JEFF: WHAT IS IN YOUR ATTIC OR
BASEMENT?
PROBABLY YEARS OF FAMILY
MEMORIES AND HISTORY.
DID YOU KNOW OREGON HAS ITS OWN
ATTIC WHERE THOUSANDS OF ITEMS
ARE CAREFULLY STORED AWAY?
A MASSIVE CLIMATE CONTROLLED
BUILDING.
THE LOCATION KEPT SECRET.
IT'S THE OREGON HISTORY CENTER
VAULT.
AND I'M TAKING YOU INSIDE WITH
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR KERRY
TIMCHUCK, AS WE UNCOVER OREGON'S
TREASURES.
♪
JEFF: SO KERRY, THIS IS LIKE
BEING IN A GIGANTIC ATTIC.
THIS IS SENSORY OVERLOAD FOR
ME IN THIS ROOM.
THERE ARE SO MANY ITEMS, SO MANY
GREAT ARTIFACTS, SO MUCH HISTORY
TO TELL.
FOR EXAMPLE MODERN HISTORY RIGHT
HERE.
THIS IS THE CONTROL PANELS FOR
THE TROJAN NUCLEAR POWER PLANT.
JEFF:
TROJAN WAS OREGON'S ONLY
NUCLEAR POWER PLANT.
IT CAME ON LINE IN 1976, AND WAS
DECOMISIONED IN 1992.
WHEN IT WAS DECOMMISSIONED,
YOU ACQUIRED IT.
THEY IMPLODED THE WHOLE
BUILDING, AND IT WAS GIVEN TO US
AND BEFORE YOU ASK, YES, IT HAS
BEEN TESTED.
THERE IS NO NUCLEAR FALLOUT ON
IT.
THAT WAS SUCH AN ICONIC PART OF
OREGON HISTORY.
JEFF: OLD PORTLAND MOVIE
THEATERS WERE AN IMPORTANT PART
OF OUR HISTORY, THEIR ART DECO
ARCHITECTURE HAS BEEN LOST TO
TIME.
THIS WAS THE TICKET BOOTH FOR
THE FOX MOVIE THEATER IN
DOWNTOWN PORTLAND.
WHERE PEOPLE WOULD LINE UP TO
GET THE TICKETS.
THERE IS A BIG NEON SIGN, FOX,
AND WE HAVE THE NEON F AND O AND
X AS WELL.
THIS IS WHAT WAS CALLED AN
UNDERTAKER'S BODY WAGON, OR
ESSENTIALLY A HEARST.
W O DONALDSON WAS HIS NAMED.
-- NAME.
YOU COULD IMAGINE HE MIGHT GET
CALLED IF SOMEONE HAD DIED, HE
WOULD GO OUT TO THE RESIDENCE IN
A HORSE DRAWN HEARSE PICK UP THE
BODY.
AND THERE'S EVEN A CASKET A WACO
CASKET IN BACK.
JEFF: THERE'S NOBODY IN IT?
NOBODY NOT LAST TIME I
CHECKED.
JEFF: OK WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE
KERRY?
WELL SOME PEOPLE LOOK AT THIS
JEFF AND SAY IS THIS A DINOSAUR
BONE?
IT'S NOT, BUT IT'S THE BONE OF A
WHALE AND IT IS BELIEVED TO BE
THE BONE OF THE WHALE THAT LEWIS
AND CLARK DESCRIBE IN THIER
JOURNALS WHEN THEY WERE HERE OF
COURSE, IN THE EARLY 19 --
1800S.
JEFF: PULPITS FROM HISTORIC
CHURCHES ARE STORED HERE SOME
WITH VERY ORNATE WOODWORK, BUT
THIS SIMPLE PULPIT STANDS OUT, N
-- OUT FOR A REASON.
THIS IS FROM THE VANCOUVER
AVENUE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
WHICH WAS ONE OF THE FIRST
AFRICAN-AMERICAN CHURCHES IN
PORTLAND.
THIS DATES BACK TO THE PULPIT
1948.
AND IT WAS MADE FROM APPLE
CRATES.
THESE TWO WHEELS ARE FROM THE
BATTLESHIP OREGON, AND ONE OF
THE GREAT STORIES OF OREGON
HISTORY, THE BATTLESHIP OREGON
WAS CALLED THE BULLDOG OF THE
NAVY.
BACK IN THE LATE 1890'S.
IT WAS STATIONED IN SAN
FRANCISCO.
WHEN THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR
BEGAN, PRESIDENT MCKINLEY
ORDERED THE BATTLESHIP TO STEAM
TO THE THEATER OF WAR.
JEFF: IT TOOK 66 DAYS FOR THE
SHIP TO REACH THE BATTLE, BY
THEN THE WAR WAS OVER, BUT IT
FIRED UP AMERICAN PUBLIC SUPPORT
OVER THE NEED FOR THE PANAMA
CANAL.
WHAT IS THE SIGNICANCE OF THIS
-- SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS CHAIR?
IT LOOKS LIKE SOMETHING FROM
GAME OF THRONES OR FROM GASTON
OF BEAUTY AND THE BEAST WHO USED
ANTLERS IN ALL HIS DECORATING
FAMOUSLY.
AND THIS IS FROM THE NATIONAL OR
INTERNATIONAL ELKS CONVENTION
THAT WAS HELD IN PORTALND IN
-- PORTLAND IN 1912.
