The Freakish Deschutes River*

I found this sign about 1/2 mile upstream from Benham Falls, near the footbridge, along a historical interpretive trail built by the Boy Scouts. A person could say a lot about this sign, but let's focus on what it's trying to tell us.

Jane Austen died 17 years before Wyeth stopped by the Deschutes River.

My mother will appreciate this:
In 1834 Wyeth was traveling with John Kirk Townsend, a Pennsylvanian ornithologist; after this expedition (and one to Hawaii) Townsend returned home with many, many specimens, some of which he sold to John Audubon. Townsend's species comprise 15% of all the birds described in Audubon's book Birds of America.


*Title taken from a pamphlet for sale on eBay.