Oregon Caves, Chateau celebrations could link to Oregon 150th
Inside Oregon Caves National Monument
From our weekly issue dated March 12, 2008
The 150th anniversary of Oregon will be celebrated in 2009, and some Illinois Valley residents believe that there is a good opportunity to put Josephine County in the spotlight during this landmark event in state history.
The reason why this could be a possibility was outlined during a public meeting at Wild River Brewing & Pizza Co. in Cave Junction Wednesday, March 5.
The meeting was organized by Matthew Klozik, of Oregon Caves National Monument; and facilitated by Sue Densmore, a private communications consultant. She has spent the past two years working with the official Oregon Sesquicentennial Celebration Council, and pointed out the uniqueness of Illinois Valley and how it might capture a great deal of attention during Oregon’s 2009 sesquicentennial celebration.
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The reason for the attention is based on two landmark events that will occur in Illinois Valley.
“In 2009,” said Densmore, “Oregon Caves National Monument will have its centennial celebration, and the Oregon Caves Chateau will have its 75th anniversary.”
There apparently is nothing that she knew of during 2009 in Oregon that could match the significance of these two events. Densmore pointed out that Oregon Caves long has been recognized as one of the number-one visitor activities in Oregon and that the Chateau is one of three lodges in Oregon listed as National Historic Landmarks. Timberline Lodge and Crater Lake Lodge are the other two.
An additional point of significance was brought to attention during a presentation by Steve Mark, National Park Service historian and author of Domain of the Caveman, a history resource study of Oregon Caves. He pointed out that one of the most unique tourism booster clubs in Oregon history was the Oregon Cavemen, a group of Josephine County residents that used Oregon Caves as the center of its tourism promotion efforts.
“There are not many national parks that have ever had anything like this in their history,” said Mark, who noted that the group also has a prominent prevalence in Oregon history, which he believed would call additional attention to Oregon Caves during the Oregon 150th anniversary celebration.
One in the audience also mentioned that 2009 will be the 75th anniversary of Camp Oregon Caves, a Civilian Conservation Corps facility active from 1934 to 1941. The camp was located next to Grayback Creek and behind the historic Cedar Guard Station near Grayback Campground on Hwy. 46 approximately 12 miles from Cave Junction.
The camp had a population of 200 youth doing projects involving Siskiyou National Forest and Oregon Caves National Monument. They did most of the decorative rock work around the historic Chateau, built trails, and worked on a variety of other projects, including construction of Illinois Valley Airport in 1940.
Oregon Caves Superintendent Craig Ackerman emphasized that there is real opportunity for the community to promote the area and attract tourist spending in Josephine County with these events. However, he wants the community to be involved in helping define the event and organize other parallel events that could strengthen the ability of the valley to get the most out of Oregon’s 150th anniversary celebration.
“The Oregon Caves centennial celebration is your event,” he told the audience. “We want to hear what you want to have happen at the monument,” he said.
Densmore asked the audience of around 15 participants for some ideas of what the community wants in the way of celebrating the Oregon Caves Centennial.
Pam Gutekunst, Chateau manager, mentioned that the lodge had a history of providing entertainment to guests, and that for many years, employees were selected based in part on their ability to play musical instruments or sing.
“I would like to see choirs or musicians playing at the lodge,” she said. “Maybe we could have an old-time campfire program with a choir or guest musician on weekends during the summer months in 2009.”
The suggestion by Gutekunst, prompted Ackerman to suggest that there might be a good opportunity for organizing a reunion of former lodge employees. This drew a lot of interest from the audience, but there was a degree of uncertainty on how to find and contact former employees.
Greg Walter, of Cave Junction, suggested setting up collaborative educational opportunities between Oregon Caves and the annual Siskiyou Field Institute courses or educational programs offered by Deer Creek Center near Selma.
“Maybe we could organize a series of special programs for the monument,” Walters said.
There was also a suggestion for organizing an equestrian ride over the historic trail to the cave, the route that was used by Elijah Davidson when he discovered the cave in 1874. This ride likely would go from Williams to Oregon Caves following a route that could include the old Clapboard Trail to Windy Gap near Grayback Peak and then the Boundary Trail to Bigelow Lakes before dropping down to the monument, a distance of about 20 miles.
One of the interns at the monument said that he is working on finding documentation to validate the historic relevance of this route.
Dave Thompson, the lead guide at Oregon Caves, suggested getting photos enlarged, and developing a traveling display that could be put up at the airport for the 2009 season. This prompted additional discussion about encouraging local artists to do illustrations or paintings that might be used in displays or exhibited at Cave Junction’s weekly Second Friday Art Walk.
Karen Stiles, of Cave Junction, suggested a bicycle run to the monument or maybe a foot race over some of the trails.
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“The road up to the monument is a beautiful bike ride,” she said adding that this is the sort of thing that participants in Cycle Oregon look for and participate in. Like many people in the room, she expressed interest in how events like this would benefit the local economy with increased tourism and promote the valley in a positive light.
The discussion then turned to how the event might be celebrated.
“Should we do this in one day, a week, or spread out over the 2009 season?” asked Ackerman. There was no consensus, but the group generally indicated an interest in a series of related events spread over the season.
Several dates were suggested to include May 15, the date that the lodge was dedicated in 1934; July 12, the date that the monument was dedicated in 1909; and Nov. 11, the date that the caves were discovered in 1874.
There were also suggestions that the monument partner with other event organizers to become a significant part of other annual events such as the Blackberry Festival, Boatnik, and Josephine County Fair.
The meeting concluded with a great deal of enthusiasm and an air of optimism from participants that Illinois Valley and Josephine County have a significant opportunity to be in the lime light during the Oregon State sesquicentennial.
(Notes from this meeting and another meeting to be held in Grants Pass will be compiled by Densmore and made public later.)
