Beard Laws (00:00.05)
Welcome back, everybody, to the Your Town podcast. I'm your host, Matt, and that is over there. You can't really see it unless you maybe you're watching it. But joining me in the Your Town studio that has multiple different studios within it is the beautiful Meg. What's up, Meg? Hey. Got another interesting one. We were hanging out today and I said, hey, we got 16 out of the 50 states. Do you think that maybe we should come up with a new state? And you're like, yep. And you said, which state?

Oregon. Which some people are going to say Oregon. I don't even know how to say it anymore because most people are like Oregon, but it says Oregon, origami. It's a confusing word. So you might hear Oregon. You might hear Oregon. Just deal with it. Or feel free to, you know, chime into all the social media and tell us how wrong we are, because those are always fun, right? Yeah. I mean, I don't mind them. Engagement is good.

But yeah, we're going to have a beverage and tell you a story from Oregon in the past. And this one's a little bit interesting. And while we grabbed a beverage, a thought came into my head and said, Meg, we're almost officially out of being able to put the beverages or beers on the porch and keep them cold season. I know. And I'm super excited about it. Are you? I love second fridge season. I do. But at the same time, it turns out I don't really like being cold. I like cold beverages occasionally.

I don't, I'm ready for spring. I'm ready for summer. I'm ready for nice weather. It's been a long couple of months. So. So I just need like a walk in cooler then. Hmm. Slash freezer. OK, what I'll tell you is when all of these lovely people go to our Patreon that doesn't exist and continues to donate whatever money we have left over from them donating, like we said in our last episode to our honeymoon that we haven't taken yet, we'll put it towards a walk in cooler deal.

Okay, we're gonna need a bigger studio though to have a walk -in cooler. Is that cool?

Beard Laws (02:02.866)
Sure. She didn't say no. It's on the podcast. I was thinking, I feel like I'd prefer a walk -in pantry over a fridge. Not that I'm thinking about it. A walk -in pantry. We do have one of those. It's just not cleaned up. It's a closet. Well, that's on you. Anyways, just kidding. So we're going to have a walk -in pantry closet with all the amazing Your Town Money we're bringing in soon. I'm excited. Hopefully they all love this episode and this is the one.

that puts us on the map. But if it doesn't put us on the map, it's going to put us on the map on the yourtown .com website because we just had our 17th out of 50th state, Oregon. So shout out to that. Check out yourtown .com if you'd like. Also check out deluxeeditionnetwork .com. Podcast of the month is Bacon is My Pod and the Beard Laws podcast. I wouldn't check out the Beard Laws podcast. I heard it's terrible. But definitely check out Bacon is My Pod. Who doesn't love bacon and podcasts? So today.

Again, we are going to journey ourselves into the mysterious past of Copperfield, Oregon, tucked away in the Pacific Northwest. Copperfield may seem like any other quaint town, but beneath its surface lies a history filled with intrigue, scandal and whispers of the supernatural. Boom, nailed it. So let's try to do the introduction. Last week didn't work. So sorry to the YouTubers, but…

I did go ahead and edit it in for our audio only listeners. Let's try it. Whenever, whenever it makes us go. Ready, set, go.

Beard Laws (03:53.33)
Maybe it worked, maybe it didn't, but either way, we're back at it. We're going to talk about Copperfield. I'm super excited. Sorry about the squeaky chair, everybody. I need some WD -40 in my life. Check out that patron that doesn't exist. So we can afford some WD -40. All kidding aside, Copperfield, it's a former town in Baker County in the US state of? Oregon. Not known as the trail. Everybody knows this thing.

Well, more people know it. We're from the East Coast. We don't know a ton about the West Coast. But when I hear Oregon or Oregon, it's the trail. Everybody knows the trail. But this isn't that trail. But this place sits on the west bank of the Snake River and also on the north bank of Pine Creek, downstream of a feature of the Snake River known today as Oxbow, which is kind of cool because there is Oxbow references in towns and places near us.

