EUGENE, Ore. — The Lane County Historical Museum has received a $1,500 grant to help preserve a piece of pioneer graffiti carved on a tree in 1867.
It's known as the Condra stump and has been on display at the Eugene museum since 1960 when the carving was discovered by a Weyerhaeuser forester on a hemlock.
The Register-Guard reports (http://is.gd/Iij7MJ ) it bears the name of Willamette Valley settler Silas Condra, the date, and that he was born in Knox County, Ill., and crossed the plains in 1853.
Age and insects have taken a toll on the Condra stump. It will have preservation work next month at the Cascade Art Conservation Center in Portland.
