Oregon Experience

The story of the controversial Oregon newspaper editor, writer and suffragist who rose from ordinary beginnings to become a nationally famed champion of women's rights.

Reuben A. Long was a horseman, rancher and philosopher, as well as one of Eastern Oregon's most colorful characters. Many of his recollections wound up in a book called "The Oregon Desert" (Caxton Press, 1964). In the spirit of that book, this program looks back at the places, events and people Reub Long wrote about and features several interviews with local folks who knew him.

Champion of the Columbia River Highway, founder of Maryhill Museum and the father of the Peace Arch in Blaine Washington, Sam Hill is one of Oregon's most important and legendary figures.

Bill Bowerman is considered one of the greatest track coaches the world has ever known. In his 24 years at the University of Oregon he won four NCAA team championships and coached 33 Olympians. Using archival materials and interviews with family and former students, Oregon Experience looks at the remarkable life of this legendary coach and co-founder of NIKE.

William Gladstone Steel is considered the "Father of Crater Lake National Park" and was instrumental in preserving the Cascade Range Reserve. His efforts lead to millions of acres of protected forestlands and watersheds, but he was also an opportunistic entrepreneur who pushed for roads and development. Complex and controversial, he dedicated his life to the mountains of Oregon.

World War II created a huge demand for American farm products. But the war also caused vast numbers of farm workers to abandon the fields, either to join the military or to seek work in the cities. The solution would be a unique contract-worker agreement between the United States and Mexico -- The Bracero Program.

Beatrice Morrow Cannady was a leading African-American civil rights activist in Portland during the early part of the 20th century. As a newspaper publisher and lawyer, she challenged racial prejudice and discrimination at a time when the Ku Klux Klan was rising to power.