Bears in Montavilla?

By PATRICIA SANDERS

“Bear,” Oregon Journal Magazine, part of a series on rare Oregon animals, written and illustrated by R. Bruce Horsfall, May 21, 1922

The recent bear sightings in Portland’s Forest Park reminded me of a story I came across a couple of years ago in the October 9, 1920 edition of the Oregon Journal.

It was the lead item in a column on Montavilla news. It featured the recollections of an unnamed man who had lived in what is now Montavilla since 1860. That’s 29 years before the earliest Mount Tabor Villa lots went on the market and the birth of the neighborhood officially began. I guess this is pre-Montavilla history.

In those early days, “the old-timer,” as the reporter called him, lived in a log cabin he built himself. Pointing to the intersection of Glisan Street and 80th Avenue, he said a bear family once lived in a woodsy area.

Intersection of NE Glisan Street and NE 80th Avenue, where a family of bears used to live, according to an old-time Montavilla resident.

Photo courtesy of Samantha Stover

He seemed to enjoy watching the bears play in the early morning. Other times, he’d return home to find it had been ransacked by the bears, much to his annoyance.

“Montavilla,” Oregon Daily Journal, October 19, 1920.

True story or tall tale?

It’s hard to prove, but it seems possible.

Records show that this general area was part of the black bears’ range. And, certainly, it was once heavily forested, the black bear’s preferred habitat.

Written documentation of black bears in the general area goes back to the journals of the Lewis and Clark expedition. (Indigenous memories, of course, would go back way further, of course.)

An April 2, 1806 journal entry mentions four of the expedition’s men killing an elk, some deer, and a black bear near the mouth of the Sandy River.

With a cursory search of Portland newspapers, I found numerous articles mentioning local sightings of black bears from 1869 to the present.

So, there is no doubt that we live in what was once black bear territory, now pushed back to the periphery of our cities and beyond. And even 160 years ago, they were already rare sight.

Were there still forests around 1860?

Forests are the black bear’s preferred habitat. And the old timer spoke of firs so tall and plentiful that it was almost a year before he knew Mount Tabor and Rocky Butte existed.

Maybe that’s an exaggeration, but trees, including firs, were native to this area.

The Big Burn of 1846, spreading from Mount Scott almost to the Columbia River, destroyed much of the pre-existing thick forest. But did this burn trees in the area around today’s Glisan and 80th? Hard to say.

But fir, as well as hemlock and maple trees, still existed in this general area since they are indicated on the Oregon General Land Office’s 1852 map.

Another indication that the northern Montavilla area was still forested is an account in Wilber Kerns Newell’s 1934 memoir. With the big wind of January 9, 1880, he wrote, so many trees were knocked down that he and his young friends could walk from Base Line Road (now Stark Street) all the way to Rocky Butte “without once stepping off fallen tree trunks.”

Why did the Oregon Journal run a five-paragraph story about a man’s recollections about bears in Montavilla? Were readers really that interested?

Judging by the stories about bears spanning decades, it seems like an enduring interest to readers.

News coverage was mostly about black bears (Ursus americanus), although grizzlies (Urus arctos horribilis) were also mentioned. Black bears were more populous, the ones still living near cities. The grizzly population, however, had dwindled so that in 1937 the last survivor was killed in Wallowa County.

Although the Ursus americanus is commonly referred to as the black bear, these bears also come in varying shades of brown. Sometimes, however, they were reported as if they are separate species.

It was black bears that sometimes wandered into Portland and other Oregon towns and cities.

A few newspaper reports about bears in Portland

What newspapers reported about black bears varied.

Besides sightings, they also reported on hunts whether for sport or bear control. Bears like to raid and sometimes ransack fruit orchards. Sometimes they attacked sheep. So sometimes orchardists and ranchers hunted them down.

Headline in the Oregon Journal, October 14, 1903, page 1. A 400-pound bear was tracked and killed by a Mr. Schuman of Portland, who spotted him and his bear friends raiding his apple orchard near Johnson Creek.

