100 years ago

For the week ending June 24, 1906

CONTRACTS ARE LET

The prospect for the beginning of railroad construction up the Deschutes River grows brighter day by day. A prominent Oregon trunk Line official, writing to a party at Madras last week, said: ”Contracts are let and work has commenced. There is no longer any question as to the intention or financial ability of the Oregon trunk Line Co. The road is to be built now.”

This means that within a few months Madras will enjoy railroad communication with the outside world. And when Madras gets a road, it is only a question of a few months longer until the road reaches Bend.

COMING FROM CALIFORNIA

One road that is actually doing construction work but which doesn’t attract the usual attention in these arts, is the Gould line building from Madeline to Alturas. This road will eventually be extended to Lakeview and there are those who think Gould has his eye on Portland and will ere long push his road northward from Lakeview through the Bend country to that port.

A correspondence of the Sacramento Bee from Reno under date of May 30 says: All doubt about the extension of the Nevada, California and Oregon railway, (the Gould line) from Madeline to Alturas, Modoc county, Calif., was removed last evening when Superintendent Dunaway said to a Bee representative: ”On the morning of June 1, a large party of workmen will begin the construction of the road to Alturas. The new line will be 40 miles long, and will open up one of the richest agricultural and timber countries in the Sierras.

75 years ago

For the week ending June 24, 1931

DISTRICT ATTORNEY ADMITS BOTTLED BEER POSSESSION

District attorney Ross Farnham today admitted ”possession” of the 12 bottles of beer found in his cellar last week by chief of Police W.W. Bunn and Deputy Sheriff Charles Ginderson. The beer was in the cellar when Farnham left on his trip east, the district attorney said.

”But it wasn’t my beer,” Farnham said, with a smile. ”An undercover agent who had been working in this district turned it over to me shortly before I left for New York, and in the hurry of getting ready I forgot to bring the beer down to the sheriff’s office.

Farnham also forgot to inform the housekeeper, Mary Giltner, that the beer was in the cellar and when Miss Giltner found the contraband last Thursday she promptly notified the police.

Chief Bunn and Deputy Sheriff Gunderson, also in the dark as to the source of the beer, believed some practical joker had ”planted” the beer in the district attorney’s home.

Asked if he had been ”arrested” for possession of the beer, Farnham said that he had not, but that Sheriff McCauley had been one of his first callers this morning to notify him that he was ”under investigation.”

The Farnhams returned last night from a month’s trip east, during which they attended the general assembly of the Presbyterian church as delegates from the Bend church. Farnham’s first information of the ”raid” on his home came from the stage driver during the ride from The Dalles to Bend yesterday, Farnham said, and apparently the stage driver got a good deal of enjoyment from the tale.

50 years ago

For the week ending June 24, 1956

PAGEANT ARCH TO BE REPLICA OF RAINBOW OVER DESCHUTES

Bend’s Mirror Pond Pageant arch of 1956 is taking shape.

Work on the structure was started this week and soon will be ready for test lighting.

This year’s arch, designed by H.A. Pzydrowski, is to be the replica of a rainbow over Mirror Pond.

Rheostatic illumination will again be used this year, providing for a gentle blend of colors.

As the narrator broadcasts the command ”Let there be light,” three bands will blaze in color, red, white and blue, as the national anthem is sung.

A moment later, a white cross will blaze in the arch opening and the crown will join in singing ”God Bless America.”

Directly behind the cross, heading the flotilla of lighted floats, will be the royal court, with the queen riding the symbolic swan. Her princesses will be on the pageant’s cygnets.

This year’s arch will be 100 feet wide and 50 feet high. Its framework, part of which was fabricated at the Central Oregon Iron Works in Bend, was completed today.

Melvin Rogers and Pyzdrowski are in general charge of Mirror Pond preparations, with Ross Rutherford, assisted by Walter Shores heading construction.

Swans and cygnets have been moved into Mirror Pond and are anchored beside the boom, about halfway downstream from the arch.

Pageantarians in charge of the river fete reported today that all will be in readiness for the Des-chutes fete well in advance of opening pageant night.

A full complement of floats will be entered.

25 years ago

For the week ending June 24, 1981

AFTER MANY TRIES ‘DESCHUTES’ STICKS

The Deschutes, a river of many moods, was named by French fur traders in the early 1800s.

They called the stream Riviere des Chutes or Riviere aux Chutes, meaning ”River of the Falls.” The early mountain men were referring to the falls in the Columbia, where the Deschutes empties, although the Deschutes does have some spectacular whitewater of its own.

Lewis and Clark discovered the Deschutes River on Oct. 22, 1805, and called it Towornehiooks, an Indian name. On their return journey, however, the explorers referred to the stream as Clarks River, presumably for Captain Clark. Neither of these names caught on.

The Klamath knew the river as Kolamkeni Koke. Kolam was the name for an edible wild root. Keni was a suffix meaning place, Koke was a general name for stream. Hence, ”Stream at the place where the kolam grows.”

A missionary referred to the Deschutes River by an Indian name Wanawont, in an 1845 diary, but no explanation for the name was given.

The Deschutes has its source near Elk Lake, not far from the South Sister, and is fed by a thousand springs as it flows through Deschutes, Jefferson, Klamath, Sherman, and Wasco counties.

It picks up the flow of the Metolius and Crooked rivers west of Culver and eventually spills into the Columbia, after a journey of 240 miles.

En route, it is trapped to form Wickiup and Crane Prairie reservoirs, and further south to create Lake Simtustus, behind Pelton Dam, and Lake Billy Chinook, behind Round Butte Dam.