A collection of poignant memories of the beloved cabin

Mileham, Mardi

English

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Fire Consumes Lincabin

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Linfield Magazine Volume 3 Number 2 Fall 2006 Article 9 Fall 2006 Fire Consumes Lincabin Mardi Mileham Linfield College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/linfield_magazine Recommended Citation Mileham, Mardi (2006) "Fire Consumes Lincabin," Linfield Magazine: Vol. 3 : No. 2 , Article 9. Available at: https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/linfield_magazine/vol3/iss2/9 This article is brought to you for free via open access, courtesy of DigitalCommons@Linfield. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@linfield.edu. 1 2   -   L I N F I E L D  M A G A Z I N E F A L L  2 0 0 6 -   1 3infield College lost a piece of history andfolklore when Lincabin was destroyed by aforest fire in July.The rustic dwelling was located on pri-vate land in the forest about 10 miles south-west of Sisters. Despite the best efforts of fire fighters tosave the structure, it was completely destroyed.It is a major loss to some of the people who usedthe cabin for many years.Drannan Hamby ’55, professor emeritus of chem-istry and physics, was one of several individualsinvolved with Lincabin from the beginning. The ideafor a cabin evolved after an outdoor program wasestablished in the early 1970s. Construction began in1973. All of the labor was done by Linfield faculty andstudents, Hamby said. There were no indoor toiletfacilities, electricity or running water and originally aFranklin fireplace provided heat. “One could get either one’s front side or back sidewarm, but not both at the same time,” Hamby said.The Forest Service later donated a big double-barreledwood burner that warmed the cabin. Eventually awood cook stove was added that baked many loaves ofbread over the years.The cabin was home to the spring and summer out-door program and fall orientation programs for manyyears, and many faculty and departments used the facil-ity, including the Departments of Physics, ModernLanguages and Physical Education. Hamby taught a January Term winter outdoorcourse and was joined in 1987 by Doug Cruikshank,professor of education, now emeritus.“The cabin provided an ideal base for the course,”Hamby wrote. “It was primitive and isolated enough toprovide challenge, but warm and tight enough to pro-vide a learning place that was comfortable and safe forstarting a winter outdoor adventure.”Cruikshank is writing a book about the winter out-door course, complete with journal entries from stu-dents. One chapter focuses on Lincabin, and one of hisfondest memories is teaching the students to bake bread,which “resulted in baking frenzies.” In 1981, Peter Richardson, professor of German,established a tradition of taking students to “Linhütte”for total immersion German weekends. Diane (Fox)Close ’84 carved a wooden “Linhütte” panel that wasaffixed over the door. The weekends were filled withcooking on the wood stove, as well as singing, hikingand playing games, speaking nothing but German.Mike Roberts, professor of biology; GudrunHommel-Ingram, associate professor of German; ScottSmith, assistant professor of history; and Peter McGraw,director of corporate and foundation relations, have allparticipated in those weekends.  McGraw recalls Richardson demonstrating how tomake German noodles, preparing the dough and caramelizedonions and inviting the students each to take a turn.“It wasn’t easy, and after everyone had had a turnand the expert returned to finish the job, we sat downto a huge and delicious meal of Spätzle layered withcheese and onions,” McGraw said. Lincabin represented something more than just ahut in the woods, Roberts said.“It was an institution in itself, a sort of campusannex that made certain experiences better,” he added.“Being away from campus seemed to make the studentswilling to work harder at communicating. Many foundthat their German got better as the weekend progressedFIRETop right: A view of Lincabin during the winter when Drannan Hamby ’55 and Doug Cruikshank taught the winter outdoorcourse. Below: Making bread was a favorite student activity. Little remains of Lincabin after a forest fire destroyed the Linfieldlandmark in July.Lconsumes Lincabin1 2   -   L I N F I E L D  M A G A Z I N E F A L L  2 0 0 6 -   1 3infield College lost a piece of history andfolklore when Lincabin was destroyed by aforest fire in July.The rustic dwelling was located on pri-vate land in the forest about 10 miles south-west of Sisters. Despite the best efforts of fire fighters tosave the structure, it was completely destroyed.It is a major loss to some of the people who usedthe cabin for many years.Drannan Hamby ’55, professor emeritus of chem-istry and physics, was one of several individualsinvolved with Lincabin from the beginning. The ideafor a cabin evolved after an outdoor program wasestablished in the early 1970s. Construction began in1973. All of the labor was done by Linfield faculty andstudents, Hamby said. There were no indoor toiletfacilities, electricity or running water and originally aFranklin fireplace provided heat. “One could get either one’s front side or back sidewarm, but not both at the same time,” Hamby said.The Forest Service later donated a big double-barreledwood burner that warmed the cabin. Eventually awood cook stove was added that baked many loaves ofbread over the years.The cabin was home to the spring and summer out-door program and fall orientation programs for manyyears, and many faculty and departments used the facil-ity, including the Departments of Physics, ModernLanguages and Physical Education. Hamby taught a January Term winter outdoorcourse and was joined in 1987 by Doug Cruikshank,professor of education, now emeritus.“The cabin provided an ideal base for the course,”Hamby wrote. “It was primitive and isolated enough toprovide challenge, but warm and tight enough to pro-vide a learning place that was comfortable and safe forstarting a winter outdoor adventure.”Cruikshank is writing a book about the winter out-door course, complete with journal entries from stu-dents. One chapter focuses on Lincabin, and one of hisfondest memories is teaching the students to bake bread,which “resulted in baking frenzies.” In 1981, Peter Richardson, professor of German,established a tradition of taking students to “Linhütte”for total immersion German weekends. Diane (Fox)Close ’84 carved a wooden “Linhütte” panel that wasaffixed over the door. The weekends were filled withcooking on the wood stove, as well as singing, hikingand playing games, speaking nothing but German.Mike Roberts, professor of biology; GudrunHommel-Ingram, associate professor of German; ScottSmith, assistant professor of history; and Peter McGraw,director of corporate and foundation relations, have allparticipated in those weekends.  