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All-metal steam-powered zeppelin: Could it work?

All-metal steam-powered zeppelin: Could it work?

Author: www.offbeatoregon.com (finn @ offbeatoregon.com) August 20, 2026 Duration: 10:17
Offbeat Oregon History podcast
HistoryCulturePlacesSocietySociety & CultureTravel
If so, the Linn County lad might have revolutionized air travel. But a launch-day disaster ruined his prototype, the Great Depression scared off all his investors, and the Hindenburg disaster ended the era of airship travel. (Linn and Benton county; 1910s, 1920s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1602c.pt2-slate-metal-airship-inventor-379.html)

The Offbeat Oregon History Podcast is a daily service from the Offbeat Oregon History newspaper column. Each weekday morning, a strange-but-true story from Oregon's history from the archives of the column is uploaded. An exploding whale, a few shockingly scary cults, a 19th-century serial killer, several very naughty ladies, a handful of solid-brass con artists and some of the dumbest bad guys in the history of the universe. Source citations are included with the text version on the Web site at https://offbeatoregon.com.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 50

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Podcast Episodes
Luther Cressman was Oregon’s real-life Indiana Jones (Part 2 of 2) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 11:10
THE GREAT BREAKTHROUGH in Cressman’s fieldwork came as a direct result of his having familiarized himself with Indian basketmaking art and other distinctive Native artistic traditions. He was able to recognize the pedigr…
Luther Cressman was Oregon’s real-life Indiana Jones (Part 1 of 2) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 8:50
IN THE SUMMER of 1981 a little action-adventure movie titled Raiders of the Lost Ark came out, and fans have been speculating ever since on who the character of Indiana Jones might be based on. Oregon archaeology legend…
Radical Wobblies found support among loggers [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 9:07
Industrial Workers of the World union grew strong in the woods just before the First World War broke out — and the U.S. Army had to teach soldiers to cut timber to get the industry moving again. (Lumber camps, 1910s) (Fo…
Shipwrecked fur traders walked from Oregon Coast to Louisiana [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 7:49
While they were ashore, their sailing ship sank in a storm, leaving four fur traders alone in a vast wilderness with no prospects for rescue. So they set out for Louisiana – and two years later, they arrived. (For text a…
P-town ‘jitney wars’ were monopoly vs. small-biz [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 11:02
Regular motorists would swing by streetcar stops and offer to take passengers faster and in greater comfort for the same nickel. But the competition enraged the powerful plutocrats who owned the streetcar company. (Portl…
Dog's 2,500-mile walk home made Silverton famous [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 9:20
THE TRAVELERS were almost to their destination in Indiana, about 2,300 miles into their road trip, when it happened: Frank was gassing up the Red Bird at a service station when a pack of local mongrels spotted Bobbie and…
Bobbie the Wonder Dog put Silverton on the map [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 9:50
BOBBIE THE WONDER Dog, a.k.a. Silverton Bobbie, is still today Silverton’s most famous celebrity. And that’s saying something; the town has been home to some very notable personalities, including Clark Gable and politica…
SPADs, Sopwith Camels made with Oregon spruce [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 8:12
The famous First World War aircraft were made of spruce, and one of the most important sources of the strategic wood for the Allies was the northern Oregon coast. (Toledo, Lincoln County; 1910s) (For text and pictures, s…
Oregon back country is rich in legends of buried treasure [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 8:11
Stories of lost loot and buried booty have kept treasure hunters busy digging for gold in hidden corners of Oregon for the past 150 years. Stories like the Louse Creek Stage Robbery ... the Silent Paymaster of Fort Grant…
Decade-long dam dispute resolved with dynamite [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 11:41
IN THE SMALL hours of the morning of Aug. 16, 1906, a powerful explosion jolted residents awake near the little town of Willamette, which today is a neighborhood of West Linn. It came from the direction of the nearby Tua…

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