When the mercury dropped below 20 degrees for six weeks, a six-inch layer of ice formed on many Willamette Valley lakes — and locals took up ice skating. And five years earlier, it got so cold, a newly built steamship actually cracked in half. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1943; Cottage Grove, Lane County; 1948) (For text and pictures, see http://offbeatoregon.com/1705c.ice-skating-cottage-grove-lake-444.html)