Either snow in winter or fire in summer is capable of closing the main route across the state line, Interstate Five at Siskiyou Summit. But have you heard the story about people deliberately blowing up the pass, to cut the Rogue Valley off from the outside world? It didn't happen, but that's one of many conspiracy theories political scientist Bill Meulemans heard in decades of examining Oregon's political trends.
He could probably have written a library, but he crammed some highlights into a single book, Dynamiting the Siskiyou Pass: And Other Short Stories from Oregon and Beyond. Bill Meulemans returned to Ashland for a fond--and occasionally troubling--look back at political trends and people from Oregon's last 60 years.