A tidbit for movie buffs: “Long before ‘The Goonies,’ there was ‘The General,’ one of the first major motion pictures filmed in Oregon,” The Astorian sports reporter Gary Henley wrote. “The 1926 silent film starred Buster Keaton (pictured), and was shot on location in and around Cottage Grove.

“When it comes to famous movies, Cottage Grove is the Astoria of the Willamette Valley … One link between the movies filmed in Cottage Grove and Astoria is Corey Feldman — then a child actor, who appears in both ‘The Goonies‘ (1985) and ‘Stand By Me‘ (1986).

“I made the trek to Cottage Grove recently, and bicycled into the city to photograph some of the locations where ‘The General’ was filmed, and also where Keaton and the crew were housed during their stay, at the Bartell (now Cottage Grove) Hotel … A giant mural of Keaton is on one side of the building, depicting a scene from ‘The General.’

“Keaton spent nearly a month in Cottage Grove, where he and his crew helped fight a brush fire outside the city during their stay. And he and his team also played baseball — one of Keaton’s favorite activities — at Kelly Field, at the corner of 12th and Quincy avenues …

“In 1963, Keaton was quoted as saying, ‘I was more proud of that picture than any I ever made.'” You can watch it here: bit.ly/GeneralBK