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

100 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Sept. 3, 1916

New building plans mature

Developments in the plan of the school board to provide a new building to house the rapidly growing school population of District 12 have followed each other rapidly in the past week. On Friday the bond election carried. On Monday the bonds were sold and last night and today the board has been studying the various plans for a school which have been submitted.

Because of the heat and the certainty that the election would carry, only a small number of voters came out to vote on Friday. Of these 43 were in favor of the bonds and only 3 against. The election was held at the Reid School between the hours of 2 and 7 p.m. Arrangements having previously been made to sell the bonds Monday in case the election carried the board met that day to receive bids. Five in all were submitted, all but one offering more than par for the issue.

The successful bidder was G.E. Miller & Co., of Portland, represented by P.A. Gilmore, who offered a premium of $511.

An open letter to the school patrons

Through your chosen representatives, you have entrusted your children into my care for the coming school year. Fully realizing the great responsibility placed upon me, I assume it only because I confidently expect a full measure of co-operation from the parents and teachers. To these I submit my platform.

The school exists for the child. This is the fundamental fact in education. “Quality first,” is our daily working motto. My sole ambition is to improve the school; my firm determination is to make it more efficient. Courses and programs may be adjusted to meet the needs of the students and the community. There will be very little red-tape and formality but much freedom and initiative.

Every pupil may expect a square deal; every teacher fair play; every visitor courteous treatment. Personally I want to be a fellow workman to the teacher, a big brother to the boys and girls, and a neighbor to every citizen. I desire to please you, but I am more anxious to do what is right in every situation.

We need no formal introduction, but I want to meet you. Stop me anywhere and tell me our plan, story or complaint. Drop in and talk it over. At the beginning of this new school year let us mutually and sincerely pledge our utmost efforts to make the Bend schools a place where quality counts, where merit wins, where minds are thoroughly trained, and where character is built upon the eternal principles of Love and Truth. — Franklin Thordarson

Plan tomorrow for fall fair

A meeting, called for the purpose of perfecting the organization of the Bend Track & Fair Association, will be held. At this meeting officers will be elected, steps taken toward preparation of the articles of incorporation, dates for the fair and other matters.

At tomorrow night’s meeting it is expected that definite dates for the fair will be selected. Several proposals have been made as to the character of the entertainment. There is a disposition to favor some of the wild west features of the Pendleton Round-Up, but not on such an elaborate scale.

There is a pronounced disposition to make the fall fair at Bend more than a local attraction and to include surrounding counties.

75 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Sept. 3, 1941

Japanese ambassador and Roosevelt study differences

President Roosevelt is undertaking personal negotiations with the Japanese ambassador on differences between this country and Japan in the tense far eastern situation, Secretary of State Cordell Hull revealed today.

Hull made this disclosure after a White House conference at which the ambassador, Admiral Kichisaburo Nomura, presented to the president a message from the Japanese Prime Minister, Prince Konoye. Hull, who was present at the ambassador’s 45-minute interview with the president, said there had been a general exchange of information on matters relating to the two governments and he thought there would be other meetings later.

Neither Hull nor Nomura would reveal the content of the message from Konoye. Observers speculated that the message might have been largely a request from Konoye that the president enter into personal conferences with the ambassador on the whole range of far eastern problems: Japan’s ambitions in the South Pacific and the United States’ position toward them; the situation resulting from this country’s determination to extend further help to China in its fight against Japan, and to Russia in its battle against Germany.

Hitler and Mussolini state aims for post war Europe after meeting on Red Front

Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini in a declaration of axis aims, said today that the new order for post-war Europe so far as possible will “remove the causes which in the past have given rise to European wars.” A communique disclosed that the dictators had met on the southern front “marked by the unalterable determination of both peoples and their leaders to continue the war until a victorious conclusion”.

The axis leaders were said to have discussed “all military and political questions affecting the development and duration of the war.”

