This feature is compiled by Don Hoiness from archived copies of The Bulletin at the Des Chutes Historical Museum.

100 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Jan. 14, 1912

Arm broken, goes 9 rounds

With his arm broken just above the wrist, Willard M. Houston gave one of the most remarkable exhibitions of nerve ever seen in Bend by continuing for nine rounds the boxing contest with James Servalle (“Cinch Kid”) Saturday night. At the end of the eleventh round Houston’s seconds threw up the sponge and Referee Joe Innes declared Servalle the winner.

A fierce blow to the head of his opponent by Houston in the second round snapped the bone in the left forearm, but he kept on fighting. The injured limb could be used only to ward off the blows of his antagonist and Servalle thought Houston was “stalling,” not being aware that the bone had been broken.

The contest was quite a lively exhibition throughout, despite the handicap of one of the participants. The terms of the fight were winner take all.

City back on railroad map

After being isolated for a week, due to snow and rock slides and washouts, Bend is again on the railroad map. The first train since the big storm that swept over the Northwest got in Sunday morning, this being the Oregon Trunk.

It brought mail and express that had accumulated for a week at Fallbridge as well as a number of passengers who had been waiting at Portland, The Dalles or Fallbridge.

The Deschutes line is still tied up and it is not yet known when trains can be operated over it. Between North Junction and The Dalles there were severe rock slides and the road was badly damaged.

The Oregon Trunk train north-bound which was tied up at Metolius returned to Bend last Thursday night and went out Saturday morning, carrying a few passengers who had returned on it from Metolius and others who were brave enough to venture on a trip. The road took good care of all its stranded passengers paying their hotel bills.

The snow which was piled high on the Oregon Trunk line was moved by rotary plow, but the troubles of the company did not end there. The melting snow and the rain that followed caused the streams to rise and damage the bridges. It became necessary for the Oregon Trunk to use the track of its rival from North Junction to Metolius.

The passengers who came in Sunday morning report a thrilling experience in crossing the bridge over the Deschutes at North Junction. All the train except the rear coach had got over, when part of the span gave way under the force of the water. The rear coach was derailed, the people in it thinking they were going to be plunged into the canyon.

The conductor, Mr. Russell, was cool headed and equal to the occasion and, with military tactics made the passengers march out of the car and back across the tottering structure. After the coach was got back on the track they were allowed to get aboard and resume their journey.

The passengers drew up a set of resolutions commending the trainmen for their bravery.

75 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Jan. 14, 1937

Customer drives to fire hall to ask for service

Bend firemen, accustomed to making long runs these chilly days, got a real break this morning. A fire was brought to their department door and turned over to them for action.

The firemen were first aware that a roaring blaze had been brought to them when a member of the house crew looked out the front door and saw flames leaping high and merrily, just as a truck rolled up in front. The fire was H. Helzer’s garbage truck. Department members quickly started their auxiliary pumper and shot water on the blaze without moving the engine from position.

The garbage fire had been started by “cold ashes” unknowingly picked up by Helzer. Flammable material, piled on top, caught fire. Instead of turning in an alarm, Helzer decided to take his fire directly to the department.

Intolerance and weakness

(Editorial)

Again France has warned Germany, this time in regard to Nazi movement of troops into Morocco, perilously close to the French zone of influence. The news will develop whether or not the warning will be heeded. In previous relations which have existed between France and Germany or, for the matter of that, between Great Britain and Germany, there is little to worry the Hitler government or to deter it from its latest step toward control of the Spanish situation and possible expansion of empire.

Germany is the spoiled child of the European family of nations. France and Britain are the would-be stern, actually timorous parents. After the war a treaty was signed. Germany accepted it under duress. The terms were such as to be endurable only for so long as they had to be endured. As Germany gradually emerged from its war-inflicted paralysis, it proceeded, one by one to break these terms. Each time one was shattered, the powers gave warning. “Mama will spank,” scolded the parent; but mama doesn’t spank. It becomes a sort of game, to see just how far the child can go.

In the end, the child usually receives, in one session, the stored up spankings of years, often a most disastrous proceeding.

But sometimes the spanking has been deferred until the child has grown to a size and strength which makes the attempt rather perilous. If the attempt is made then, the disciplinary measure becomes, instead, a battle.

The Germany of immediate post-war days and the Germany of today are two different nations. Once Germany could have been spanked. Today the attempt would result in combat, for it is hardly to be supposed that Germany, having gone this far, will back down.

