But it is NOT a grape and its origin is NOT Oregon. So how come???

Also known as Holly-Leaved Barberry and Mahonia, this plant has been used by Indigenous peoples of North America for centuries as a food source and a medicine. Lewis and Clark collected specimens of this plant on the expedition of 1804-1806. 

Since these berries are ubiquitous to our area, here’s the recipe for “Mahonia Berry Jam: a stunning wild preserve made from the tart, vibrant berries of the Mahonia shrub, also known as Oregon Grape. Those these berries are mouth-puckeringly sharp when raw, they transform beautifully into a glossy, jewel-toned jelly with a tangy zing. “

To make 4 small jars of Mahonia Berry Jelly:  Gather about 3 1/2 pounds of ripe Mahonia berries, stalks removed and rinsed. Put in large pot with 2 1/2 cups water and bring to a boil, simmer for 20-25 minutes, mashing berries with a spoon or potato masher to release the juices. Pour the mixture through a jelly bag or muslin-lined sieve into a clean bowl. Let it drip overnight. For the clearest jelly, avoid pressing the pulp.

For every 2 1/2 cups of juice, use one pound of sugar (less to taste). For a firmer set, you can add a teaspoon of pectin if Mahonia’s natural pectin content isn’t enough. Add the lemon juice. 

Still continually over low heat until sugar has fully dissolved, then bring the mixture to a rapid boil. Boil until the jelly reaches setting point (104oC or 220oF). Pour into warm, sterilized jars and seal. 

TIP: Pick RIPE berries only; under ripe berries are overly bitter. 

If anybody makes this jelly, I’d surely like to know how it was. 🙂 

Do you recall your mother or grandmother having any cranberry glass? This very special type of glass became famous in the Victorian Era in Britain and came with the English immigrants to America. Cranberry glass creations were most popular as a table display, often holding candy or flowers. 

If you happen to have one of your grandmother’s cranberry glass pieces, please know that it is highly collectible but its value varies wildly from $10 to thousands of dollars! The value of the piece is determined by the amount of gold used to make the rich color.

Antique cranberry glass is occasionally found in old outhouse pits (privies). Before city trash pickup, people threw broken household trash—including expensive glassware—into outhouse holes. 

I became intrigued when viewing a YouTube video where a fellow found cranberry glass in an old privy pit! (No comments on my eclectic viewing habits, please. 🙂 Videos

Cranberry Glass and a Small Figure – Bottle Dump FindsYouTube · Mudlarking with SteveDec 15, 2025YouTube · Mudlarking with Steve

This sad looking building in northeast Spokane (Hillyard, actually) was an important social hub back in the day. It was built to serve the booming railroad community that sprang up after James J. Hill decided to avoid Spokane taxes and build his railroad shops in that area..which ultimately was named after him. 

In the 1880s, Spokane was becoming the premier rail hub of the west and tycoon James J. Hill wanted it on his Great Northern line to the coast. Hill had the “hutzpah” and pulled the right strings to achieve his goal. The Hillyard yard became the biggest rail shop west of the Mississippi. 

To help the families and the workers, several fraternal organizations sprang up in the area. The Odd Fellows Hall was one. Located on North Market Street, the hall hosted community dances, meetings and charitable gatherings but the purpose of the organization was to “visit the sick, relieve the distressed, bury the dead and educate the orphan.” Since one goal of the group was to provide burial for its members, they established Resthaven Cemetery (now Evergreen Cemetery). The building was completed in 1896.

According to an article in The Spokesman Review, March 7, 1996, “Built by lodge members from Waverly, it opened on March 17, 1896, according to John Nunn, a member who keeps many of the lodge’s historical documents.” The article spotlighted that the Lodge’s centennial celebration was being held on March 10, 1996, with members planning a picnic “and the lodge will lay out its old photographs and letters, dues ledgers, attendance books and documents, including the original deed that passed the property to the lodge.”The question screaming into my mind is where are those documents today????? My husband’s grandfather worked for the railroad in Hillyard in the 1920s….. might he have been a member of this lodge? Wouldn’t we like to access these records of our ancestors? 

P.S. In 1900, there were about 170 Odd Fellows Lodges in Washington; some 25 are still active today. 

WAS YOUR ANCESTOR A MEMBER OF AN ODD FELLOWS LODGE???

Little is known about the man for whom a river, a dam and two towns (John Day and Dayville) were named.  The following story is based on historical fact – some of it may be true. Pictured is an illustration of what John Day might have looked liked.

“John Day,1770-1820,  was a hunter from the backwoods of Virginia.  He had been employed by Ramsay Crooks for several years when he arrived in Oregon, at about 40 years of age.  He was described as “six feet two inches tall, a handsome man with a manly countenance, straight as an Indian with an elastic step ‘as if he trod on springs'”.  It was his boast that in his younger days nothing could hurt or daunt him, but he had lived too fast and injured his constitution by excesses.  Still, he was strong of hand, bold of heart, a prime woodsman, and an almost unerring shot.”

Website FindAGrave has his biography of him (plus several more pages). He was most surely quite the guy. His death and burial place as noted on FindAGrave states “buried or lost at sea. Specifically: Drowned in Snake River.” 

John Day Dam, spanning the Columbia River kinda between The Dalles, Oregon, and Goldendale, Washington, was constructed between 1958 and 1971, costing $511 million dollars. It has a fish ladder and a navigation lock, that lock being 110-feet, the highest lock-lift on the river. The dam forms Lake Umatilla, a 76-mile long reservoir. 

Next time you zoom along I-80 in Oregon along the Columbia River, pause to appreciate the John Day dam and remember the hardy frontiersman who was John Day.