Oregon Books

By Lisa Marineau, staff writer for the Redmond Spokesman Newspaper. Most avid campers have a favorite recipe reserved for preparation in the great outdoors. Somehow, the mixture of mountain air, campfire smoke, and amiable companionship combine with humble foodstuffs to create a tasty meal that defies replication in some kitchens. However, a few hardy folks have gone beyond the tradition of a few select recipes and developed an entire sub-culture around camp meals. This cookbook describes the Runamuck camp culture along with savory offerings of wilderness cuisine. The authors, Hammer and Gadotti, value their time in the brush, but it doesn't come at the expense of good grub. The authors have developed their own language to describe Runamuck cooking, using terms such as "dorkle", "muggle" and "gashied" rather than standard cooking measures and terminologies. These linguistic deviations reaffirm the Runamucks' mission to "muddle and befuddle" normal pilgrims and scuttle a bunch of preconceived notions..including gourmet cooking. Thankfully, a glossary is provided to translate "King's English" to Runamuck-speak. RUNAMUCK RECIPES is a hoot to read whether you're fixin' to upgrade your own camp fare or just looking for a good chuckle.

East Oregonian, Tuesday, April 8, 1997 Pendleton, Oregon by Terry Murray. If cooking is a science, full of precise measurements, and exact times, and performed only in a kitchen that resembles a laboratory, then the "Runamuck Recipes, Reminiscences and Ramblin's" cookbook is not for you. If however, you are one of the dash-of-this and splash-of-that school, equally at home cooking over a propane or hot plate, then this a book that will delight you.... The two authors have conspired to create the quintessential camping cookbook. Not only is the book fun to read (or decipher when it comes to measurements), it is also a perfect gift for the hardy - or is it foolhardy? - men who load up a zillion cans of pork and beans and declare themselves ready for elk camp each fall. The most delightful and confounding habit of the book is the total disregard for easy-to-understand measurements and instructions. Using muggles and dorkles and dabbels and dollops, the authors make no apologies. Runamuck Recipes, Reminiscences and Ramblins' is 104 pages of fun.

BAKER CITY HERALD---Baker City, Oregon, Wednesday, January 22, 1997. BAKER COUNTY LIVING section -- Cookbooks are a hobby for many people, so it's always nice when a new one comes out. The latest addition to the bookshelf is a first book written by Mike Hammer, a former mayor of Granite, under the alias of Striking Tool, and his partner, Tony Gadotti. --This may well be the first cookbook with a glossary in the front of the book. And if you don't read the glossary, you won't be able to understand the recipes. --The book's title may well prepare the reader for what is to come. "Runamuck Recipes, Reminiscences and Ramblin's --Gourmet Grub for Campin'," distills more than 30 years of hunting camp recipes and stories. --The first lesson to be learned is that camp is limited only by the imagination. Camp food must be easy to prepare, taste good, be easy to clean up after, and have large portions. Hammer's camp food includes generous libations for relaxing around the fire with at night. --Recipes such as Frog Holler Frolic and Greenhorn China Camp Steak will tell the reader that most of the names on these dishes come from locations throughout the Eastern Oregon back country. --The reader is constantly reminded that the authors are lifelong Oregon residents who have hunted, fished and generally raised hell together since the mid-1960s.

