Page 14 of So in Love
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Afrigid windthreatened to steal Crystal’s breath even as the bright sun shone off the window of the car she’d parked next to.Locking the car, she pulled her hat down over her ears and hurried to the entrance of the Yamhill County Historical Society.
Once she was inside, her body twitched as heat started to banish the cold.
“It’s a bit frosty out there!”she said to Ben, the young man who worked behind the counter.
“It’s that east wind.Brutal.Be glad we don’t live on the other side of Portland in the gorge.They’re getting hammered today with an ice storm.”
Crystal had been up the Columbia River Gorge—with Alaina and her family.But then that was how Crystal did a lot of things, tagging along with Alaina.
Darryl Gray, the gentleman who’d been helping Crystal and her friends with their research the past several months, came into the lobby wearing a grin.“Happy New Year!I thought I heard your voice.”
“Happy New Year to you too,” she said, pulling off her gloves.“Did you have a nice holiday?”
“Yep, very relaxing.My wife and I spent Christmas with our daughter and her new husband.”Darryl was in his late fifties and sported a shock of white-blond hair.“How about you?”
“It was good.”She’d gone home to Blueville for a short two-day trip over Christmas—arriving early on the twenty-fourth and leaving in the early evening on the twenty-fifth.Her mother had been disappointed at the brevity of her stay, but she was used to it by now.Crystal never liked to linger there too long.
He rubbed his hands together.“You ready for some exciting intel this morning?”
“Really?”
He nodded, then resituated his wire-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose.“Most definitely.Come on.”He gestured for her to precede him to the conference room where they always met.
She tugged her knit hat from her head and smoothed her hair, certain there were pieces sticking straight up due to the static.As she stepped into the conference room, she set her hat and gloves on the table and unzipped her coat.“I don’t think you’ve ever used the word exciting before.This must be big.”
He sat at the head of the table and waited until Crystal had draped her coat over the back of a chair and sat down beside him before pulling a manila file folder toward him.“I’m not sure big covers it.But I’m getting ahead of myself.When I wasn’t able to find anything here in Yamhill County about the fire that destroyed Bird’s Nest Ranch, I contacted historical societies in other counties.It’s been a slog, but I finally got a hit back on something.”
Crystal turned toward him, her interest more than piqued.“Do tell.”
“I just have to say, I still find it beyond strange that there’s nothing about the fire in local records.It’s almost as if they covered it up—and maybe they did.”He gave her a mysterious look that only increased her curiosity.
“Now you’re teasing me.”
He chuckled.“I’ll stop dragging it out.Okay, here’s the deal.”He opened the file.“This is a letter I received from the Lane County Historical Society.It’s written by a man named Dell Beatty and it’s about a gathering of, wait for it, Ku Klux Klan members.”
Crystal gaped at him.Of all the things she might have expected him to say, that was not anywhere in her imagination.“You’re serious.”
He pressed his lips together in a grim line.“Unfortunately, yes.I don’t know how familiar you are with Oregon history, but it has some pretty dark spots.Most people opposed slavery, but they didn’t want black people living here.In 1844, there was a law to exclude black people, and they’d be lashed if they didn’t leave the state.”
Crystal’s jaw hung open.“That’s insane.”
“They changed the lashing to work punishment in 1845.There was even an article in the State Constitution that didn’t allow ‘negro or mulatto’ people who weren’t already living here to move here.Furthermore, those that were here couldn’t own property or make contracts.Most people aren’t aware of that history.”
Crystal certainly hadn’t been, but then she wasn’t an Oregonian.She’d grown up in the south where racism and an antiquated love for the Confederacy were hard to ignore in some places.“I had absolutely no idea.That’s horrible.”
“Nothing to be proud of, that’s for sure.I could go into a whole history lesson here, but I’ll probably bore you to tears.”
“Actually, you wouldn’t.In fact, if you could point me to some reading, I’d appreciate it.”
His gaze flickered with surprise and perhaps admiration.“Will do.I’ll get you a list before you go.”
Dorinda’s story had sparked a flame of interest in Crystal’s mind that had only intensified over the past few months.This new information had set a full-on bonfire and her brain was swirling with excitement to share this story.But how?
“So, back to the letter,” Darryl said, interrupting Crystal’s wild thoughts.
She refocused, shaking her head.“Yes, please.”
