By Jo-Brew (Pat Edwards, editor and collaborator)

360 pages

Long before Interstate 5 was built, Pacific Highway, later designated U.S. Highway 99, became our “Main Street” not only through the State of Oregon, but from Mexico to Canada. Unlike I-5, U.S. Highway 99 went through towns and small communities along its path, bringing them the means to connect with the rest of the state and nation. Jo-Brew takes us on a trip, south to north, beginning at the California-Oregon border, as the highway continues its climb through the Siskiyou Mountains. We then go down through the connected valleys where economies were built on orchards, forests, farm lands, recreation and businesses built to support the growing reliance on the automobile and commercial truck traffic that used it daily to deliver people and products to their destinations.

OREGON’S MAIN STREET: U.S. Highway 99 “The Stories” takes us along this route today, but it is filled with the stories of those who grew up, worked, played and raised their families in the communities along its path. Over 150 individuals shared their stories, some in the form of old letters and diaries, but most in first-person accounts through interviews, letters, email and even phone calls all done personally by Jo-Brew. We both worked together on researching, editing and laying out this and its companion book, “The Folk History.” She allowed me to co-author “The Folk History,” which contains more stories and insights into these same communities along the route of U.S. Highway 99 that connect with their earlier histories. Her interest were in gathering the stories from extensive interviews she did; mine was focused on the local and folk histories of the communities. For those who love old pictures, you will be treated to many more than we were able to include in “The Stories,” too — 422 photos and illustrations, in fact. Before her death on March 1, 2018, Jo turned over all rights to “The Folk History” to me. Proceeds of “The Stories” were generously bequeathed to the Lane Library League of Lane County, Oregon.

So, climb on-board Jo’s little red Rambler and let’s take a ride up Oregon’s “Gut,” or — if you’re too young to remember driving “the Gut” in your own hometown — let’s take a drive on “Main Street, Oregon.”

$17.00 plus $5.00 shipping

By Pat Edwards

558 pages

In 1913, the first shovelful of dirt was turned by Oregon Governor Oswald West on the Siskiyou Pass to mark the beginning of the construction of the long-dreamed-of Pacific Highway through Oregon. At the time, the whole State of Oregon had only 25 miles of paved road. Even after construction of the highway had begun, it was mainly dirt and gravel for quite some time. Federal money did not pour into the project until 1921. Up to that time, it was up to the individual counties along the route to come up with the funding to build the roads through each of their areas. By its completion in 1926, however, it was adopted as U.S. Highway 99 and was declared the longest improved highway in the country by 1928. Actually, the history of the highway began long before 1913. This book will cover how the route for the Pacific Highway was determined through its use by Native tribes and later by trappers, miners and settlers who used portions of the California and Applegate Trails in their journeys, and eventually by the stage lines and the railroad. It will also show how each of the settlements along its route were formed and grew into prospering cities, small rural communities and some that are now ghost towns. Join us on our journey through these communities as we wend our way north from the California border where the Pacific Highway first started from that shovelful of dirt. You’ll learn about some of the interesting, but lesser-known, aspects of their histories and the people who were instrumental in making them what they are today.

$22.00 plus $5.00 shipping

By Patricia Ann Edwards

274 pages

Originally published in 1987 as Sawdust and Cider; A History of Lorane, Oregon and the Siuslaw Valley, this book is a major revision. Published in September 2006, From Sawdust and Cider to Wine has grown from 165 to 269 pages. It contains over 230 black and white photographs, 100 family histories and 6 maps from the community of Lorane, Oregon, located southwest of Eugene in Lane County, Oregon.

“But, if I’m not from the Lorane, Oregon area, why would I want to read your book?”

You don’t have to have any connection to Lorane or, for that matter, Oregon, to find this book of interest. For the “Baby-Boomer” generation, it will evoke memories of the days before television, computers and cell phones, when communication came across the airwaves of the family’s wonderful Zenith radio or via the crank telephone’s party lines. It will bring forth memories of vacations taken in the family car when “getting there” was half the fun! You’ll remember how you and your friends picked daisies and watched propellered airplanes fly overhead as you lie on the lawn during long slow days of summer vacation, dreaming of adventures that you would encounter when you “grew up.” It will bring back the realization that the “good old days” were not always easy or untroubled, but they were far less complex.

For many, it will bring back the stories told to us by our parents and grandparents of the World Wars, the Depression, the “horse and buggy days” and the pioneering spirit that formed our great nation.

Yes, this book is based on the little community at the south end of Lane County, Oregon – a former timber community now internationally known for its production of fine wines. But it also chronicles the fairly recent history of the pioneers who braved the elements and the unknown and traveled the Oregon Trail and the Applegate Trail to carve out – hopefully – better lives for themselves and their families.

$25.00 plus shipping

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