Yes indeed, Chris. The road that runs between Interstate 5 and the Rogue River was named for Ben Hur Lampman. They made a movie about him, maybe you’ve seen it?

Seriously, this Ben Hur was born in Wisconsin and raised in North Dakota, Lampman moved to Gold Hill shortly after his marriage. Once arrived, he became publisher of the Gold Hill News, a weekly newspaper.

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The much-beloved Gold Hillian was an essayist and editorial writer at the Oregonian in Portland for many years. Lampman also contributed work to The Saturday Evening Post.

A Mail Tribune article dated Feb. 11, 1951, states the Oregon Senate recommended Lampman become the state’s official poet laureate on Feb. 20, 1951. Lampman held the honor until his death three years later.

In our research on this gifted wordsmith, we came across an essay he wrote in response to a reader query about where to bury a dog. Being a dog lover, Lampman gave it considerable thought.

"On a hill where the wind is unrebuked, and the trees are roaring, or beside a stream he knew in puppyhood, or somewhere in the flatness of a pasture land, where most exhilarating cattle graze," Lampman wrote. "It is all one to the dog, and all one to you, and nothing is gained, and nothing lost — if memory lives. ...

"The one best place to bury a good dog is in the heart of its master."

In 1947 he was also honored in Gold Hill with the creation of Ben Hur Lampman Day. And there’s Ben Hur Lampman Park on the banks of the Rogue River.

Lampman is buried in Lincoln Memorial Cemetery in Portland.