Intolerance in the making of rules, weakness in the enforcement of those rules is to blame for the critical situation which has now become apparent.

50 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Jan. 14, 1962

Deschutes caverns fine for shelter in old Indian days, but times change

It would seem at first glance, that Nature has provided the Deschutes country with some ideal nuclear bomb shelters.

These are the lava caves.

They are receiving the attention of Civil Defense authorities and apparently will be studied as possible places of habitation in case of atomic attack.

But they should be given a good second look.

True, the lava river tunnels of the Bend country have served as shelters in the past. They were the abode of Indians.

One of the caverns used by the prehistoric hunters is the old Barlow Cave. There is evidence that Indians lived in that cave for centuries. They left their basketry there. Bones of creatures they killed and on which they lived were found in the cavern.

In one lava niche was found some evidence that the gals of the cavern touched up their beauty with lipstick. Pigment was found on a lava “shelf.”

Indians also lived in Charcoal Cave near Bend. Back in that chamber they burned great piles of wood, some of which was cut with stone axes. That cutting occurred before Columbus discovered America, as determined by the cross-dating of annular rings of tree growth.

Indians also lived in Skeleton cave. The oldest proven habitation of man in Oregon was found in the Cow Cave of the Fort Rock country. That habitation was dated back some 9,000 years.

The fact that Indians used caves for ages might be taken to indicate they could be used again for habitations should nuclear bombs fall.

But Civil Defense authorities studying possible shelters should not class lava river tunnels in the same category as old mines.

The long, cold lava caverns “breathe.” During the winter months, the caves “inhale.” That is, the cold air sinking, sweeps back into the tunnels. Air not only finds its way into the caves from the mouths, which possibly could be sealed, but through numerous fissures. There would be a serious danger that the “inhaled” air might carry lethal “fallout” back into the caves.

In summer months, caves possibly would be good emergency shelters. Air rushes out of the caverns in hot weather. At the Wind Caves on a warm day, the moaning sound of escaping air can be heard a considerable distance.

Lava caves were fine in Indian days. Indians used bows and arrows. Now man has atom bombs. That makes a difference.

25 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Jan. 14, 1987

Exotic Joshua Tree clings to life in chilly climate

Like a punk rocker in a crowd of Eddie Bauers, it stands with its spiky topknot among the classic evergreens.

Unabashedly exotic, but obviously uncomfortable in the cold, a 12-foot-high Joshua tree stands on Awbrey Butte in Bend.

“It’s never looked like it was flourishing, even in the summer,” said Kimberly Plummer, who rents the house in whose back yard the tree grows. “A good Joshua tree will be really thick, with arms sticking out that look like they’re wearing furry sleeves.”

The Awbrey Butte tree’s arms are so firmly clenched to its sides that they’re indistinguishable as of yet. The trunk, that looks like it has curvature of the spine, is covered with frayed and faded barbs gathered tightly to it as if they were quills to ward of the cold.

Joshua trees are a type of yucca plant usually found in the southwestern United States. Plummer and the property’s owner Dean Fair, speculate that the tree’s slow growth and armless torso are due to its possible transplantation from the Mohave Desert.

But Dave Danley, Sunriver’s resident botanist, suggested that the tree is simply not old enough.

“Joshua trees have to be 60 to 80 years old before they branch,” Danley said.

No one knows how old the Awbrey Butte tree really is. Dean Fair, a retired forester, says he’s ashamed to admit he doesn’t know something about a tree, but this particular one has him stumped.

“The tree was there about 15 years ago when we bought the house and was about 8 feet tall at the time,” he said. “Nobody knows who planted it and nobody knows for certain exactly what kind of tree it really is.”

Joshua trees do not have an internal structure that would allow a scientist to determine the tree’s age by a core sample. The yucca family are monocots, Danley explained — they simply add fiber instead of forming annual rings.

Serrated edges on the tree’s inflexible leaves present a tough aspect, despite an occasional burst of white blooms in the spring.

“The barbs on that tree are deadly,” Plummer said. “I’ve gardened round it, and to back into it is bad news.”

Defiant and odd-looking as the Joshua tree is, Fair wouldn’t think of cutting it down.

“I don’t like to cut any tree down,” the retired forester said. “I’ll leave it grow ~

“It’s not a whole lot of shade, but it’s a good old tree anyway.”