Ben Hur Lampman

“ As an editorial writer on The Oregonian he followed, in this respect, the footsteps of the late Harvey W. Scott, conceiving not only that history is the recorded drama of humanity—and comedy, as well—but that it should be made familiar to all, to the end that all may know the origins of their dwelling places, and the true story of their predecessors and forebears. Doubtless he would have been inclined to the study and analysis of history in any other region, had he been placed there, but certainly he found in the history of Oregon that significance and vitality which unfailingly inspired him. ”

“ He camped alone and contentedly far from any house, in any weather, and to be lost in the rugged coast country he found enjoyable. To none of his more intimate associates were these solitary adventurings successfully disguised. He was, in effect, living for a period of a few days or weeks the life that the trail-blazers lived, and the mountain men, and the map-makers. ”

“ Beyond these, however, the man and his important work remain unknown—as he, indeed, preferred—but it is not an idle tribute to say of him that no historian ever has written more authoritatively, brilliantly and interestingly of the Oregon country, or with a more unselfish concept of true service. ”