Flowers, Friend, Before You Die

This marker commemorates for all time
the gracious generosity of
Ira Frost Powers
to the people of Portland
"And so thy thought, when thou art gone,
shall yet live on. - A friend of grateful man"

The Birthday Club
George L Baker    W.J. Hofmann    Ernest A. Sommer
Charlse P. Berg    Ernest L. King Donald J. Sterling
Chris D. Bruun    Dan J. Malarkey    Nathan Strauss
John H. Burgard    Julius L. Meier    Guy W. Talbot
C. C. Colt    Phil Metschan    Wm. L. Thompson
Virgil A. Crum    Otto W. Mielke    Wm. F. Turner
Charlse E. Dant    Roscoe C. Nelson    Harry B. Van Duzer
Kenneth D. Dawson    Emery Olmstead    Dean Vincent
Franklin T. Griffith    Ore L. Price    Raymond B. Wilcox
Russell Hawkins    Frank H. Ransom    Ralph E. Williams

September Nineteen Thirty

This plaque is placed on a large rock, in an obscure partially hidden stretch of roadside on Highway 43 in Portland Oregon. Just south of the Sellwood Bridge, along the Willamette River, is Powers Marine Park. The park is between highway 43 and the river, and somewhere in the middle of that park is this rock and plaque.

Ira Powers, according to the city of Portland's park page, was the owner of Powers Furniture around the time of the great depression, and he donated a large chunk of the land in that area to the city. The area of Tryon Creek state park, Terwilliger Blvd, and Lewis & Clark College. It is unclear whether the actual land of Powers Marine Park was part of the donation.

I do not know what "The Birthday Club" is.

Now Ira has this post on my well visited blog remembering him, along with a fairly modest plaque mostly hidden on a nondescript rock in an unmaintained or improved part of a fairly unused city park. Fame.

Comments

Why shooting should be banned on public lands:

I don't need to say too much. The pictures speak for themselves. These pictures were taken at ONE spot on NF-45 forest road in Mt. Hood National Forest. The road is also known as "Memaloose" or "Maymaloose" road depending on which sign and map you read. It is maybe 50 miles outside of Portland, southeast on Hwy 224 - along the Clackamas river. The country up there is some of the most beautiful scenery on the planet. The ridge lines, and the deep jagged canyon from millions of years of raging water in the Clackamas river are something wonderful to behold. Driving up this road, we passed at least 5 spots that seemed to be popular with shooters, before we turned around. The road is a steep one lane paved road, and our GPS said we went from 700ft. at the river to 3000ft. almost instantaneously. At some points there are steep 1000 foot drops on either side of the road. It is breathtaking. Until you come across the shooting sites, which make you nauseous. I

Stop renaming Portland streets.

Not only have they chosen one of the best Blogger themes, but the folks at cafe unknown have also put together a wonderful piece laying out much more eloquently than I would - why we should not be renaming Portland's streets , and how there are better more appropriate options. Please Please stop renaming Portland's streets. Portland has history too. And changing the names of the streets to honor those who were not really even part of Portland's history does a disservice to all of those who have made Portland their home in the last 150 some odd years. If you want to name new streets - fine. But keep the old ones. Please.

Every bit of plastic ever made still exists.

If you have ever crate trained a pet dog, you will have found that dogs will do everything within their power to not shit where they sleep. A dog will hold it until their face turns blue. Unless of course they are already blue, then they will just get a darker shade. And if you (and the dog) have had the misfortune of getting stuck a little to long, and the dog HAS had to go in their crate, the minute the poor canine makes eye contact with you - you know it. The dog will feel as though they have betrayed the universe by pooping in the crate. Well, humans are assholes. We could learn a thing or two from our dogs. We only have one earth. Only one. No "fall back" or "plan B" exists despite what you may see in the Star Trek movies or read in the Cristopher Stasheff or Orson Scott Card novels. I imagine that some day some poor wasted species - a distant relative to the Human - who has had to survive underground or in bubbles without being able to breathe

Incursio

Search This Blog