JEFF: THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF
CHAIRS IN THE VAULT, SOME MADE
THEIR WAY WEST WITH THE PIONEERS
ON THE OREGON TRAIL, BUT THESE
TWO CHAIRS ARE AMONG THE MOST
SIGNIFICANT.
THESE TWO CHAIRS JEFF, THEY
WERE A WEDDING GIFT TO A FELLOW
NAMED CAPTAIN ROBERT GRAY WHO IN
THE 1790'S GETS CREDIT FOR
DISCOVERING THE COLUMBIA RIVER.
EVEN THOUGH AS HE SAILED UP THE
RIVER THE NATIVE AMERICANS WERE
WAVING AT HIM.
BUT THEY DIDN'T GET CREDIT FOR
DISCOVERING IT.
JEFF: THESE COLORFULL STOOLS ARE
PART OF HISTORY THEY CAME FROM
THE OLD LUNCH COUNTER AT THE
DOWNTOWN PORTLAND NEWBERRY'S THE
LUNCH COUNTER IS ALSO STORED
HERE.
PEOPLE WOULD GO DOWN AND HAVE
LUNCH.
DOWNTOWN PORTLAND.
DRINK SODAS.
HAVE BURGERS AND FRIES AND
OCCASIONALLY, AS YOU LOOK UP
HERE, STICK THEIR GUM UNDERNEATH
THE COUNTERS.
WE STILL HAVE SOME OF THE GUM
ACTUALLY HERE UNDERNEATH THE
COUNTER.
JEFF: WE HAVE HISTORIC GUM.
SO SOMEONE WATCHIONG THIS COULD
SAY I REMEMBER 1966 I PUT MY
BUBBLEGUM ON THE BOTTOM OF THAT.
EXACTLY.
JEFF: THERE IT IS.
HORSES AND COWBOYS ARE PART OF
OREGON HISTORY, THE VAULT IS
HOME TO DOZENS OF HISTORIC
SADDLES BUT THIS ONE IS THE MOST
TREASURED.
SO THIS SADDLE, YOU SEE THE
LETTER BUCK?
AND THAT'S THE THEME OF COURSE
OF THE GREAT PENDLETON ROUNDUP
WELL THIS SADDLE WAS PRESENTED
TO A COWBOY NAMED JACKSON
SUNDOWN WHO WAS A NATIVE
AMERICAN COWBOY AND HE WON THIS
FOR WINNING THE BRONCO BUSTING
CONTEST BACK IN 1916.
SO 103-YEAR-OLD SADDLE JUST
GORGEOUS.
WE KEEP IT IN TIP TOP SHAPE
RIGHT HERE WITH THIS PHENOMENAL
COLLECTION OF OTHER SADDLES.
JEFF: OUR TOUR OF THE TREASURES
OF OREGON IS JUST GETING
STARTED, OVER THE NEXT FEW WEEKS
WE'LL DISCOVER AND UNCOVER MORE
TREASURES.
THE STORY OF US AND OUR BELOVED
OREGON.
HISTORY IS THE PAST, HISTORY
IS WHO WE ARE AND WHY WE ARE THE
WAY WE ARE.
AND WE'VE GOT TO PRESERVE
HISTORY, SHOW FUTURE GENERATIONS
WHAT PAST GENERATIONS DID
, COLLECTED, HOW THEY LIVED,
WHAT THEY SAVED, WHAT WAS
IMPORTANT TO THEM.
SO WE HAVE A LITTLE BIT OF
EVERYTHING HERE.
JEFF: NEXT WEDNESDAY, WE'LL
UNCOVER MORE TREASURES OF
OREGON.
INCLUDING THE INCREDIBLE
COLLECTION FROM THE OLD MEIER
AND FRANK DEPARTMENT STORE.
REMEMBER SANTALAND ON THE TENTH
FLOOR OF THE DOWNTOWN MEIER AND
FRANK?
IT IS PRESERVED INSIDE THE
VAULT, INCLUDING THE LITTLE
MONORAIL CARS THAT MANY OF YOU
RODE IN AS KIDS.
-- ROAD ON -- RODE ON AS KIDS.
BUT THERE ARE 3 THINGS YOU WONT
FIND IN THE VAULT, SOME OF THE
MOST VALUABLE ITEMS IN THE
COLLECTION ARE ALWAYS KEPT IN
THIS BRIEFCASE.
GO TO KOIN.COM RIGHT NOW TO FIND
OUT WHAT'S INSIDE THAT STORY
EXCLUSIVELY ON KOIN.COM RIGHT
NOW.
THE THREE THINGS YOU WILL NOT
FIND IN THE VAULT, THEY ARE IN
THIS BRIEFCASE ON KOIN.COM RIGHT
NOW.
JENNIFER: YOU KNOW WHAT I LIKE
SO MUCH TOO IS THAT FOR SOME
PEOPLE, HISTORY IS EASILY
FORGOTTEN.
WE FORGET WHAT HAPPENED, WHEN IT
HAPPENED, TO WHOM IT HAPPENED
TO.
THIS IS A GREAT REMINDER.
JEFF: WELL SAID, JENNIFER.
THIS IS FUN.
THERE ARE SO MANY ITEMS.
WE WILL DO WITH A WHOLE MONTH OF
NOVEMBER ON THE 4:00 NEWSCAST,
WITH EXCLUSIVE STORIES ON OUR
WEB.