History Pub – A Big Man from a Small Place: Robert Sawyer, the Bend Bulletin, and the Columbia River

Robert Sawyer, publisher and editor of the Bend Bulletin, played a key role in regional and national politics from 1917 to 1953 as a conservative activist for environmental conservation and irrigated agriculture. With no love for the New Deal, he participated in national policy debates, injecting his central Oregon viewpoint.  One of his most effective campaigns was part of a regional and national contest over control of the Columbia River, the outcome of which determined how the “River of the West” was developed and managed. 

William L. Lang is emeritus professor of history at Portland State University, where he teaches environmental and public history. From 1977 to 1989, Lang was editor of Montana, the Magazine of Western History, and in 1991 joined Mike Malone and Richard Roeder as a third author of Montana: A History of Two Centuries. He has written or edited seven books on Pacific Northwest history. From 1990 to 2003, Lang directed the Center for Columbia River History. He is currently executive editor of the Oregon Encyclopedia of History & Culture.