Written by Bob Woodward

Wednesday, 08 July 2009

At Home On The Rogue Farewell Eddy Like so many in the local outdoor community, I was saddened when Eddy Miller lost his life two weeks ago during a hike after a day of rafting on the Middle Fork of Idaho’s Salmon River. Saddening because even though I wasn’t a close personal friend of his, I was looking forward to getting to know him better after spending four days with him on the Rogue River in May. During our Rogue trip, Miller lived up to his well-deserved reputation as a consummate rafter and outdoorsman. Standing, as he liked to, while rowing invoked old school rafting at its best. But he was on the river for more than just for the rowing and whitewater. Miller reveled in the natural surroundings. And after a day on the river, he proved a model of efficiency in getting the night’s camp up and running smoothly. He looked the part of the outdoorsman, his wiry, tan, well-muscled body set off by a shock of pre-mature white hair. As the trip unfolded, he revealed his family’s unique connection the Rogue. It’s detailed in his grandmother’s diary, a copy of which he gave me, chronicling a four-month long Miller family stay on the river in 1929. It proved a fascinating read. A preface to the diary by a grand-daughter recalls how things got off to an inauspicious start when the family headed to their land above the river. Some went overland by pack train while others headed down river by boat. “Dad and Charlie took the safe trip by boat with the stove, the guns, fishing rods, etc. The pack train had no trouble but the boat dumped at Russian Bar and lost the works.” The family rebounded from the loss eventually erecting a sawmill and using the lumber created by it to build a cabin high above the river at a place they dubbed, “Happy Hill.” As we drifted down the Rogue in May, Miller pointed out Happy Hill and other places that played an important part in the 1929 adventure. His joy in relating the family history on the river bore proof that it had to be in his genetic makeup to be so at home on the Rogue. The result of having Miller along on the trip and sharing his family’s history on the river made it easily one of my most enjoyable Rogue trips ever. It’s one thing to float a river. It’s quite another to have it and its environs brought to life through personal history. Eddy Miller was one of those truly lucky people who became immersed in nature while young and let it become a guiding force in their life.