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Safe place Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Above: Beebe Farms employee Saul Jacuinde checks out a 100-year-old safe from the First State Bank of Eagle Point. The safe is now sitting behind the barn at the Central Point produce farm, where it will be cleaned before being moved to the Eagle Point Museum. The Eagle Point Museum has itself a century-old strongbox; the big mystery is what�s inside By Paul Fattig EAGLE POINT � Pssst. If you are a safecracker, Barbara Hegne has a little job for you. No questions asked. You can even do the deed in broad daylight. All that is required is strongbox experience and a keen ear for the tumblers. "Someone said the only person who can open it is probably in the penitentiary," said Hegne, director of the Eagle Point Museum. "We don�t have the combination." But the museum does have the safe that stood in the First State Bank of Eagle Point when it opened its doors early in summer 1911. The 2,000-pound safe, which looks a bit like an ancient diving bell, was donated to the museum last fall by the family of the late Walt Young, a longtime Medford businessman. Made by the Victor Safe & Lock Co. of Cincinnati, it actually has two safes � one at the top and one in the base. It is at least 100 years old. This week, it was moved to Beebe Farms, owned by Eagle Point Historical Society member Ken Beebe, where it will be cleaned before being taken to the museum for display. But society members are curious about its contents, Hegne said. "We�re looking for someone who can open it for us," she said. "And we all hope there is a pot of gold in there. "But that�s just a fun thing for us," she added. "Getting the safe is what is important." The museum already has the original typewriter used at the bank 90 years ago. The bank was one of the few that survived the Great Depression following the stock market crash in fall 1929. The old bank building, its bricks now covered with stucco, is on West Main Street in Eagle Point. In December 1954, the bank moved to Medford and became the Rogue Valley State Bank. In 1964, that bank was purchased by the Oregon Bank. There is a fading yellow sticker on the back of the safe declaring it the property of Oregon Bank. Although its trail has been lost over time, the safe apparently was purchased by the Naumes family, whose roots tap deep into the region�s fruit industry. Medford resident Perry Young, 45, son of Walt Young, was with his father when he purchased the safe from the Naumes family. The senior Young, who died in 2000 at age 84, owned and operated Walt Young�s Medford Stationery for nearly half a century. "Dad bought the old safe in the late �70s or early �80s," Perry Young said. "The top chest was opened at one point. "Whoever opens the top chest will have a heart attack," he added. "Inside is a Wells Fargo gold bag that I stuffed full of paper." However, Young has no idea what is in the rest of the safe. "The bottom chest has not been opened in at least 30 years," he said. "My dad had the combination. I never had it." The sphere shape of the upper chest was created to prevent it from being blown open by safecrackers, explained Young, an antiques dealer. "It was considered impregnable � top-of-the-line in its day," he said. "It was made strictly for keeping gold coin." But Hegne reiterated that the museum�s primary interest is in the safe, not its contents. "If we can get it open, we�ll leave it open," she said. Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.