Compiled by Don Hoiness from archived copies of The Bulletin at Des Chutes County Historical Society

100 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Dec. 19, 1915

$2,615 is raised for gymnasium

With $2,615 of the necessary $5,000 subscribed, the proposed gymnasium for Bend is assured.

The finance committee consisting of B.A. Stover chairman, A.L. French, P.C. Garrison and Rev. H.C. Hartranft and Dennis Carmody, on Tuesday raised more than $1,600 and expects that before the week is over fully $4,000 will be subscribed.

At a meeting held last Thursday afternoon, tentative plans for the building were submitted and a discussion was had relative to the best site for the building, and it was determined that the property on Wall Street near the Bend Steam Laundry, known as the Lucas property, would best serve the needs to which the building will be put.

The plans as now submitted provide for a frame structure 70 feet by 100 feet, or a brick building of the same dimensions. This phase is later to be determined. The interior will have a sufficiently large floor space to permit its use for indoor athletic contests, public meetings, social functions and theatrical performances.

It will have an elevated stage, gymnasium equipment, showers and possible reading rooms.

In order to permit a large number to enjoy the benefits of the new institution the shares are being sold at a par value of $10. To give ladies and those under the age of 21 years an opportunity to become stockholders, a one half share plan was adopted, each one half share selling at $5. There are many subscribers to this plan.

Oregon Trunk will make changes in train service

The heavy increase in both passenger and freight business in and out of Bend during the last five months has justified the Oregon Trunk Railroad in resuming daily passenger and freight train service to replace the present daily mixed train service.

There has been a marked and steady growth in traffic in and out of Bend in the last five months according to J.H. Corbett, local agent, and with the outlook for the coming year more promising than it has been for some time past, the Oregon Trunk believes that it is justified in giving local traffic more efficient train service than it has had for the last seven months when mixed train service was put on the road.

It is also felt that offering straight passenger and freight service will conduce to more travel between Portland and Bend and points beyond.

The railroad is expecting a heavy increase in the freight business after Feb. 1 owing to the expected lumber shipments when the mills open for business.

75 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Dec. 19, 1940

Nazi propaganda head says war nearly over

Paul Joseph Goebbels, German propaganda minister, said today he believed Germany would bring the war to victorious conclusion in a reasonably short time with “a great lightning offensive against Britain.”

He said that the “lightning offensive” would surpass anything yet hurled by the Nazi war machine against the British Isles.

“The fact is that we already have felt that we have won the war,” Goebbels said, “and therefore we are concentrating on the future for the new order in Europe and economic and cultural relations with the rest of the world, especially the Americas.”

War plan of year is told by Churchill

Prime Minister Winston Churchill told the House of Commons today that Great Britain, with the material aid of the United States, must have a great and well-trained army ready to fight at home or take the offensive against the Axis powers in 1941.

Although the prime minister admitted that Britain was a “half-armed” nation that had been fighting a power that had passed the saturation point in armament, he spoke with analytical optimism of the successful offensive against Italian forces in Libya and the outlook for the coming year.

In regard to the British army in 1941, Churchill said: “We shall try and I trust find opportunities of using our forces, if not in the defense of this island then in other theaters of war where we may hope that they may be able to contend their opponents on terms, moderate perhaps in number, but on terms of equality in equipment.”

The mere fact that plans were made to carry on the war until 1944, he emphasized, did not mean that it would necessarily would continue that long.

Churchill said that: “The nation must remember that Hitler — I should depreciate any comparison of Hitler to Napoleon as I do not wish to insult the dead — wields gigantic power … in a ruthless manner and has great need of doing something now or soon.”

Churchill said that there was “great need” of Hitler doing something “in the next two months” presumably because of reverses suffered by the Axis, and that the lull in air attacks on Britain since Monday night might indicate preparations for a big new blow.

50 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Dec. 19, 1965

Astronauts’ wives ‘thrilled, pleased’

The wives of Gemini 6 Astronauts Walter Schirra and Thomas Stafford said today they were “thrilled and pleased” that their husbands made it safely into orbit on the charmed third try.

