pen in hand.   Getting back to Oregon’s counties….   The choice of counties we explore might seem pretty random – not east to west nor in alphabetical order. We began closest to (my) home, then criss-crossed the state to include all four corners and touch all four borders. Then we looked at population centers. Now we are looking at Josephine County, (for no other reason than tha