Oregon is no stranger to nudity. Our state is home to amenities galore for nude recreation, including two nude beaches, clothing-optional hot springs, the world's largest naked bike ride and four nude resorts.

The oldest of those resorts, Squaw Mountain Ranch, first opened in 1933 as "The Hesperian Society" a nudist colony in the woods near Estacada. Two years later, enterprising Oregonian reporter Edward M. Miller and photographer Frank Sterrett paid a visit, "prompted by an active case of Acute Curiosity."

Their visit, and the early days of Oregon's nude recreation, were captured in Miller's colorful narration, printed in the Sunday Oregonian on Aug. 11, 1935. (The story is reprinted here, edited for length and with some words omitted due to illegibility from scanning the original copy of the newspaper.)

OREGON'S NUDISTS STATE THEIR CASE

by Edward M. Miller

Staff Writer, The Oregonian

Two years ago there played at a Portland theater a motion pictured (sic) titled "Elysia." The picture, essentially, was a sympathetic portrayal of the practices and aims of the nudist movement. A good many thousand patrons saw the picture. Most of the patrons, it may be assumed, took "Elysia" in stride and deemed it a matter of slight consequence.

Among the many thousands of "Elysia" viewers were various members of two Portland families. The nudist thesis appealed to them, they obtained copies of a magazine devoted to the furtherance of nudism and before long had determined to initiate a colony in the Portland area.

Those interested formed a corporation on a non-profit basis. Their group became known as the Hesperian society, a name derived from the mythical Hesperia, which to the Greeks and Romans was "the western land." The Portlanders affiliated with the International nudist conference, an organization comprised of numerous nudist groups in the United States and abroad.

Finding a Site

To find a location for the venture became an immediate problem. A classified advertisement in The Oregonian asking for a location suitable for a nudist colony brought some 84 replies. Most of the places offered were unsatisfactory, either because they lacked isolation or failed to offer proper facilities for outdoor recreation.

The sifting process, completed on a rainy day 18 months ago, culminated in the midst of a dense forest 40 miles southeast of Portland and 12 miles southeast of Estacada. The site appeared satisfactory for their purpose, so representatives of the society visited the sheriff and district attorney of Clackamas county to discover what official attitude might be expected. They received this verdict: "You stay on your own property and mind your own business and you will not be molested."

With this assurance the five directors purchased the land.

Abandoned Homestead

The site was an abandoned homestead surrounded by land of the Mount Hood national forest. For some 30 years the homestead had lain idle, the frame house was weather-beaten and sagging and the three or four acres of once cleared land had become a dense bramble studded by five and six-inch trees. On all sides of this young jungle was a fern-floored forest typical of western Oregon.

Included on the property was one small mountain stream with ample water for the needs of drinking, cooking and sanitation. A second larger creek, coursing through a beautiful ravine a quarter mile distant from the homestead clearing, gave promise of a magnificent outdoor swimming pool.

Last summer saw the falling of the brambles before the axes of men, saw the reclamation of the old house by industrious women. There were just a few of them, they worked hard, and sometimes they didn't wear clothes, and sometimes they did wear clothes.

Theirs was a humble project, but nudism with its sun tans had arrived in Oregon.

It was just about a year ago that an acquaintance who held a directorship in the organization was approached with a proposal to visit the colony and to publish an account of the venture.

Gate Bars Path

This final half mile, running through scattered firs, ended with two gates, spaced 100 yards apart blocking the road. Through these the road jogged to permit view of a small office neatly constructed from dressed slabwood. Beyond the tiny office was an extremely dense fir jungle. A stout gate, leading to a footpath, provided the only break in a wire fence surrounding the jungle.

Here the cars were discarded. The host rang a loud bell by the gate. While waiting for an answer there was time to examine the gate signs, which proclaimed the existence of a private club and denied admittance save by permission.

The jungle was thick, but it was not thick enough to bar the sound of men's and women's laughing voices. The sound of these voices was instantly responsible for an abrupt dousing of Acute Curiosity. A subsequent check of reactions revealed that both visitors, upon hearing those tree-shrouded voices, earnestly wished they hadn't embarked on this venture; for two cents they would retreat.

Was this a sudden welling of the training of centuries? An innate reaction of two normal - or abnormal - human beings? A response dating only from the taboos of childhood and through the subsequent years?

A Perplexing Reaction

You and the Freudians explain those Cold Feet. This is only a chronicle.

So those two or three minutes following the ringing of the bell were minutes of forced small talk. The situation was eased with the arrival of the group's secretary, a middle-aged woman clad in a blue sun suit. She pleasantly acknowledged introductions, unlocked the office and explained that it was used to discuss the aims of the society with prospective members. It is here that unannounced visitors either gain or lose the privilege of admittance.

There really wasn't much else to see in the office, so the host held open the gate, and it was heads up, hesitant ahead for the plunge.

One hundred yards of winding, sunless trail was followed.

Then the trail abruptly gave way to a clearing two or three acres in extent. Immediately ahead was an outdoor volleyball court. On this court were about six men and three women. From these laughing folk had come the tree-penetrating shouts. The men were completely devoid of garments. The women were wearing sun suits in deference to the chilliness of the morning.

Improvements Inspected

First sight of a nudity in a mixed crowd brought a bit of shock (perhaps a few more centuries going overboard), but this same shock served to dissipate the hesitancy of the previous minutes. Although no women had as yet presented themselves to the complete mercy of the elements, the visit from that time was carried on with only a few psychological disturbances.

