A new local history book reveals the intriguing characters and everyday citizens who have made Bend’s history legendary. Legendary Locals of Bend by Les Joslin shares the stories of unique individuals and groups, past and present, who have had a lasting impact on the community throughout its history.
A fascinating mix of local legends who could be characterized as “the right people, in the right place, at the right time” arrived in Central Oregon during the past century and a half to make Bend the fascinating city it has become. Some of these people—explorer John Charles Fremont, publisher George Palmer Putnam, economist William A. Niskanen, and “World’s Greatest Athlete” Ashton Eaton among them—gained national prominence and even global stature.
Others were and are more ordinary people who have done and continue to do extraordinary things in an extraordinary place, a small but singular city of some 80,000 souls astride the Deschutes River at the eastern foot of the Cascade Range.
A portion of the profits earned will be contributed to the Deschutes County Historical Society. This book quickly answers many “who, what, when, where, and how” questions of Bend’s history.
Joslin, 72, is a retired U.S. Navy commander; former U.S. Forest Service firefighter, wilderness ranger and staff officer and former college and university instructor who has resided in Bend, the subject of this new book, since 1988.
A graduate of San Jose State College, Joslin has earned master’s degrees at the University of Colorado and the University of London. At the request of the Deschutes County Historical Society, of which he is a member and past president, he prepared Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America: Bend published in 2009.
Joslin specializes in U.S. Forest Service history, and has authored or edited seven books on aspects of that agency’s story. He has edited the Pacific Northwest Forest Service Association’s quarterly OldSmokeys Newsletter since 2006, and he published his autobiography Life & Duty in 2014.
He hopes that this work, written at the request of the Deschutes County Historical Society, will increase interest in and understanding of Bend’s history and stimulate the writing of Legendary Locals titles on other Deschutes County and Central Oregon cities and towns.
Available: January 25, 2016 from Arcadia Publishing.