The gold-plated Oregon pioneer stands proudly atop the capitol dome in Salem, honoring the thousands of dream seekers who crossed to the “promised land” on the perilous wagon trail linking Missouri with the Willamette Valley.

Tom McCall’s journey west was less physically demanding.

Oregon’s 30th governor (1967-75) had the biggest impact on Oregon in its 163-year history. The tall man with the strong Massachusetts accent overcame many obstacles to bringing the state the cleanup of the Willamette River, the Beach Bill, the Bottle Bill and land-use planning. He achieved these goals as something unheard of in today’s politics — a liberal Republican.

In Brent Walth’s classic book, “Fire at Eden’s Gate,” McCall is portrayed as someone who loves the spotlight, his beverages and Oregon.

McCall is a study in contradictions. He is for saving Oregon farmland and timberland from urban sprawl, and also for clearcutting and nuclear power. He is for more jobs, but only if the industries coming to Oregon can comply with the state’s high standards of environmental excellence.

McCall spent his early childhood in the lap of luxury in Massachusetts. He grew up in Dreamwold, an estate with servants and every convenience, and moved as a young boy to Westernwold, a nearly equally posh ranch under the rimrock near Prineville.

An indifferent student, he became through independent study a supremely talented wordsmith. Early on, he learned the power of persuasion — and fostered a devotion to the downtrodden.

Graduating from the University of Oregon journalism school with a lackluster academic record and devotion to partying, he started his newspaper career at Moscow, Idaho, with a dedication to gambling, drinking and dazzling writing.

McCall soon switched to broadcasting. As a convivial, boisterous, cheery, boozy, thin-skinned broadcaster in Portland, he made a name for himself with a 1962 documentary on the Willamette River, “Pollution in Paradise.”

With a Massachusetts grandpa who was governor with aspirations of being a U.S. senator, McCall aspired toward politics. When opportunity to enter politics arose, he dove into the pool, first as secretary of state, then governor.

McCall came to the seat of Oregon power as an anti-Barry Goldwater maverick. McCall thought Goldwater, the 1964 Republican presidential nominee, was driving the party off the far right conservative cliff.

Oregon was growing fast. Its population had doubled between 1951 and 1966. To combat the tide, McCall famously advised tourists to visit over and over again — but please don’t stay.

Soon McCall found his groove. He battled to preserve Oregon’s 320-mile coastline, keeping beaches open to the public, not fenced off by greedy business owners.

Later, he championed the nation’s first Bottle Bill, with a deposit on recyclable beverage containers, and fought and won to prevent the transfer of nerve gas from Okinawa to the Umatilla Army Depot near Hermiston.

When the American Legion Convention was to meet in Portland in 1970 with President Nixon scheduled to speak, and riots threatened, McCall got behind a plan to hold a free Vortex Concert at McIver State Park near Estacada to divert the protesters to the hinterlands. Coming hot on the heels of Woodstock (1969), Vortex was heavily criticized by members of his own party. But it kept the peace.

McCall had one final major political victory — getting behind the preservation of farmland to stop sprawl. While he was pro-business, he was not for recruiting businesses at any cost to the environment. The controversial plan drew much criticism. But Oregon’s pioneering effort at land-use planning kept cities from gobbling up farmland and made the state a leader in planned development.

“Fire at Eden’s Gate” puts McCall’s years of power under a microscope. It tells of a time there was room in the Republican party for mavericks who stood up to the bombastic rhetoric of the Goldwaters and Ronald Reagans that was driving the party hard right.

McCall stood up to the power brokers, partly for personal glory, partly to ensure all residents could enjoy the natural beauty the state is famous for.

For a brief time, Oregon drove down the center of the political highway. The results can still be seen a half century later.

By Brent Walth

Oregon Historical Society Press

564 pages