Oregon Drift

Arnie "Spotted Bear" Queener poses with a replica of a mountain man-era musket and a beaver pelt fastened to a hide stretcher, in front of Fort Umpqua. Photo by Lori Newman

Elkton throws a party on Labor Day weekend to celebrate regaining the area’s earliest history.

They call it Fort Umpqua Days, in honor of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s southernmost trading post, built in 1836 and destroyed by fire in November 1851.

A replica of the fort is taking shape on the bottom land near the Umpqua River, behind the Elkton Community Education Center. So far, the little fort’s 12-foot stockade walls, corner bastions, main gate and flagpole have been reconstructed. Work is continuing this summer on the fort’s tiny store.

To help celebrate its history, the education center often calls upon historian Arnie ‘Spotted Bear” Queener of Cottage Grove.

Queener said he loves telling people — especially younger generations — how his ancestors lived, back when beaver was the most sought-after commodity in what would one day become the state of Oregon.

His mother is descended from Indians and French Canadians. His father’s side includes a Scottish fur trader who arrived in Oregon in 1813. The Scotsman married a Chinook woman while working as a trapper for the North West Company, which merged with Hudson’s Bay Company in 1821.

Queener will be one of the featured presenters at this year’s Fort Umpqua Days, which begins with a Saturday morning parade and includes art, games demonstrations of frontier skills, races and a historical pageant.

By Lori Newman