Monday. I tried, but couldn't stop it.

Re: Monday. I tried, but couldn't stop it.

Is twenty bronze drinking fountains enough of a clue? I knew what, but couldn't remember who, now I know that too.

glc

Gurgle, You are there!

I forgot about you West Coast guys. You get two forehead stars because you answered this your time before I posted it. And the second for the rhyme. Purty darn good. Ever think of the psychic network?

Monday. answer. Long version

Simon Benson is the answer. The answer for today is not the bronze fountains, but the man who donated them. The �cigar� was an average 1000 foot long bundled �raft� but assembled in a huge semicylinder configuration so that it was more like a �boat�. It consisted of hundreds of logs staggered and chained together tightly so that it was very much like a laminated single cigar shaped log. A "cigar" was floated from Oregon to San Diego once every two weeks. It was risky, as a snapped chain or rogue wave could lose it all, but each arrival saved him thousands of dollars as rail or ship would have required loading and unloading several times owing to route rights. Benson was Norwegian or Finnish depending on who you read. He went bust several times in the forests of Wisconsin Mid-west but eventually settled in Portland where he started small, but used what he made to buy land further back the gorge and thus, timber. He worked with one of the first steam timber donkeys to hustle I mean HUSTLE) logs out of the woods, using hemp and metal cables that could be a over a quarter mile long. (Description: �There was a startling uproar in the forest, wholly beyond seeing distance, mind you. It sounded as it trees were being pulled out by their roots. In a moment a log came hurtling out of the underbrush nearly 1000 feet away. It burst into sight as if it had wings, smashing and tearing a pathway�so fast that when it fetched athwart a stump it pitched over it as if it were taking a hurdle. Then it became entangled with another whopper of a log, one as big as itself. The two locked arms, they did not hesitate, and both came lunging. It is an awesome sight to see a log of six feet through and 40 feet long bounding toward you as if the devil were in it, breaking off some trees as if they were twigs, leaping over obstacles, gouging a way for itself�. In this case the logs stopped 20 feet from author's previous position who by then had panicked and ran. In fact there is another similar story about a lumberman riding a donkeyed log down a hill, standing up, no less. Quoted from Ralph G. Paine (1906) found in TIME LIFE The Loggers, p116) After Benson built mills in several places, including San Diego, for there, and also to build close by L.A., as a wealthy lumber baron he donated money and land back to Portland. This included 20 bronze bubbler fountains (Gary�s answer) that are still there. At the time he supplied the fountains he substantially cut down on then normal worker morning and afternoon alcohol consumption. He also purchased the land and saved the waterfalls along the Columbia River gorge and built the bridge at Multnomah Falls. He gave this to the city and eventually it went to the National Park Service. This is a lifetime must see drive for travelers. His house, at one time condemned, in 1991 was moved from downtown Portland to Portland State University and restored to its appearance as a lumber businessman�s showpiece. Simon Benson, Cool guy. Where are these types today?