Standing in the Gap for Oregon

Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy. Proverbs 31: 8-9 Jackson County shares a lot of the history of Josephine County just to the west, having been settled due to the gold strikes of 1851-2. Medford is now the county seat of Jackson County, made so when the Oregon and California Railroad made the decision to go through Medford, about five miles to the east, rather than Jacksonville, in 1884. Jacksonville, originally Table Rock City, was the site of the first gold strikes in the area and became the main financial center of southern Oregon until the railroad changed things. It is one of the oldest settlements in the state. The town, while not a ghost town (current population about 3,000), has been well preserved. In 1966 it was made a National Historic District with 100 buildings in the central part of town included. Jacksonville saw a number of firsts, including...

  Trees in Grants Pass, Oregon My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold. And my revenue than choice silver. Proverbs 8:19 Josephine seems like such a nice name for a county. Josephine County was named after Floyd Rollins’ daughter, Josephine Rollins Ort. Floyd and his daughter were among the first group of prospectors that discovered gold in the Illinois Valley in 1851. They were headed to California but stopped to investigate a rumor of gold they heard from the local tribes. The county was formed in 1856. Several forts were built in the county and much of the action of the Rogue River Indian Wars (1855-58) took place in Josephine County. Most of the local tribes, except for a few small bands, were relocated to the Grand Ronde reservation at the close of the war. Another large ethnic group in Josephine County was the Chinese, who came to mine after the gold strikes. They were required to keep to their own communities, and there were instances of injustice against them. ...

Rogue River Bridge, Gold Beach, Oregon The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. Psalm 92: 12-13 Traveling to Curry County puts us in the extreme southwest corner of the state. Bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the west, California to the south, Coos County to the north and Josephine County to the east, it was an isolated place reachable mostly by water until well into the twentieth century. The county was named after George Law Curry, who was twice governor of Oregon Territory. There are some fascinating legends and stories that have been collected by the county historical society that include lost gold mines and a Bigfoot-type creature that used to scare both the Native Americans and miners and settlers out of a certain area. Curry County, Oregon The population is about 23,000 and the three incorporated towns are Gold Beach, Port Orford, and Brookings. Go...

Oregon Myrtle Tree Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; And it shall be to the Lord for a name, For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. Isaiah 55:13 Coos County is in the southern coast region, not quite in the lowest corner of the state. The county is named after the local Indian tribe and the word Coos means “lake” or “place of pines.” The county seat is Coquille, which means “shell” in French. The first fur trappers showed up around 1826. The first settlement, by members of the Coos Bay Company, was in 1853 at what was first called Empire City. That location is now part of the city of Coos Bay, a portion of the waterfront. This location was also once the very old Coos Indian village of Hanisitch. Empire City was the first county seat, but in 1895 the legislature allowed the voters to decide, and Coquille was chosen. Coos County, Oregon The population is about 65,000 spread over 1806 square miles. Th...