The Observer/Baker City Herald---------------------- - Friday, March 7, 1997 - by Jeff Peterson --If you take your food seriously, you might want to remain in the loving embrace of Betty Crocker. --But if the thought of Whorehouse Meadow Stew'n Dumplings makes you laugh, you might want to check out "Runamuck Recipes, Reminiscences and Ramblins: Gourmet Grub for Campin". --Written by Mike Hammer, former mayor of Granite, and his sidekick Tony Gadotti, "Runamuck" is more than a cookbook. "There are a lot of storeis behind the recipes; it's more spiced up than an ordinary cookbook," Hammer said. For example, on page 12 the authors talk about Camp Runamuck: The special thing about camp may be "the Runamuck amenities (beverages) that are stacked like cordwood out in the kitchen, or the rumblin' tune a' the creek runnin' by with the brookies bullyin' the bugs...or it could be the cool evenin' breeze a'blowin' pine needles at ya, their odiferous sweetness inisuatin' at yer sensuality. --The authors got started on the book just sitting around the campfire swapping yarns and dreaming up stuff, Hammer said. And that wasn't hard with years of collective experience hunting, fishing, arrowhead picking, bottle digging and other adventuring in the great Northeast Oregon outdoors. Hammer, a bureacrat-turned-mountain man, said the book was in manuscript form for about 10 years before it ever came to print. The book contains a Northeast Oregon flavor with many recipe names originating from places in the state - for example, Burnt River Barbecue with Bull Run Sauce. The language in this book is different from the ordinary cookbook. The cook has to look at the glossary to see what means what - for example, dorkles of chili powder, muggles of onion or garlic cloves guillotined. --Hammer is now working on a second book called "Huntin' Country", a collection of stories dealing with runamucks and their ramblings. "It's just about getting back to basics and enjoying the life instead of being in the zoo that most of us are in these days."

When you read this book you can see a lot of research went into it. Makes all the difference. I really injoyed reading this book. Thanks Sus

The fact that Weldon Willis Rau is a geologist who has turned his talents to the writing of history lends a special flavor to his book, Surviving the Oregon Trail, 1852. Basing much of his work on the notes left by his great grandparents, Willis and Mary Ann Boatman, Rau gives us a gripping and factual story of the wagon trip west from Illinois to Oregon Territory in that pioneer time nearly a century and a half ago. The recounting begins with the sorrows of leaving home and parting from loved ones. The sad picture of an old grandfather, waving a tearful goodbye, knowing that he will never see his beloved young ones again, moves the reader to compassion. Children as well as adults are disturbed by the upheaval of unprecedented departure. The trek to the Missouri River was not easy, but was yet a rather civilized journey compared to what was to lie ahead. Crossing at about the site of present-day Omaha the Boatmans followed the Platte and the North Platte westward toward Wyoming. Sickness was the great affliction along the those river banks. Many of the westward travellers died, particularly of cholera. Along the way. Mary Ann Boatman's young brother was among those lost to disease. Wyoming and Idaho offered many hills to climb, streams to ford or ferry, steep slopes to descend, and scenic wonders new and remarkable to folks from Illinois. Water for all and grazing for the cows and draft oxen were often hard to find. Dust whirled up by the wheels of the wagons and the hooves of the animals choked all the travelers in various places. In Oregon the great gorge of the Columbia was a traverse not equalled elsewhere on earth. During the gorge trek Willis Boatman's brother, John, died, leaving Willis and a pregnant Mary Ann the only family members left in the trip. The two arrived in Portland exhausted and nearly broke. Weldon Rau tells this story with great feeling and understanding. His respect for his pioneeer ancestors is manifest. Clearly he has explored nearly the whole route his great grandparents travelled. And his explanations of the geology that formed these Oregon Trail lands adds greatly to the reader's undertanding. This book is a welcome addition to any library.

I have known the author for more than 30 years, so I have been aware of his 15-year effort to research, write, and publish this book as it unfolded. It is with pleasure, therefore, that I can attest to how well crafted it is. Rau tells the story of his great-grandparents' journey by employing extensive quotes from their written accounts and from the accounts of other 1852 Oregon Trail travelers. These quotes are woven together and amplified by Rau's observations of the physical, cultural, and social settings they experienced, including how the geology along the way influenced the development of the terrain. The book is also very well edited. I found but one typographical error and two place names missing from one map.