So to understand Copperfield, we must first travel back to its founding days in the late 1800s. The town owes its name to the copper mines that attracted settlers seeking fortune and opportunity. The promise of wealth to people from all walks of life, from seasoned miners to ambitious entrepreneurs. And according to a writer slash journalist or whatever they might have gone by back in the day in Oregon, Stuart Holbrook said that there was actually no copper in Copperfield and that the community.

had one purpose, namely to cater the uninhibited appetites of more than 2000 men who are engaged on two nearby, two nearby construction projects. Right? So you have this guy that's writing this, but there's also documentation that in 1895 prospectors found copper on both sides of the Snake River, but the mines couldn't actually be developed because they had transportation issues.

kind of a bummer, huh? We got all this money, this fortune, this copper, but we can't do anything with it because there's there's just no way to, you know, move it. Yeah, that would be a bummer. That'd be a huge bummer. But you would think that they would be able to get through there and then in 1898, along a Northwest Railway Company line that just never developed, which actually led to a lot of these transportation issues, false hopes and everything, there was this land copper field, then they put in a post office.

Beard Laws (06:19.442)
in 1899, so it's officially a town. It's officially a place. Population, the population grew to a thousand people by 1910. There are actually two tunnels, tunnels, tunnels. It just dug in tunnels is now done. Words are tough, but these tunnels, these two tunnels are actually dug near the Oxbow by a local railway railroad company as kind of like an early power plant. And the actually.

predecessor of the Idaho Power Company, which some people in the present time in that area might actually know about that right now. But as Copperfield flourished, so did the corruption, the violence and all of the bad things that seems to come with some mining towns and, you know, development of people in townships. So the town became a hub for illicit activities from gambling dens,

brothels and they actually catered to the desires of the miners and the transient population. At its peak, Copperfield was a bustling town that approached around 3000 people. But life in Copperfield was far from easy. The harsh conditions that are mines, the construction workers, the remote location kind of made for a very challenging existence for its residents. People start to kind of leave jobs. They start to go away. But what jobs were left?

The competition started to become pretty intense. Saloon owners, they start feuding businesses. They started being burnt to the ground. Arson, underage drinking, other violent crimes. They're growing. And right around, I believe it was the 1910s, 19 whatever, the town is actually considered lawless. So here comes Governor Oswald West. He…

says, you know what, I'm going to send my secretary Fern Hobbs with a signed declaration of martial law because we need to clean up this place. I might be thinking who? Vern Hobbs? Pretty cool. Pretty cool name, right? Could she actually though handle being sent down here to go into these bars, tell a lot of these huge violence saloon owners to, hey, guess what? You're closing.

Beard Laws (08:44.434)
Wow, she's five foot three, right around 104 pounds, according to the research done 28 year olds at the time, but she's not your ordinary secretary. She actually left on her own age. She left on her own at the age of just 12. She completed her high school education and actually fought her way through life working as a governess for a wealthy family before learning stenography stenography and actually typing. She becomes a secretary to the president of the Portland title.

Guarantee and Trust Company. Because of her outstanding work, she moved to the Ladd Estate Company. At this time, she was caring for her younger brother and sister, actually seeing to their education. Next came her job at the Capitol. She continued to work hard. She actually obtains a law degree at Willamette, probably said it wrong, University, successfully passing the bar in 1913. I'd say Willamette. Yeah, that was pretty close.

But how I mean, she leaves at 12. Right. Finishes her education. Works, works, works, gets a law degree. And now she's sent to go tell this town, Hey, Marshall, it's obviously on the outside. She's pretty small, but on the inside she was fierce. I think we both thought the same word. It's crazy. So her and five military personnel.

arrived by train in Copperfield. And they call caught wind the whole town and they're thinking this is going to be awesome. So they welcome them. They decorate the town. Whatever is left of people reportedly under 100 people at this time, they turn out. They want to greet her. They want to greet them. They even had a welcoming committee. Some reports said with bouquets, you know, the city councilmen, everything are there. So on behalf of the governor, Hobbs presents all city councilors.

with resignation papers to sign. Right out the gate. Hey, we're here. So on the advice of James Nichols, an attorney, they decline these paperwork. But it's not going to be that easy. Hobbs then turns matters over to Colonel BK Lawson, and then she leaves. She just jumps on the four o 'clock train. Says, see you later, stays at a hotel and off she goes. Her job is done.

