Heroes and Rascals … Shipwrecks and Lost Gold … since 2008 the Offbeat Oregon History syndicated newspaper column has entertained and informed Oregonians with the weirdest, quirkiest, funniest, and most outrageous true stories in the surprisingly long history of their young state. Now, for the first time, those stories have been collected together, re-researched, augmented with freshly discovered information, and presented to readers in book form -- starting with this volume, in which we've selected the most inspirational heroes, the most scurrilous rascals, and the most hilariously quirky mavericks of our state.