Besides being very well crafted, the book has left me with several strong impressions. The travelers, especially the men, approached the trip with a sense of romanticism. It was going to be a grand adventure with a pot of gold waiting at the end. A very different reality forced its way into their consciousness as the trip unfolded. The trip brought out all the best and worst traits of the travelers and those who sought to serve and usually profit from them along the way. They experienced disease, death, and discomfort. They and others suffered from cholera, scurvy, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Mary Ann and Willis' brothers both died on the trip, as did many others they met along the way. Mary Ann was pregnant for the whole trip and had to walk much of the way, in addition to performing the cooking and other housekeeping chores that fell to her. In addition there were extremes of weather, loneliness, homesickness, sorrow, grief, resignation, thievery, greed, and hardheadedness. These were balanced by bravery, resoluteness, kindness, compassion, neighborliness, concern, and assistance, sometimes from people they didn't even know. The journey had but three possible outcomes; they had to turn back and reach their former homes, get to the Willamette Valley, or die before winter hit. In some ways their journey can be compared with what the first interplanetary travelers will experience. Indeed, even after Willis and mary Ann reached the relative safety of the Willamette Valley and then the Puget Sound country, for years they felt as isolated and separated from their families as if they were on another planet.

If you have had no real appreciation for the magnitude of the feat that Oregon Trail travelers accomplished, you will have when you finish this book.

The amount of determination, courage and fortitude to travel the continent as an overlander in 1852 must have been unimaginable. This is a remarkable first hand account of the Boatman's journey from Illinois to the Oregon Territory, along with quotes from other overlanders' diaries during the same year. Suffering from the heat, thirst, food shortages for both emigrants and livestock, the cold, rain, mud, river crossings, cholera epidemics and other illnesses, exhaustion and death to many who attempted such an endeavor, this book has it all. The author, a decendent of the Boatmans, has put forth a most wonderful book depicting the hardships and misfortunes of the early day pioneers. A+

Laura is on a wagon train west. Here she must over come the difficulties of the wagon train. She manages to save the life of a white warrior Gray Wolf who has been trained by a Cheyenne Chief. David, Grey Wolf, falls in love with Laura. She wants him to return to his former way of life. To do this he must come to terms with the brutal slaying of his family by the Pawnee Indians. This book makes you want to keep the pages turning. By Ruth Thompson author of "The Bluegrass Dream" and "Natchez Above The River"

Writing as a Small BusinessQualifying Laps: A Brewster County NovelSins of the Fathers: A Brewster County NovelTravelersThe Bluegrass Dream: A Wilderness Adventure of Early SettlersNatchez Above The River: A Family's Survival In The Civil War

Sweeping love story - a wonderful read! Cheri writes in a manner that makes you feel like you are there with the characters - very visual! Highly recommend this!

A love story with a wild west setting. Wagon train, scalping Indians, white maiden, white youth reared by Indian chief. Superbly written, fine characterization, vivid scenes.

This is a heartwarming story. I really enjoyed it and the author kept me guessing. She really was informed of the time period. I sure hope that there will be a sequel!

This was an absolutely wonderful book which helped my family to see every interesting bit on the Oregon Trail. Many sites were really off the beaten path and I'm sure rarely visited. It was clearly written, fairly assessing the different sites and had very clear directions. We are a family of 6 so the time allotted for travelling place to place was a little short, but all in all this book is a "Bible" for those who want to embark on this great trip.

A trip to the Grand Tetons this year was greatly enhanced by this book, which I came upon with a search on Amazon.com. We used it to plan a car trip from Portland and we followed the Oregon Trail home from southern Wyoming. The maps were wonderful and the information accurate. We even golfed 9 holes at the Soda Springs municipal golf course to see the swales on the 8th hole, in addition to many other stops of intetest!

My husband and I recently made a trip out west and used this book as our guide to follow the Oregon Trail. It was excellent! Her directions were right on the money and the book was easy to read and follow. She breaks the trip down to a day by day driving guide which was great so we knew how much time to plan. I would encourage visiting the 'out of way' options she offers. She also offers several driving options depending on your time allowance. A must have for an Oregon Trail trip!

Julie's book is very useful in traveling the Lewis and Clark Trail. Highly informative and illustrated, it includes specific as well as local information about the various sites included in the book. Well worth having and using.

My parnter and I just spent two wonderful weekends in Portland - all due to this great book. We followed five of the walks in the downtown portland area and got so much out of it (due to the book) that we flew back to Portland three weeks later to visit again and did an additional four walks. This is a great book - I thoroughly recommend it.

