Fire destroys historic Oregon inn

McKENZIE BRIDGE, Ore. — A historic Oregon inn has burned to the ground, taking with it a guestbook signed by Herbert Hoover, Clark Gable and the Duke of Windsor.

The main lodge of the Log Cabin Inn, near Eugene, was 100 years old. It appears the fire started at the rear of the two-story building, which contained the restaurant and other services, perhaps in the laundry room.

No guests were at the inn, and one employee was able to escape without injury. The inn, located in a rural area along the McKenzie River, has more than a half-dozen cabins for its guests.

"It just took too long to get enough people up here to do the job," said Dale Ledyard, chief of the McKenzie Fire and Rescue unit in Waterville. The inn was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In the early 1900s, it was a stagecoach stop.