300120 - Steelhead Fishing

The January 20, 1930, episode of Empire Builders was initialed scheduled to tell a tale of Butte, Montana, but that story was delayed until a later date. Instead, a story was aired titled “Steelhead Fishing.” It was based on a story written by Ben Hur Lampman, the same author who wrote “The Coming of the White Man” which aired on Empire Builders for the December 16, 1929, broadcast.

Man and girl steelhead fishing on the Trask River near Tillamook, Oregon, circa 1936. (Photographer unknown; Oregon State Archives, Oregon Department of Transportation, OHDM002)

Without a copy of this episode’s continuity, I haven’t much to go on except the press release. Here’s what it had to say:

A fishing story broadcast in midwinter will seem a little out of season east of the Rockies, but it happens that the gamey steelhead is at his best during January and February in the mild streams of the Pacific coast. So Empire Builders on Monday night (January 20) will present a romance that  is intermingled with the whirr of the reel and line, the ripple of the streams, and the lashing of the steelhead at the end of the line.

Rudyard Kipling

It will be recalled that one of the few things that Rudyard Kipling found to his liking in America was the fishing in Oregon, which he covered quite fully in his essays.

The story was written especially for Empire Builders by Ben Hur Lampman of Portland, poet and nature writer whose works appeared in numerous magazines of national circulation.

The cast includes Harvey Hays as the lovable Old Timer, and Miss Virginia Gardiner, whose role affords her an opportunity to sing as well as act. Incidental music is by Andy Sannella and his recording orchestra, and Bob MacGimsey, harmony whistler.

 

Men steelhead fishing on Umpqua River, circa 1937 (Photographer Ralph Gifford; Oregon State Archives, Oregon Department of Transportation, OHDG434)

For the next few episodes in the Empire Builders radio series, I have in most cases the press release and (most importantly) the continuity as well. There should be a good deal more to report about for at least the next month.