Beard Laws (11:11.346)
It's not done though. Lawson then reads the Mayor West's proclamation of martial law posted that the three saloons that were left must be closed in places, military personnel at each door. It does get a little bit crazy. There are reports, you know, it started with five, next thing you know there's 10 and kind of conflicting reports because of the time, the area and everything else in there. The craziest thing, the most amount that I saw on there was I think about 20 military personnel.

that are coming in here. And again, if there's only around 100 people, 20 military people, that's quite a lot because not only do they come in, but they then confiscate all the weapons in the town, which again, the report, which will tell you in the sources was around 170 weapons. They not only take all the weapons, they take the liquor, they take the gambling equipment, they ended up taking 10 ,000 pounds of liquor, beer, as mentioned, the gambling devices and.

I'm not sure why this was in there, but it was reported a couple of racy pictures. They load it all up onto the train and they bring it to Baker. The gambling devices were actually burned by the troops right at their city dump. Who do you imagine that scene? And I mean, there's reports to that some of these saloon owners, there was a couple that are just names that I couldn't pronounce. They were like six foot six, like some monstrous people. But.

throughout all this, obviously, with all the lawlessness and underage drinking and stuff, it was lawless at the time. They had to do something. Was martial law the right answer? I don't know. But does the ending for this town end up good? Does everything work itself out? Well, I guess we should probably keep going, huh? Mayor Henry A. Stewart and Councilman William Wigand? I'm not going say that one. That's a tough one.

But they were obviously saloon owners. Those were the two of the three the third one I could not say there was more vowels and consonants It began with a K and it had some Z's in there If you were playing cash word and had all those letters, you're not winning anything on that lottery ticket They actually said hey, we're gonna we're gonna bring a lawsuit against West Hobbs Lawson everybody and You know anybody that anybody and everybody that brought in this martial law the governor ordered Lawson to ignore it

Beard Laws (13:30.674)
They were fearful that Rand would arrest him for contempt of court, Lawson requested reinforcement, reinforcement. And then, yeah, here you go. More military men arrive in the town. Now, what became known as the Copperfield Affair, if you want to Google and read more about there, then goes to court. All right. Obviously, these guys, I say, hey, we lost our business. You gave us martial law. You took everything from us.

And the judge apparently rules that the declaration of martial law could not be enjoined by the courts, but that the saloon owners could bring a civil action for damages if the governor had abused their rights. They wanted at the time for damages done and all that stuff. They wanted around eight thousand dollars. All right. But the decision was made and was actually upheld by the Oregon Supreme Court. They lose. Not only do they miss out on the opportunity that eight thousand dollars actually had to pay.

for the trial. But now the saloon owners, they go back to court, but this time they're in trouble. They are, they're tried for selling alcohol to minors. The ex mayor, H .A. Stewart was tried. He was the first one up. Five minutes, five whole minutes he was acquitted. The mayor, good. And guess how many other people were tried? None.

None. Wow. Yeah. The saloons in Copperfield, they never reopen. And in the late 1915 ish era, less than 100 people. I think it was even down to like 82, 83. And obviously they had to leave. But the main reason they left, there was some kind of mysterious fire that did occur that nobody got in trouble for. They don't even know who did it. And it burned down pretty much.

most if of the town. But you know, the only thing that really was around at that point still was the post office. Yeah. Again, there's rumors, there's speculation, but again, nobody was actually held accountable for the fire that kind of finished off this town. The town just struggles. The people that are there. I don't really know what they could do. I mean, there's no saloons. There's no nothing. The town is pretty much at this point a ghost town, but it becomes officially a ghost town.

Beard Laws (15:56.05)
in 1927 when the post office closes. It's wild. It's just just unbelievable and unfortunate, really. You know what I mean? So how do these fires keep breaking out? You know, there was a big arson problem. So it sounds like after all that happened. I mean, yeah, there was there was still some violence. There was still some things going on. And then.

You know, maybe some people planned on leaving. Obviously, we're not around the time. There's nothing reported. But maybe my my first impression was like, you know what? I'm out of this town. I've had enough. Nobody should reopen this town and they just. Start burning, start just taking care of some stuff and again, Oxbow, even if you look at it now, it's still just an pretty much an unclaimed territory in the United States. There's just nothing there. I know in like 1965.

the power company, you know, kind of tried to do some stuff. There was that power, you know, like a pre early age power dam and some stuff that that was work that was done when they kind of dug the tunnels and everything. And just there's just nothing, nothing there, just land. I think a lot of it's just kind of used for, you know, horses, sheep, just kind of some farm animals. Just nobody really live in there. It's unreal.

