JL writes: Family lore has it that Lon (Pop)
Woosley wrestled another suitor for the right to court the girl who was to
become (Mom) Woosley. He must have won, & they have six children to show
for it.
Had it been an earlier time, he
might have been wrestling bear at Mapleton, Oregon: "You know,"
said bachelor Charlie Camp, "they used to wrestle bear, down here at the
service station in Mapleton. I worked on the railroad, tamping ballast and
driving spikes. It was real boring work, but I got used to it, I guess. Night
in town was for bear. It was a switch from days. Right there at the north end
of the covered bridge they kept him muzzled, with a kind of boxing mittens of
rawhide covering his claws. He was chained, too, so he had enough handicap to
even things out. These big loggers used to bet heavy they could pin him before
the clock ran out. Thing was, he wouldn't stand. If he'd stand, they could
usually knock him down. But he'd haunch tight and they rode him, then he'd roll
and the boys would really squall. A few guys beat him, but a lot got broken
bones. That bear learned to get a turn of his chain around a guy's body, and
then he won every time. So they decided to turn him loose inside the garage for
a night match. That bear steamed in his pen, and when the first challenger
stepped up, they pulled the trap door open. Trouble was, he'd lost all fear of
man. Went on a rampage and right away the lights got knocked out and everybody
went to growling and clubbing each other on the fur-top thinking it was bear.
Somebody got the door open, and he was gone. They found a mitten down by the
cannery, but never saw the bear again. A little afterward, we got a movie
theater, and had little socials and things. Somehow, nothing was quite fun like
bear." From "Having Everything Right; Essays of Place" by Kim R. Stafford; 1986
Western states Book Awards Citation for Excellence, pp. 161/162.)
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