Enterprise « Pacific Northwest Photoblog

I have not been to the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville Oregon in at least six years. I’ve driven by many times, but never had the time to pay another visit so this one was long due. In fact last time I was there, it was only the Evergreen Air Museum!

The crown of their collection has to be one of the most distinctive planes in existence, Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose. This plane is famous for having flown a grand total of one time with Mr. Hughes himself at the stick, and being the largest all wooden plane ever built. Even the bolts were removed after the glue had set.

This plane is so big, and so completely fills the museum building that I think it sneaks up on a lot of people. Other airplanes are tucked underneath it’s immense bulk and the entrance is nearly under one of the wing tips.

Evergreen also has two of my favorite airplanes. The General Motors TBM-3E Avenger, a dual purpose fighter/bomber equipped with torpedos for air to surface attacks against ships. I will admit that part of that is just the name.

My other favorite plane being the B-17 bomber. Evergreen’s is nice, but is so surrounded by other planes that getting a good picture is near impossible. But you can go inside it on certain days for an extra $4 which is pretty cool.

Next door is the new Space wing. This building looks like it’s even bigger then the other one. This is with a reason as the Museum is on the short list to receive a decommissioned Space Shuttle as NASA has been working over the past couple of years to put together a list of equipment to be put on display. One of the requirements is the museums suitability both financially and physically to house the equipment. If they do get a Space Shuttle, it’ll probably be the Enterprise which was a non-flying equipment test bed and mockup.

For now the building is filled with a variety of space related equipment such as a German V-2 Rocket and TWO different Titan Rockets. I assume the nuclear warheads have been removed.

And of course what space museum would be complete without an actual space artifact or two? In this case a Gemini capsule being hoisted by a rescue helicopter, with the whole thing suspended from the ceiling.

And there is even a moon lander in the background!

Over all this is one air museum that is worth checking out in my opinion. In this one visit I believe it has surpassed the Boeing Field Air Museum in Seattle for best Air Museum on the West Coast.

Here is version 1.0 of my “Historic Oregon” Google Earth file. Included in this file are Ghost Towns, Locations of Historic Events, Locations of Forts and Camps, lighthouses, Missions, Indian Battles, Historical Markers, Heritage Trees(coming soon,) Shipwrecks, and Native American Tribes (coming soon too,) and remaining covered bridges. In other words, pretty much anything of historical interest.

Download here

There is about 100 hours of work into this file. It could not have been done without much dependence on the following resources:

Fort Wiki
Ghost Towns.Com
Google
Covered Bridge Society of Oregon
www.markeroni.com
National Register of Historic Places
Oregon Travel Council Heritage Programs
And most importantly, Oregon Geographic Names by Lewis A. McArthur which is based off his father’s work.

This is a HUGE file and is roughly 25% complete by my estimate so it may take a while to load. If you have any information about locations please email rick@hamell.net and I’ll add it in with proper credit. New versions will be released to this page. Please feel free to redistribute it, but I would appreciate a link back here if you do.

Note on Ghost Town Classifications.

I found this to be a very handy guide but had to expand it. I added a Class H which is the same as a Class D, but with few original buildings. I also added a number guide to give an idea of the town’s main purpose during it’s peak population.

Ghost Town Classifications:

Class A: barren site
Class B: rubble and/or roofless building ruins
Class C: standing abandoned buildings (with roofs), no population, except maybe a caretaker.
Class D: semi/near ghost towns. A small resident population, many abandoned buildings.
Class E: busy historic community, yet still much smaller than in its boom years.
Class F: Not a stand-alone class, but an addition to any of the above. This class usually designates a restored town, state park, or indicates some other “additional” status.
Class G: the town joined or was absorbed by a neighboring thriving city.
Class H: Same as Class D, with no or very few original buildings

Originating Purpose:
1.) Mineral Explotation
2.) Agriculural or Live Stock
3.) Timber
4.) Shipping or Travel Depoe, Stage Coach Station, Train Station
5.) Religious or idelogical
6.) Recreation and Service (Saloon Towns)

Thus a towns classification of B1 means an abandoned gold town with a few traces of buildings and other structures such as mine entrances.

Classifications are assigned by myself based on direct observation of the town, or best guess based on Google Maps and Internet searches. Many towns main economic activity changed multiple times during their lifetimes. In these cases the first or largest is used for the classification.

****10/13/09 Updated

I have added a HUGE amount of more information to this. Many new towns, Cemetaries, Civilian Conservation Corps Projects, Events, Early Explorers, Musuems, Native American Tribal grounds and camps, and much more. Again, please be sure to email me rick@hamell.net with any updates and corrections you might have.

Pacific Northwest Photoblog

Enterprise

Oregon Ghost Towns and other historical locations

Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum

Historic Oregon presented in Google Earth