This book contains many wonderful walks through downtown Portland, Washington Park, and several well-known nature parks and neighborhoods. The walks are detailed with many interesting facts about the neighborhoods and landmarks. This is the perfect book for those new to Portland and for those who have lived in Portland for some time. It made me want to revisit many familiar places with new interest because of all the history that the author highlights. Each walk is carefully described in terms of location, difficulty, distance and time, making them easy to fit into a busy day.

I really like this book! It's thorough and easy to understand and includes a guide to help with choices about what walk you'd like to take. The directions are clear and Ms. Cook has included interesting tidbits of information you can follow along the way, as well as maps and photographs. It's not easy for me to get around because of a disability, but I don't need to be afraid of setting out with this guide. It lets me know how long the walk should take and the difficulty of the walk. What an exciting and fresh way to see the city!

I have lived in Portland all my adult life and yet was surprised when I found the description of walking trails that I did not know existed. The descriptions are clear and inviting. The planning of the walks are easy to identify with in terms of distance and time required. I think this is a must-have book for the walkers in the Portland area both for visitors and residents.

As a teacher of the seventh grade, I have found that the story's subtle emphasis of honoring oneself verses conformity to be an exceptionally effective theme for discussion with my students. This book entices the imagination in ways that I had forgotten even existed. My students and I were sorry for the story to end, and wanted to stay in Abandon to see what would happen next! I will definitely use the whole series in my classroom curriculum.

The characters in Wild Abandon are totally cool, I really liked Park. I'm a fan for life!

This book is full of imagination, magical moments, and the most interesting details. Extremely well written and very fun to read. I really enjoyed Wild Abandon and think of it often!

Wild Abandon, Welcome To God's Palm begins with Thayer Abbott and her father moving from their old home in Chicago to the strangely "perfect" town of Abandon, Oregon. Thayer is still getting over her mother's death, so she doesn't like the idea of moving at all. Soon after Thayer moves in, she meets Park, a girl her age who shows her the ropes of the new town. Things get interesting when Thayer meets Amslyn, the "leader" of the popular group in Abandon-you know, there is one at every high school. Through the people, places, and strange happenings in the town of Abandon, Thayer comes to terms with herself and her new life. I ordered this book by accident, but decided to give it a try. As it turns out, this was one of my favorites! Also, it keeps you interested and is very exciting, but it's age appropriate, too. Anyone over the age of eleven would understand and enjoy this book. It is different from most books, but it hits a sweet place as you're reading it. In fact, I'm getting ready to order the next book in the series....

This is a poignant and moving book. It is well constructed. It addresses the daily activities, as well as the overall significance, of women on the Oregon Trail. The book weaves together (and is centered around) excerpts from diaries and other first hand writings. Hearing the stories from those who experienced the journey was an emotional and educational treat.

If you are interested in the day to day lives of women as they walked the Oregon Trail, you'll enjoy this book.

Susan Butruille has captured the feeling behind the women's hard covered exterior on the Oregon Trail. This book touched me deeplyin the way that I cried during reading of the book and thought about the book many times after reading it. I read this book in two days and since then have visioned it while living my life here in 2002. I have felt so much for the reallife women of the diaries in this book that I talked about it with my husband and simple things that used to get him or me in a tizzy before I read this book now seem so trivial and unimportant. I think that this book changed my life, the way I look at life in a way that I appreciate way more than I did before I read this book and think much about how wagon women would solve a problem that I have daily and if they would have had that problem (via computers or toasters) at all because everything was so much more primitive, necessary and simple YET hard and trying and exhausting back then.
In two words I have for anyone thinking about buying this book is PLEASE DO ..... it will enrich your life. It did Mine.