McGraw recalls Richardson demonstrating how tomake German noodles, preparing the dough and caramelizedonions and inviting the students each to take a turn.“It wasn’t easy, and after everyone had had a turnand the expert returned to finish the job, we sat downto a huge and delicious meal of Spätzle layered withcheese and onions,” McGraw said. Lincabin represented something more than just ahut in the woods, Roberts said.“It was an institution in itself, a sort of campusannex that made certain experiences better,” he added.“Being away from campus seemed to make the studentswilling to work harder at communicating. Many foundthat their German got better as the weekend progressedFIRETop right: A view of Lincabin during the winter when Drannan Hamby ’55 and Doug Cruikshank taught the winter outdoorcourse. Below: Making bread was a favorite student activity. Little remains of Lincabin after a forest fire destroyed the Linfieldlandmark in July.Lconsumes Lincabin1 4   -   L I N F I E L D  M A G A Z I N Eand they learned words that were specific to mountains,forests and nature.” And those weekends had a profound effect on somestudents, Richardson said. “A junior sidled into my office one year and saidshe had gone to Linhütte as a freshman,” he said. “Shehad not said much during that visit, being reticent aboutusing her first-year skills when there were better speak-ers present. She told me that weekend had been anunforgettable milestone in her Linfield education andthanked me for it.” Close, the student who carved the Linhütte panel,was not a particularly strong German student,Richardson said. But after graduating, she moved toGermany to make her way in the art world. She mar-ried there and years later returned to give a talk atLinfield about her art, a talk delivered in halting Englishwith a heavy German accent. Upkeep of the cabin was a labor of love for thosewho used it. It had been re-stained, had its roof and gut-ters repaired and the stove chimney straightened. Someyears major repairs were required after the cabin wasvandalized. A few years ago, a new outhouse was need-ed, since the existing one was “listing to the side as wellas showing plenty of use,” Cruikshank wrote in hisbook. That January, surrounded by snow, the old out-house was burned to the ground.“The two mental images I have today are of the oldouthouse burning and a snow-laden tree standing outagainst the blue-white sky,” Cruikshank added.“Drannan and I agreed that it was the passing of an era.”– Mardi MilehamKelly Warren ’07 has been anavid waterfowl hunter since firstslogging through the marsh withhis father and grandfather at age 2.So when Warren, an environ-mental studies major at LinfieldCollege, set out to find a topic for hisindependent research study, he turned to the subject heknows best – geese. After deciding to identify and ana-lyze the seven Canada goose subspecies found in theWillamette Valley, Warren contacted state and nationalenvironmental agencies for background material. While sorting through Oregon’s complicated hunt-ing regulations, Warren saw the need for a better huntereducation tool and took the initiative to develop the“Identification Field Guide to the Geese of theWillamette Valley and Lower Columbia River.” It was amajor undertaking but one that will aid the averagehunter, according to Brad Bales, a migratory game birdbiologist with the Oregon Department of Fish andWildlife for 26 years.“Kelly took thousands of digital photos, which addsto the overall field guide,” Bales said. “It took a tremen-dous amount of time.”Warren took some 4,300 photos, which he nar-rowed down to 95 for the publication, and includedinformation on the geese such as history, behavior, man-agement and maps charting breeding and winteringareas. The final product is a 40-page field guide targetedto hunters, biologists, birders and the general public. The project ultimately earned Warren an A in hisLinfield class, along with a byline on a field guide nowdistributed by the United States Fish and WildlifeService, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlifeand the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.Warren is also collaborating on a DVD to accompanythe publication. “This is something that I’ve been passionate aboutall my life,” Warren said. “To tie it into school work is anextra plus.”Warren’s interest in wildlife biology has broadenedwhile at Linfield, where the liberal arts environmentnurtures students to think within larger contexts,according to Tom Love, professor of anthropology andWarren’s project advisor.“Kelly took his interest in geese and developed itinto a first-rate project which will be widely used,” Lovesaid. “In addition to the academic skills he’s developed atLinfield, Kelly has a sixth sense, which a good hunterhas, about habitat, reading a landscape and knowingwaterfowl behavior. On top of all that, he has admirabledrive and perseverance.” Warren plans to build on this project with a seniorthesis on the one subspecies that nests in the valley andhas become a local nuisance. He later plans to attend graduate school in environ-mental policy, and ultimately obtain an environmentallaw or teaching degree.The project also sparked a new venture for Warren,who has started a photography business as a result ofrequests from the field guide.– Laura DavisOutdoor enthusiast pens field guideHard work and hundreds of hours in the field by Kelly Warren ‘07 are represented in a field guide now distributed by state and nationalwildlife agencies. The guide and a DVD will be available this fall athttp://www.dfw.state.or.us/ODFWhtml/InfoCntrWild/goose_testing.htm.F A L L  2 0 0 6 -   1 5Top: Relaxing, reading and writing in journals occupied someof the time students spent in the cabin during the winter outdoorcourse. Below: Burning the old outhouse.(Editor’s note: The Office of Alumni Relations has created an online group so those who spent time at Lincabin can sharetheir memories. Share your own memories or read what classmates have to say at http://groups.google.com/group/lincabin.)

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