State of Oregon Law Library Legal Research Blog

 

Not all heroes rescue small children or animals from burning buildings, some rescue books! Several years ago, we received a donation of books that the then Speaker of the House, John E. Cooter, saved from Oregon’s second capitol fire, 85 years ago. 

 

John E. Cooter was born on October 29th, 1890 to dairy farmers outside of Lebanon. Talented and well-educated, Cooter held a variety of positions including: university professor of agriculture, product marketing specialist, county agricultural agent, and country newspaper publisher. By 1932, Cooter became a democratic state legislator representing Lincoln county. During that time, he helped pass relief bills to mitigate the Great Depression, as well as bills regulating public utilities. Cooter also worked with the State Grange and advocated for the Coastal Highway. His skill working across the aisle earned him a place as Speaker of House in 1935. 

 

Unfortunately, on April 25th, 1935, the Oregon Capitol burned. The fire started in the building’s basement, likely when papers spontaneously combusted. The building’s design sealed its fate. According to the Salem Fire Department, the “redwood columns that held up the dome were hollow and open at the base and the top,” and they functioned “like a chimney.” The Oregon Insurance Rating Bureau described how the fire “again demonstrated the hazards of such occupancy in buildings of this type of construction.”

 

The Capitol’s flames were visible for fifteen miles. Despite Salem firefighters' prompt arrival, they could not quell the fire in the basement – it was already too hot. Cutting into one of the pillars on the first floor, “they observed flames rushing upward and at almost the same moment fire burst from another on the opposite side of the rotunda.” By 8 p.m., the dome collapsed. By 9:30 p.m., firefighters from Portland arrived to help. After 17 hose lines, 2 pumpers, and 350,000 gallons of water, the fireman extinguished the flames. 

 

The fire killed one firefighter – Floyd McMullen. It also destroyed various state records and portraits. Water used to douse the fire even damaged books in the Oregon Supreme Court and Library building because it and the Capitol were connected through a tunnel. In the end, it caused one million dollars of damage or almost $19 million in today’s money.

 

 

Cooter rescued five books he felt the government needed to function. Specifically, he saved: Oregon Laws 1931, Oregon Laws 1933 Regular and Special Sessions, Oregon Laws 1935, Senate and House Journals 1933, Senate and House Journals 1935. Cooter likely immediately put the books to use, as he oversaw the 1935 Special Session to rebuild the Capitol. 

 

Later that year, the Oregon Attorney General charged Cooter and several other Democrats with holding other state positions in addition to their duties in the legislature. Some Democrats argued that they were being attacked for their party because several Republicans also held other state positions. Regardless, the charges forced Cooter to leave the legislature. According to his children, the State gifted him with the books as “a memento of his service.” 

 

 

His children and grandson kept the books and eventually donated them to the State of Oregon Law Library. Fittingly, the books are again serving the purpose Cooter intended when he rescued them: helping the state government continue running. 

 

Craving more history or need something to read at home?