More Beaver lore

Yesterday at Rite Aid, they were selling a game called Beaveropoly, just like good old Monopoly, except the box was orange and the streets were football-related.

Not to leave out Oregon’s other big team, a lady in line at the pharmacy had on a bright Duck-yellow fleece jacket with a green University of Oregon logo. These people like their football.

I thought folks were nuts about the 49ers, back in the days when I could hear the game blaring from every apartment in the complex where I lived near San Francisco. Of course they were winning then.

I promised to find out why this is the Beaver State. I guessed right. The beaver, named state animal in 1969, was a big part of the early settlers’ economy. They trapped beavers for their thick brown fur. In fact, they trapped almost all of them, so the state had to start protecting beavers and they have come back. Oregon likes beavers so much, there’s a big yellow picture of one on the back of the state flag.You can find more interesting facts about this stuff at the Oregon the Beaver State web site.

Now here’s a good question, to which I don’t have the answer: Why was the kid in the old “Leave It to Beaver” show called Beaver? And what was his real name?

Author: Sue Fagalde Lick

writer/musician California native, Oregon resident Author of Freelancing for Newspapers, Shoes Full of Sand, Azorean Dreams, Stories Grandma Never Told, Childless by Marriage, and Up Beaver Creek. Most recently, I have published two poetry chapbooks, Gravel Road Ahead and The Widow at the Piano: Confessions of a Distracted Catholic. I have published hundreds of articles, plus essays, fiction and poetry. I'm also pretty good at singing and playing guitar and piano. View all posts by Sue Fagalde Lick