The Elder Statesman

Re-reading a book is like a visit with an old friend Book Review/published 10/20/05 Skookum An Oregon Pioneer Family’s History and Lore By Shannon Applegate Oregon State University Press Quality Paperback $11.90 By BILL DUNCAN The News-Review Re-reading a book is like a visit with an old friend. Even if you think you know all about the friend, you discover nuances you overlooked in the past. Thus is how it was when I again read "Skookum," by Shannon Applegate of Yoncalla. The book was reissued in quality paperback by Oregon State University Press as a classic work of non-fiction from the region’s past. The original hardbound book was published by OSU Press in 1988. "Skookum" as its subtitle reveals is about "An Oregon Pioneer Family’s History and Lore." While Shannon digs deep into her roots, telling the family story, the book goes beyond that. It is indeed as much a history of the region, particularly Yoncalla, but also of Douglas County. It is a documentary about a people who are the very roots of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. Revisiting the words Shannon wrote they became as fresh as when they were first written by the Yoncalla writer who spent almost 20 years researching "Skookum," an Indian word whose deep meaning is explained as the reader follows the Applegates in settling the Oregon territories. While she does follow a strict timeline beginning when three brothers, Lindsay, Charles and Jesse Applegate, strike out from St. Claire County, Missouri in April 1843 and follow the Oregon Trail to the Pacific Ocean, Shannon interjects the history of emigrants coming West to settle a wilderness. The book could only have been produced with a massive amount of research, far beyond that of the Applegate family. Shannon recognizes those in her family who carefully preserved that history in artifacts, letters, manuscripts, photos and memorabilia that made her research easier. While she uses these tidbits of information, it is her strong narrative that separates this book from just any other family memoir. What adds to the story are the writer’s discovery of those saved letters and manuscripts written by her family members and carefully selected and reprinted in the pages of the book. It gives the reader an insight into the period and the struggles these early pioneers endured to establish settlements. Today travel books laud the romantic tale of the Applegate Trail, but skip the nightmare the Applegates faced in blazing that trail. Shannon puts it this way: "When the road builders had laid out the trail in the summer and autumn of 1846 they had faced countless difficulties, not the least of which was a rugged stretch through a portion of the Calapooia Mountains where nature had left them no alternative save to follow a swift and rock strewn stretch through a terrible defile that was the solitary entrance into the country beyond. Steep canyon walls arose on either side of that creek. The streambed itself, of necessity, became the roadway." To Shannon’s credit, she does not gloss over troubles, not only with hardships of settling raw land, but disagreements with Indian tribes, other settlers and even among family members. I was struck, however, by a story 325 pages into the book about the Applegates and the Yoncalla Indian tribe. "The Applegates were in good stead (with the Yoncallas) from the beginning," Shannon writes. It struck me as incongruous that the current "Indian Wars" in Douglas County seem to be led by Marilyn Kittleman, a county commissioner who makes her home in Yoncalla. In fact Kittleman’s front porch on Elkhead Road, is just a stone’s throw from the spot where 1856 Chief Halo, a courageous, wonderful character in Shannon’s book, refused at gun point to leave his ancient homeland. The Applegate brothers and some other settlers related to Mildred Whipple came to his support much to the consternation of the Indian agents conducting removal of native people to various Oregon reservations. Perhaps the commissioners would better understand the nature of peaceful Indian-White relations, so much a part of our county’s history, were they to read this book. It is these stories and anecdotes that make "Skookum" such an delightful read. As in the original volume, the book is enhanced by the numerous illustrations, old photos and the newer artist renditions done by Shannon’s cousin, Susan Applegate, a talented artist who lives in Yoncalla. In her acknowledgments, Shannon singles out all those who helped her in the research for "Skookum," especially noting the contribution of Ella Mae Young of Roseburg and those of David Hutchinson, now librarian at Umpqua Community College, and Marilyn Woodrich, now retired who was on the reference staff of the Douglas County Library. "Skookum," now at an affordable price in paperback, should be a must read for every Douglas County resident. Shannon Applegate is blessed with being able to take history and blend it into a readable narrative, as she has also done in her latest book, "Living Among Headstones: Life in a Country Cemetery," a story about the historic Yoncalla cemetery. She is also the co-editor of "Talking Paper: An Anthology of Oregon Letters and Diaries." Shannon says she has 30,000 pages that were not used in her writing of "Skookum," but said she plans to use them in some form at a later date. "There are stories there that are yet to be told," she said. (Bill Duncan is editor of The Senior Times. He also writes a weekly column in The News-Review every Thursday.)

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