Race to the River

an excerpt by Steven Becker

When the View school bell rang with unceasing urgency one afternoon in late April of 1918, people came running. Mrs. Lora South, a new mother, was hemorrhaging and had to be taken to a hospital. Even if an ambulance could make its way from LaCenter or Vancouver, Mrs. South would never survive the jolting, rattling ride down one mountainous hillside and up another. Their only option was to carry her, in her bed, to LaCenter where she would be put on the ferry to Portland.

The plan was as simple as it was backbreaking: A folding bed was assembled with long, thick poles tied under both ends of the frame allowing a rotating crew of 8 men, four at the head of the bed and four at the feet, to carry her almost 10 miles to the LaCenter ferry dock. A covered wagon carrying Lora South’s infant daughter and copious amounts of food for those carrying the improvised stretcher. The procession would stop periodically to allow Mrs. South to nurse her child and for men to switch out with those who were rested. It was difficult from the start and as night fell, got harder.

And now, for “The Rest of the Story” – 2 FaceBook friends who had never met in person, decided to meet up on Saturday June 1^st, 2024 at the LC Museum – where they discovered they were not only FB friends – but cousins! 

Buchanan and Hazen are their common surnames.  David Buchanan ran the old Palace Hotel here in town at one time, and Carrie Elsie (Buchanan) Hazen was sister to Lora South, who was the main character in Steve Becker’s – Race to River that we help broadcast in Dec of 2022.  One of the cousins – Sharon Kirk now owns the house (pictured above) where Lora had her baby that was the featured in the story!

The other cousin Heather Huston, told us her g-uncle W.O. Powell, was our 2^nd Mayor … one of which we have no photo of – but Heather does and will share with us!