In 1906, Linnton residents reported seeing several bears in the woods above their town every year (Oregon Journal, April 28, 1906), so Portland’s West Hills have long been a haven to black bears. The article also mentioned bears roaming to Portland’s East Side in search of better food.

News stories about bears continued to appear over the years, but a particularly detailed one ran in the Oregonian of September 8, 1962 about a bear sighted near Reed College. The immature bear was tracked through the neighborhood by 20 policemen, a Humane Society officer, as well as neighbors. Unable to capture the bear alive, a police officers shot him when he stopped to drink from a backyard pond.

Source: Oregonian, September 8, 1962

Given the keen public interest in encounters between wild bears and urban dwellers, Portland newspapers also reported bear sightings and killings in other Oregon cities and other locations throughout the United States.

Besides hunting and sightings, local newspapers ran stories about performing bears— including boxing matches between declawed bears and strong men.

Even a decaying stuffed black bear made it into the news in 1909. For years it stood on the ground floor of Portland’s City Hall, but now the moth-eaten specimen was offered to any taker.

The dangerous side of black bears was also a regular newsfeature, including ferocious maulings of humans and attacks on livestock.

Given the size, strength, and ferocity of the black bear, it is shocking to read the Oregon Journal reports of June 6 and 7, 1923 about organ grinder Cezare Zenzold and his dancing bear who performed together on the very streets of Portland.

Perhaps, the bear got tired of being penned in a make-shift pit in Marquam Gulch. He escaped and clawed his owner as well Giuseppe the hermit, who lived nearby.

Given the known ferocity of bears, newspapers often highlighted the adorable antics of bears in the Washington Park zoo and applauded Little Teddy, the black bear at the Jantzen Beach amusement park in the 1930s.

“Bear Cubs Are Good Bottle Babies, Playmates,” Oregonian Journal, November 1, 1936.

The Oregon press also portrayed bears as cute and friendly characters in song, story, and verse.

Both the Oregonian and the Oregon Journal ran illustrated children’s stories in the early 20th Century that featured playful bears. Sometimes bear cubs even hands with children.

“The Roosevelt Bears Abroad” by Seymour Eaton; illustrated by R. K. Culver. Source: Sunday Oregonian Magazine, March 24, 1907

The friendly bear image would persist for many decades in stories, toys, and songs. Some of you may remember, for example, “The Teddy Bear’s Picnic,” with music composed in 1907 and lyrics added in 1932.

Of course, teddy bears are still a popular toy. These go back to 1902.

The original teddy bear was inspired by news reports about President Theodore Roosevelt. He was on a hunting trip and failed to bag a bear. So. his assistants caught and restrained one, but “Teddy” refused to shoot it. That would have been unsporting.

Cartoon by Clifford Berryman in the November 16, 1902 Washington Post showing President Roosevelt refusing to shoot a captive bear.

Source: Wikimedia

Two clever stuffed-animal makers honored Roosevelt by creating a toy bear. They called it Teddy’s Bear.

The teddy bear, as it became known, went viral in 1902. Soon they were being mass produced by the Ideal Toy Company.

An original Teddy Bear of 1903, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

Source: Wikimedia

Was the story about the Montavilla bears true? I do not know.

But given the public’s fascination with bears, both ferocious and cute, I can understand why the editors of the Oregon Journal wanted to publish the story of the Montavilla bears in 1920. And why they have continued to publish bear stories to this day.

I think the popularity of stories about bears also lies in the final comment of the Montavilla old-timer:

Sources

The Oregon Journal

The Oregonian

“Black Bear,” Oregon Wild.

“Black Bear,” Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Wilber Kerns Newell, February 2, 1934, “Mount Tabor in Early Days of East Portland, Oregon.” Accessible to Ancestry subscribers.

For your enjoyment, here’s a charming video of bear cubs at play.

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Historical story ideas? Questions about Montavilla’s past? Also share a love for neighborhood history? 

Comment on the article at the link in the heading. Or you can reach out to Pat Sanders at pat.montavilla.history@gmail.com.

Read all of the “Montavilla Memories” articles by Pat Sanders here.