Immediately there began an inspection of the improvements that have been accomplished to date. The three-acre one-time clearing has been again freed from brambles, although a number of younger trees have been saved as concessions to landscaping. Several of the larger trees have been newly hewn to bring in the sun. The clearing as a whole roughly comprises an amphitheater sloping to the south, with the buildings placed along its northern rim. Surrounding this amphitheater on all sides are the tips of the tall firs.

The homestead is once again shipshape and at present houses a resident cook and cook's family. Meals and limited lodging may be obtained here.

Wardrobe Diminishes

Having inspected the buildings, it was time to get ahead with the business of the pictures. The visitors adjourned to the car to collect a camera, returned to see nudism in full force. About 25 men, women and children were there with a [illegible] wardrobe of approximately four shoes and two pairs of socks.

So many people have asked the question that a direct answer may as well be given. The nudists do not wear clothes at all during sun hours. Nothing whatsoever. If stickers] hurt their feet, they wear shoes. If the sun hurts their eyes, they wear hats. If they are cold, they don light garments. Clothes are required at meals.

From then on the nudists continued their lazy routine. Some read in the deck chairs, the volleyball court was the major [illegible] of activity with the men, the women and the older children playing together with what was apparently complete lack of self-consciousness.

Variety of Incidents

The next two hours provided a succession of incidents such as one would find at any mountain gathering of several families. A sleeping 4-year-old fell out of the hammock, cried valiantly, was replaced, went back to sleep; a man and his wife drowsily read a Sunday newspaper; a young man tested the probable temperature of next year's swimming pool; two women assisted a babe in its efforts to walk; a wife [illegible] why the new cabin chimney [illegible] so badly; another wife asked her husband to stop playing volleyball and get the steak from the car and the husband went on playing volleyball; a young girl said she didn't want to swing so high; an [illegible]-year-old boy cried when he stumbled over a stump and scratched his stomach; a seven-months-old child did its best to [illegible]; a young man took a mountain water shower while a woman and a man laughed at his shivers; two young women engaged in a brief and spontaneous footrace.

And all this, as the sun grew warmer, in [illegible].

As time went on the visitors found themselves accepting this ordinarily bizarre situation. There were momentary exceptions. Walking along a path, when returning from an inspection of the prospective swimming pool, the visitors suddenly met a young woman clad only in a faint smile of greeting. This visitor's muddled head suddenly found itself engaged in a futile attempt to analyze, segregate and pigeonhole these radical departures from accepted patterns of human conduct.

Situation Accepted

But such moments were few, and one concludes in retrospect that the adaptability of the human animal to any given situation is very remarkable indeed.

Those to whom pointed questions were pressed were pleasantly frank in their answers. Indeed, the universal lack of embarrassment under questioning and under scrutiny bespoke definite mental and emotional tranquility concerning their behavior and the reasons for so behaving.

"Why don't you wear shorts?"



The answer given to this question comprises the entire theme of the nudist movement. It is an answer received with skeptical smiles or scoffs by the unbelievers, or received with approbation by those who concur in the sincere nudist's method in seeking better health.

Health. Better health. There's the stated goal, the quintessence of nudism. They seek bodies that are healthy and clean, minds that are healthy and clean. Here you have both requisite and goal affirm the nudists, for if you would attain a healthy body in the beneficent rays of the sun you must bring a clean mind to the scene of your quest.

But why not wear shorts?

Their answer is a trifle medical. Suffice to say they offer the word of certain physicians, both in Portland and elsewhere, to prove that the ultra-violet rays are most effective when administered to the entire body.

Aims Published

A leaflet published by the Hesperian society explains their fundamental viewpoint. It says in part:

Clothing is a convention. If we, at chosen times and in chosen places, choose to discard convention in favor of natural freedom, we challenge the health of any mind that impugns our motives and out character. Nudism makes for a clean mind, and recovers for men and women their simplicity and their faith in each other long since lost through the doctrine that the body was something to be ashamed of and, hence, to be hidden.

Sun, light and air are vital conditions of human well being. We believe these elements are insufficiently used in present day life to the detriment of physical and moral health ... We aim to make the fullest possible use of sun, light and air by a program of exercise and life in the open in such a way as will result in the maximum physical and mental benefit.

In other words, relegate sex to its proper function and you have instantly banished the need for shorts.

Reflections Puzzling

A larger membership is solicited, but the applicant will do well to inclose credentials and must be prepared to discard clothing.

The visitor who passes within their gates and passes out again will, in all likelihood, find himself puzzled by conflicting reflections.

Does a quest for health justify shelving the barriers of convention that have long been considered desirable by most civilized people? Or does this phase of so-called civilization really represent an unfortunate retrogression from an earlier and healthier state of nature?

Some will say, with considerable force of argument, that the body of the average human being is far handsomer when given benefit of raiment, and others will say, "What of it? This is a matter of health, no esthetics."

Perhaps the majority, if they choose to pass judgement, will conclude that it's the nudists' own business to do as they deem best.

For the rest, it's hang your clothes on the firs of Estacada - or not - according to the dictates of your instincts, your training, your conscience, your wife, your health, your parents, your inhibitions, your indifference or whoever or whatever guides your choice in such matters.

--Jamie Hale | jhale@oregonian.com | @HaleJamesB