At the Weasku Inn, stay in the same room that was Clark Gable’s rural getaway
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Samantha Swindler | The Oregonian/OregonLive
In its heyday, other notable guests at the Grants Pass getaway included Walt Disney, Bing Crosby, President Herbert Hoover and author Zane Grey.
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Weasku Inn The vintage neon sign for the Weasku Inn features a leaping trout. (Weasku Inn/Samantha Swindler)

Not much has changed at the nearly 100-year-old Weasku Inn since the spot was a favorite fishing retreat for Hollywood leading man Clark Gable.

Guests at the 1924-built log cabin lodge and resort in Grants Pass can play cards by the stone fireplace or borrow a fishing pole and try their luck along the banks of the Rogue River.

According to a history book published by the lodge, the inn was founded by Sarah and Albert Smith. Sarah was a then-rare college-educated woman who served as president of a bank in South Dakota in 1917. After her first husband died, she started a boarding house in Montana, where she fell in love with one of her boarders. She and Albert E. Smith married in 1922.

The Smiths, looking to escape harsh Montana winters, found a business opportunity near Grants Pass, a Southern Oregon town that boasts the motto, “It’s the climate.”

The couple purchased 10 acres along the Rogue River in 1923 with plans to set up accommodations catering to the fishing crowd. Albert built six rental cabins by hand, and they opened the main lodge the following year.

Sarah’s daughter, Faith, reportedly came up with the name We-Ask-U-Inn. Over the years, the hyphens were dropped from the name, but an old wooden sign above the front lobby still bears the original spelling.

“It’s a play on words,” said Erik Johnson, the inn’s current owner. “When people walk in and see that sign behind the front desk, you see this look, like, ‘Oh, now I get it.’”

The Smiths sold the inn in 1927, and the Gibson family ran it for three decades. This was during the inn’s heyday, when it was a popular rural getaway along U.S. Route 99 for the rich and famous. The Weasku Inn was located just downstream from a dam, making it an ideal fishing location for salmon and steelhead trout.

Notable guests included Walt Disney, Bing Crosby, President Herbert Hoover and author Zane Grey. Clark Gable, whose framed photos can be found throughout the lodge today, was a frequent visitor and fisher.

After his wife, Carole Lombard, was killed in a plane crash in 1942, Gable reportedly locked himself in his regular room, No. 4, and did not emerge for three weeks.

In the late 1960s, U.S. Route 99 was replaced by Interstate 5, which diverted travelers away from the Weasku Inn and onto the other side of the Rogue River. Business slowed somewhat, and the inn went through a series of owners until it closed in the 1980s.

Carl Johnson, a hotelier with boutique properties in California and Oregon, purchased the site in 1993, restored the lodge to its 1930s-era style, and reopened it in 1996. The original cabins on the property had been demolished, but Johnson built new cabin suites with beamed ceilings and stone fireplaces. One refurbished A-frame cabin from the 1950s remains available to rent today.

Five years ago, Erik Johnson purchased the inn from his father, but he runs it with much the same vintage charm. Guests can look forward to evenings around the firepit with free s’more supplies. The staff make fresh, hot cookies from scratch every evening.

The dam that made Weasku Inn such a popular stop for fishers was removed in 2009 to help improve pathways for migrating salmon. The inn still loans fishing poles to guests, and many travelers come to take advantage of other fishing spots along the Rogue River.

“Depending on the time of year, we’ve still had guests have some success right out front of the hotel,” Erik Johnson said.

At night, the Weasku Inn can be spotted by the glow of its vintage neon sign featuring a leaping trout.

The inn doesn’t have a full restaurant, but the kitchen serves up a complimentary hot breakfast and evening hors d’oeuvres that could constitute a full meal. Local Southern Oregon beers and wines are available for purchase.

The lodge great room features a poker table, a five-foot river rock fireplace, and period memorabilia along its log-lined walls. Today, the inn’s main clientele are not fishers or celebrities seeking respite, but travelers looking to experience a taste of old roadside America.

If you go: The Weasku Inn is located at 5560 Rogue River Hwy. in Grants Pass. For information about cabins, lodge rooms or event rentals, visit weasku.com.