And the more you look into it, there was kind of some other articles, some other towns when I was doing some research, there's there's a decent amount of land over there in the Pacific Northwest and, you this kind of area that is just kind of the same, you know, kind of had a wild, dark past. The town goes away and never rebuilds it. There's really nothing there. I mean, the mining shot, you know, no transportation, no good land. It's just it's just there. Yeah.

Shout out to the Oregon or Oregon, however you want to say it, genealogy .com Wikipedia. We love Wikipedia. Oregon encyclopedia and around .uoregon .edu. All good sites. A lot of good information there. Shout out to everybody that did the research and stuff there. Do a little bit of a quote. You want to read the quote? Yeah. Okay. I'll read the quote. You can learn all kinds of habits quickly under martial law by Kurt.

Beard Laws (18:21.554)
Van Gutt Jr. also known as Deadeye Dick. Or from Deadeye Dick. Maybe it's a book. I don't know. Two different people. Maybe it's two different people. Maybe it's a book. Maybe it's moving. Maybe it's something that we'll do in a future episode. So that's all I got. You got anything else Meg? Nope. All right. Make sure you guys check out some previous episodes Yorktown .com. This is all available on all the social media or anyplace you could get a podcast. And we got a YouTube

We got an Instagram. I don't know where Zach's been. He's hanging around, hanging around. Hopefully everything's good with him. Maybe he'll start writing some stuff. Maybe he'll start posting on the gram. Sorry that I haven't had a lot of time to post on Instagram. Maybe you want to learn how to post on Instagram? I'm not very good at that stuff. They say you can teach an old dog new tricks. Pretty old. You're not a dog. But all right. You know, these mining towns tend to have some pretty interesting stories.

I know. And I was I was really hoping that because I started looking into some more and then there was like the shootout, the double murder and all this stuff. And I'm like, this is going to be even wilder in this town. There are towns pretty close to this place, but it wasn't actually Copperfield. But I have to imagine we could expand on it. That's what I'm thinking. Yeah, we can add some more. And especially the people you guys love. Oregon, Oregon. That should be a town within it. You know how they do other states in the states will do will do Oregon, Oregon, Oregon.

Spelled the same but pronounced differently. Exactly. But yeah, we could do a couple more if you guys are into this. The Wild West was the Wild West, wasn't it? And like I said, there was a lot of murders. There was a lot of crime. And I have to imagine there was, I mean, there were in some of these articles that we went over that we did give the sources to, there was some stuff, but I couldn't find more of the information. So I didn't really want to put out there, but there was there was talks of, you know, like a potential, like I said, a murder of this one.

There was like these infamous people in the towns that were kind of raising hell and there just wasn't enough detail to kind of throw it out there. And I don't know. I don't know the actual thing. I'm not a journalist. I'm not a researcher, but I would have to imagine that if I want to find the same kind of information in multiple sources to make sure it's good, you know what I mean? So it wasn't a lot there, but I have to imagine there is a lot there that just some untold story. So if anybody happens to maybe be.

Beard Laws (20:42.002)
in that, what is it, Baker County or Oxbow area, maybe a historian, and you just happened to stumble upon this and you had some cool information about this story or something else, please hit us up. That'd be awesome. And also, if there's any historians out there, small towns, big towns, we'd love to have you give us a topic, give us a story, and we'll give all the credit, the links, anything you want. We would love to continue to learn about this. I'm loving.

not only spending time with the beautiful Meg, but doing this this history and just learning a lot about our country and small towns, big stories and stuff like that. So this is awesome. Hopefully you're enjoying it as well. So to recap, Oregon could be said several different ways, depending where you live. Wild story in Copperfield. Apparently there wasn't really even enough copper in here to be able to go anywhere. And we would love historians to submit some cool stories and Meg's going to figure out Instagram. That's all I got. Anything else?

Okay. Yeah. That wasn't a yes. That was sarcasm. I didn't pick up on that. You need to today, but either way, check out the Patreon. We don't have yourtown .com. We appreciate everybody. That's all we got. You got anything else? Nope. All right. Let's go finish our beverages. Okay. Take care everybody. Bye.