Japan seeking peaceful solution

The official Domei news agency said today that Premier Prince Fumimaro Konoye had opened negotiations with the United States because adjustment of delicate American-Japanese relations is necessary to “usher in a permanent peace in the Pacific.” Domei said that Konoye’s message to President Roosevelt had resulted directly from the outbreak of hostilities between Germany and the soviet which had “complicated” the international situation and required an adjustment of American-Japanese relations.

The Domei statement was made as the cabinet met in emergency session to consider the new Japanese-American negotiations which were said by a government statement to be concerned with examining “the cause of trouble in the delicate situation between Japan and the United States.”

50 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Sept. 3, 1966

Fire destroys historic Prineville Ochoco Inn

Fire in the pre-dawn hours today destroyed the half-block, two story Ochoco Inn and the cluster of offices and stores it housed. Only black walls of the big building in the center of Prineville remained standing this morning, following a night fight against flames which for a time threatened the entire downtown business district.

A great cloud of smoke, moving before a southeast wind, spread over the Crooked River hills as flames, which apparently started in the kitchen of the sprawling building, swept through the 43-year-old structure. Minutes after the fire was discovered, equipment was removed from nearly a dozen businesses, with volunteers working in offices in which the crackle of flames could be heard. Among stores Thrift-Wise Drug was probably the greatest loser.

When the fire was discovered, police moved into the 64 room second floor section of the Inn, to awaken room occupants. There were some 25 guests. All got out without injury. Scores of townspeople assisted in the evacuation of records, equipment and goods from offices and stores.

Last night’s fire not worst ever recorded in Prineville

Last night’s Ochoco Inn fire was not the worst in Prineville’s long history.

Old timers recall the night of May 31-June 1, 1922, when nearly a half of the business district, including the Prineville Hotel, predecessor to the Ochoco Inn, was destroyed by flames that started in a condemned school building. An arsonist was blamed for that costly fire, but no arrests were ever made. The 1922 fire started shortly before midnight on May 31. It quickly spread from the old school into the heart of downtown Prineville. Property lost included the Prineville post office. Saved from the office was a handful of letters. Telephone connections were also burned out. Stores, shops and offices were lost. The only store left to supply the town was that of the pioneer Stewart firm.

At first, the loss in the 1922 fire was listed at over one million dollars. This was later lowered to about $350,000. Destruction of the Prineville Hotel was followed by the construction of the Ochoco Inn, opened in 1923.

25 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Sept. 3, 1991

Lower bridge mining operation reopened

A Redmond company has re-opened a large scale mining operation for diatomaceous earth on the Deschutes River canyon rim at Lower Bridge west of Terrebonne. U.S. Agriculture and Mining, which is affiliated with a Houston Texas firm, began mining about two weeks ago. It plans to remove 600,000 metric tons of diatomaceous earth. The massive 5-million-year-old deposit of the skeletons of microscopic marine animals has not been mined since the early 1960s. The company studied the site and potential markets before signing the deal.

Diatomaceous earth has some 300 uses but they will concentrate on three of them. The company will bag it in bulk as a fertilizer, in small quantities to mix with potting soil, and process and package it as a pesticide. As a fertilizer and soil conditioner, it reduces soil acidity and holds several times its weight in water. It serves as a natural pesticide because the course skeletons penetrate the skin of insects and kill them.

The company already is expanding on the mine’s established market among mushroom farmers in the Willamette Valley, picking up new customers as well in Washington and California. The company also hopes to open up exports to Hawaii and Pacific Rim nations and ship products to its established markets in the Southwest to help spur winter business. The mine was established in 1906 and has been operating continually to keep the zoning and permits current. The company has mined sand, gravel and diatomaceous earth since they bought the site.

Environmentalists don’t need to worry abut the company’s operation.

“We are environmentalists” said Jeff Stokely, the manager. “We own an environmental company in Texas. We want to be a good neighbor.”

He said the company is taking material from a stockpile of about 60,000 tons and is not doing any mining. But when the stockpile is gone and when other mining is finished, these areas will be reclaimed.

“We’re practically paranoid about this,” he said. “We leave the land in better shape than when we found it.”