Mrs. Stafford was so happy she jumped up and down on the couch and applauded with the almost perfect launch of Gemini 6 at Cape Kennedy today.

“I’m very pleased it finally got off, it’s beautiful,” she said. “But I’m not going to do any handstands until maybe after the rendezvous.”

Mrs. Frank Borman, wife of one of the Gemini 7 astronauts, ran over to the Stafford home after the launch and yelled, “Hello everybody … woo … wee … we made it.”

At the Schirra house, Mrs. Schirra said, “We’re very, very happy, it just had to go this time. Needless to say we’re thrilled.”

Then she joked to reporters that the other two abortive attempts to get the space shot off were “good training.”

The Schirra children went to school after the launch. Marty, the eldest of all the astronaut children, told his mother he would need a note for being late to his junior high school then decided, “Maybe I can worm my way out of this one.”

Mrs. Allen Shepard and Mrs. Deke Slayton, wives of the original members of the Mercury astronaut cast, watched the liftoff with Mrs. Schirra and toasted it with champagne.

Mrs. Stafford, recovering from the flu, finished putting up Christmas decorations Tuesday and Mrs. Schirra worked around her suburban home.

A Gemini spaceflight surgeon treated Mrs. Stafford Sunday after the Gemini launch was postponed for the second time due to a malfunction. She was feeling well enough Monday to go to a brunch at Mrs. Schirra’s home.

The families of Frank Borman and James Lovell, who have been in the Gemini 7 space capsule Dec. 4, also planned to watch the Gemini 6 blastoff on television.

25 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Dec. 19, 1990

Hot bath ends a chilling mudflat adventure

An 11-year-old Bend boy who ventured onto an exposed mudflat at Mirror Pond on Tuesday spent a chilly 20 minutes stuck in knee-deep mud before Bend Fire Department crewmen managed to pull him to solid ground.

Jason Howland was cold and frightened but unharmed when fire crews plucked him from the muck a dozen feet from the bank of the Deschutes River.

His mother, Linda Howland, said her two sons trotted off in search of ducks when the trio arrived at Drake Park shortly before 4 p.m.

Soon, the youngest boy ran back to his mother to tell her that his brother was trapped. She tried to fish the boy out of the mudflat — which was exposed this week because the pond was drained to allow crews to repair a nearby dam. She was temporarily caught in the mud and had to be helped ashore.

Two passers-by tried to pull the boy out by laying a bicycle across the flat. Another man showed up with a rope, but the effort to pull him ashore was halted when the rescuers discovered that Jason’s right foot was pinned between two rocks.

Police and fire crews were called to the scene. Fire crews plopped a ladder across the mud, crawled out and extricated the boy. Linda Howland said the boy felt much better after a hot bath.

Still, “Jason didn’t have much to say at dinner,” she said.

Today, the boy is “real sore” his mother said. He stayed home from school, which will delay his chance to tell school-mates of his adventure.

Meanwhile, work on the Mirror Pond dam is finished and the pond soon will be back to full pool.

Bend authorities regularly warn citizens about the dangers at Mirror Pond, but Linda Howland noted there were no signs posted at the park alerting visitors about the low water and mud flats.

With the onset of severe winter weather, authorities are now concerned that park visitors — especially children — may try to walk across the pond as soon as ice begins to form. Several times in the last decade fire crews have rescued youngsters who fell through thin ice into the pond.

Trees spared for now — My Nickel’s Worth: From Charles William Boyd, teacher, Bend

This letter is in response to those who have expressed concern about the cutting of old-growth pine in the City of Bend.

Some of the largest remaining ponderosa pine in the Bend urban area are growing on the ShopKo — Bend River Mall sites. When ShopKo submitted a site plan to the Deschutes County Planning Department, the corporation agreed to preserve and maintain five of the large pine which exist on the site. The Bend River Mall has inherited a stewardship role for numerous pine growing on mall property.

Patrons of these stores should make known their support for the preservation of these magnificent trees, some being in excess of 150 years of age.

Individuals who appreciate the few remaining large pines should express their feelings to elected officials. Otherwise, most of these trees will be gone in 10 years. This would be a shame because the pine has played an important historical role in the development of Bend.