Salem, OR

Salem

Would you believe that for the entire year that I lived in Oregon I
never once visited the state capital? The state capital, Salem, which
is under an hour's drive from Corvallis where I was living. Well, I
didn't. Not once. However, I made some wonderful friends in Oregon and
I endured the long long flight and flew over once again to visit them
in February 2002. And, this time, we went to Salem. Which has nothing
to do with witches by the way. That's the Salem in Massachusetts. I
think. Almost every state has a Salem so it's hard to guess. Almost
every state also has an Albany and a Springfield and a Newport and a...
let's just say I don't think the Founding Fathers were very imaginative
when it came to naming towns. Most are shamelessly stolen from other
countries and some are stolen from the state they're in. Oregon City,
Oregon; New York City, New York; Iowa City, Iowa...it would make sense
if these were the state capitals, but they're just the towns that were
apparently on the bottom of the list to be named and whoever was naming
them had got bored by that time. I won't go on about this, because I'll
end up changing my mind when I cite all the better place names so let's
just leave it there. Back to Salem (the one in Oregon). Our main reason
for going was that they have a 'Made in Oregon' store in Salem and I
wanted to buy some Oregonian wine which is impossible to buy in England
and very nearly impossible to buy in stores in the States. Californian
wine is the preferred wine on the west coast. And very good it is too.
But Oregonian wine is also excellent, and I like to think of myself as
an honorary Oregonian so I'm bound by loyalty to buy it and enjoy it at
all costs. Two friends of mine, Matt and Danette, and I drove to Salem
in Danette's beat up old Chevelle. I love Danette's car, it's a real
big American car. Like the old 50's corvettes you see in movies.
Danette hates her car because, to be frank, it's a heap of junk which
guzzles gas like an oil fire. But anyway, we drove to Salem and headed
straight for the Oregon Capitol. The Capitol is a dignified and
imposing bright white building with a big dome (I feel like I should
quote a figure there, but really who cares? Incase someone does hold a
gun against your head and ask you how high the dome of the Oregon
Capitol is...it's 140 feet. There, I said it). Perched on top of the
dome is a dazzling golden statue of some bloke. We approached the
Capitol through a little grassed area whose paths were made up of
paving slabs bearing the names, establishment dates and capitals of all
the counties in Oregon. I asked Danette and Matt who the bloke on the
dome was. They said it was some pioneer but didn't know exactly who and
decided that it was safe to assume it was either Lewis or Clark, the
two pioneers who sailed down the Columbia from the east to the west and
founded most of the western states. Neither of them were sure, so we
stopped a few people to ask them. Nobody seemed to know, but everyone
guessed 'Lewis probably, or Clark'. By this time I was feeling sort of
sorry for whichever of the trail blazers it wasn't, didn't seem fair
really. We got nearer to the building still none the wiser as to the
identity of the mystery pioneer, but assuming it was Lewis or Clark.
Around the Capitol's entrance are beautifully carved reliefs of
important moments in Oregon's history. The great marble sculptures
depicted, on the left side, a covered wagon and on the right Lewis and
Clark (definitely this time, no guesswork, it was them, without a
doubt) being led by their Indian guide, Sacajawea. You may remember
that when Disney released the Pocahontas movie there were a lot of
people around who said Pocahontas was not a young, slim, pretty girl as
Disney would have us believe, but a big, fat, old woman. Whether this
is true or not, I don't know, but the same theories surround Sacajawea.
In all depictions of her she is shown as a young, slim, pretty girl. On
the marble sculptures outside the Capitol, on the Sacajawea dollar,
everywhere. But it is popularly said that, in Matt's own words,
Sacajawea was a '400 pound whore'. Poor woman, I feel a little sorry
for her. Especially considering how her people were treated when Lewis
and Clark's mates got over there. And still she's slagged off to this
day. It's the least the Americans can do to give her a bit of a make
over, then pretend like the illusion is true. Oregon is known as the
Beaver State, so there are many sculptures, reliefs and paintings of
beavers throughout the state. OSU's (the college I attended in
Corvallis) mascot is the beaver, and so they have lots of pictures and
sculptures of beavers on campus. There are two different beavers, the
cute beaver and the sinister beaver. I don't know whether it's supposed
to be sinister but it is. There's a big gold statue of the sinister
beaver in one of the buildings on campus and it looks like the kind of
beaver that would rip open your skull and eat your brains as soon as
look at you. It's sinister. The Capitol's beavers weren't sinister,
which was a relief. Once inside the Capitol we were alone in the
magnificent foyer. On the walls around us were murals (or should I say
frescoes) of more of Oregon's past and set into the floor was a replica
of the state seal. A great bronze disc which was decorated with the
pioneer's distinctive covered wagons; symbols of the agriculture so
important to Oregon (it might be worth noting that someone once told me
that Oregon's biggest cash crop is a certain illegal, weed like
substance); the date the State of Oregon was established (for those of
you who are interested in dates and stuff; it was 1859); and 33 stars
signifying Oregon's place as the 33rd state. Up sweeping staircases to
our right and left were the House of Representatives and Senate Chamber
which we looked in on from behind a rope at the open doorway. The very
rooms where the Decisions That Mattered were taken by the Powers That
Be. Even a non-American like myself, let alone a non-Oregonian like
myself, was struck with an enduring sense of pride for the beautiful
State of Oregon. The Capitol was inspiring, yet unostentatious; a trait
I had thought unfamiliar to Americans. It's subdued praise of the
protagonists of its past was admirable and it's ability to refrain from
the hero worship which so dominates America's politics and history was
refreshing. In addition it's ability to recognise the women that had
contributed to its history as well as the men was a nice change. We
spotted an information centre on our way out and stopped to ask who the
statue on the dome was. We were told that it was of no-one, the golden
statue was a symbol of the struggles and trials of those first men and
women to set foot in Oregon; it was called the Oregon Pioneer. We left
filled with an admiration for those who had been able to construct a
testament to the courage of the trail blazers and a monument to
Oregon's place in America. And had done so without utilising glitz or
glamour and without idolising their fore fathers. Oregon, I salute
you.