Susan Butruille has captured the feeling behind the women's hard covered exterior on the Oregon Trail. This book touched me deeplyin the way that I cried during reading of the book and thought about the book many times after reading it. I read this book in two days and since then have visioned it while living my life here in 2002. I have felt so much for the reallife women of the diaries in this book that I talked about it with my husband and simple things that used to get him or me in a tizzy before I read this book now seem so trivial and unimportant. I think that this book changed my life, the way I look at life in a way that I appreciate way more than I did before I read this book and think much about how wagon women would solve a problem that I have daily and if they would have had that problem (via computers or toasters) at all because everything was so much more primitive, necessary and simple YET hard and trying and exhausting back then.
In two words I have for anyone thinking about buying this book is PLEASE DO ..... it will enrich your life. It did Mine.

This is a very well-done and informative book about the Arts and Crafts Movement in the Pacific Northwest. I live in a new version of a Craftsman style house and found this book of great interest. Recommend!

Seattle, Portland, Spokane, and other areas of the Pacific Northwest step out of the shadows of history in this incredibly well-researched, thorough book. The authors' writing is simultaneously accessible and commanding, and the photographs of historic buildings, antiques, and unearthed "treasures" are wonderful to peruse. It is a top-notch publication that informs those interested in this geographical locale, as well as those interested in the overall Arts and Crafts movement.

I went to the Seattle Bungalow Fair the last weekend in September 2007. I met both authors and talked to them about their book. They spent lots of time researching the book and are very knowledgeable about the Arts and Crafts movement. I have been able to peruse it but have not had a chance to read it from cover to cover. It is a great book to just look at the pictures and captions. I am looking forward to learning more about the movement here in the Northwest. They have captured the true essence of the Northwest Arts and Crafts Movement. I would highly recommend that if you are in to Arts and Crafts, Bungalows, Mission, etc. that this is a must have book.
Paula

I love ABC books. Great gift for children coming to visit the area. Great gift for kids wanting to know about where they live. We're using it as a travel guide...we need to go everywhere mentioned! I love the style and all the information!

This is a charming book with lovely art. And even this native Oregonian learned a lot about the beautiful State of Oregon. Kids and adults like will enjoy this book!

I just LOVE this book! It's such a nice way to let children learn a bit about Oregon. My son is 4 and loves the book - the main alphabet portion if at just his pace. However, on each page, there is additional detail in the side margin that I enjoyed - and my son will when his a bit older. The side margin parts helped me learn more about Oregon and I've added some new destinations to my 'must see in Oregon' list.

This book is one in a series -- there are alphabet books like it for most of the other states around the country. My husband and I both travel for work and are going to start purchasing a book for each state we travel to bring home for the kids. Within a few years, they should collect most of the country and learn a lot about the country as well.

One thing I really like is that the publisher had a local Oregon writer and artist do the book. I'm assuming they found locals across the country for the other books too. You can tell by the detail and enthusiasm in the book that locals played a key part.

A great book to start of collection of all the states. And Amazon's prices are the best I've seen (plus we'll be able to order ahead for future books -- my local book store only carries the Oregon book).

An honest story that showed how women were treated as property but sweet in her resulting story.

And I think her name was spelled correctly. Ginny can be a nickname for Virginia.

another Ginny

Yes! I am so glad to see this book available at last. Bargain Bride is the story of Ginny (possibly spelled wrong). Only a teenager, she is married off to an elderly farmer in the Oregon Territory, a bargain struck by relatives who feel burdoned by her care. Her new husband only marries her in order to gain access to more land through the Homestead Act, but Ginny scarcely has time to worry about the marriage because, within a week, her husband dies. Ginny immediately inherits all the land and is left a wealthy widow living alone in a frontier community. She is soon considered the catch of the county, but will Ginny marry for security and companionship before noticing the feelings of real love hidden right under her nose?

As a child, I have to confess I enjoyed Lampman's fantasy novels more, but as an adult, I am only beginning to respect her talent for presenting history in a wonderful, entertaining way. She is especially advanced in her character treatment of Native Americans. ALL of her books are worth looking up in the libraries (as might be expected, libraries in Portland have more than usual). I don't understand why she is out of print, her books are wonderful for classroom reading. Any teachers, I highly recommend her books.