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

100 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

March 24, 1918

Gambling outfit found by police

Two round-tables neatly covered with green felt, 1,000 large size tiddley-winks, a few picture cards, mostly of nobility and spades, hearts and the like and sundry other equipment were the trophies captured by Chief of Police Nixon yesterday afternoon when he visited two rooms adjoining Red Men hall over the Bend Press. Shortly afterward, the two tables, looking somewhat worse for wear, when Chief Nixon had applied a hatchet, came sailing out the window. The rest of the outfit was confiscated by the city.

After watching the rooms since Wednesday night, the officer finally decided to make a raid in an effort to locate traces of gambling, of which he fund plenty. No occupants of the quarters were in evidence, as it is believed that they learned their headquarters were under surveillance.

Americans successful in battles — French cooperate

American and French troops working together demolished German trenches at three points to a width of 100 meters and a depth of 300 meters through separate raids in widely scattered sectors. The American artillery aided the raiders, completely demolishing one section of a trench. No living Germans were found there.

At other places Germans in pill boxes and dugouts bombed and grenaded the raiders, seven Germans finally being captured.

After a heavy bombardment the infantry crossed no-man’s land unopposed and penetrated the German first and second lines, finding only a mass of leveled trenches and dugouts.

The men were forced to return in accordance with orders issued before the attack, but in another sector a party went beyond the third line and encountered intact dugouts and pill boxes.

Shouts for the Germans to come out were answered by shots, so they grenaded and bombed the defenses, wrecking them completely.

The Americans north of Toul successfully raided Boche trenches in the first exclusively American raid. The artillery in 45 minutes razed dugouts and trenches and the infantry went over behind a barrage. No prisoners were taken as the Germans had withdrawn to the rear of the lines.

Want saloons in Chicago closed up

The dry federation announced today it will send delegates to Washington to appear before Secretary Daniels Monday to ask him to close Chicago’s 6,000 saloons under the law prohibiting liquor sales within five miles of a naval training station.

75 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

March 24, 1943

German strongarm squads start slave labor roundup

German strongarm squads have started house-to-house searches for French workers defying a labor roundup aimed at sending 1,000,000 Frenchmen to Germany within three months, underground reports from the continent said today.

The latest reports of simmering violence in France said Pierre Laval, Vichy chief of government, had promised Adolf Hitler 1,000,000 French workers for his war factories. Since the first of the year 380,000 have been conscripted.

The country-wide rebellion against the roundup was reflected in reports that the French were refusing in wholesale lots to heed the Nazi-Vichy summonses, with occupation authorities trying to route the dissidents out of their hiding places.

Other advices from Europe said French mobile police were deserting to the guerrilla forces in the mountainous Haute-Savoie border area in such numbers that regular Axis detachments had been forced to take over.

Radio Algiers said Axis units were pouring into the area to push the attack against the embattled patriots who have refused to submit to Vichy’s mobilization for labor details in Germany, and Swiss reports said many of the police have joined their rebellious countrymen.

“Final appeals” have been made to the guerrillas to surrender, Swiss reports said, in order to save “useless bloodshed.”

Ambulance given name “Aunt Kate”

Somewhere in Africa “Aunt Kate” is on the job.

“Aunt Kate” is not a Red Cross worker, a WAAC or a canteen worker. It is a new ambulance, one of a fleet under the supervision of a Bend physician, Captain C.J. Rademacher.

The new ambulance, Dr. Rademacher writes, was named for Mrs. John Matson, of Bend.

Editor’s note: Aunt Kate in Bend is also known as Klondike Kate.

Nazis facing new crisis in North Africa

Marshall Erwin Rommel was engaged in the fight of his life today to hold off massive allied attacks threatening the whole Axis position in south Tunisia which may force him to withdraw precipitately to the north for a final stand in the Tunis-Bizerte corner.

The British eighth army smashed ceaselessly at the Mareth line and advanced according to plan, while to the northwest, American forces striking eastward toward the coast captured Maknassy in developing the imminent threat to the rear of Rommel’s southern forces.

As the grand-scale allied offensive to throw the Axis out of Tunisia gathered momentum, there were signs that even Adolf Hitler had written off North Africa, exhorting his men there to make another “Stalingrad Stand” — hopeless, and to the last man.

50 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

March 24, 1968

Developers placing high hopes in Central Oregon resort-recreation projects

The lure of spacious, carefree living in a land bountifully blessed with all the requirements for the good life is providing the impetus for two major developments in the Deschutes country near Bend.

Both developments are in their early stages, but each is well planned and financed and already has given promise of big things to come.

One, Sunriver, embraces a spectacular 5,500-acre tract of pine forest and open meadow land 15 miles south of Bend and is presently in the initial phase of a long range program to develop one of America’s finest planned recreational and residential communities.

The other, the Inn of the Seventh Mountain, is a ski and summer resort condominium located seven miles from Bend on the Cascade Lakes Highway. It has been designed to take full advantage of the year-round recreational facilities available in Central Oregon.

The Sunriver site is located along the Deschutes River at the site of Camp Abbot, a World War II army base. The initial focal point for the development will center around the large log-and-stone structure used originally as an officer’s club.

The first phase will include construction of Sunriver Lodge, a large condominium which will contain 70 living units, a restaurant, coffee shop, lounge, banquet room, and gold shop. Already nearing completion is a nine hole golf course, which will be expanded later to 18-holes. Other facilities planned for completion by opening day are a 4,500 foot airpark to accommodate business and private planes, swimming, boating and water sport conveniences on Meadow Lakes, two marinas on the Deschutes, a riding stable and a corral and riding paths. Additional facilities such as heated swimming pools and tennis courts are on the drawing board for the future.

Plans for the Inn of the Seventh Mountain are equally impressive. Full-size models of three of the four types of apartments to be available at the site have been constructed and currently are on display to the public and prospective buyers.

The apartments will be clustered around a core area, which will include three restaurants, bar facilities and ski and gift shops.

Some special features of the development are an ice rink, a swimming pool, a pitch-and-putt curse, an archery range, a fishing lake and facilities for skeet and trap shooting.

During the ski season at Bachelor Butte it is planned to provide bus service from the Inn every 20 minutes.

Under the condominium arrangement, units at both the Sunriver Lodge and the Inn of the Seventh Mountain will be available for rental to the public when not being used by owners.

2 Bend students given top honors at state FFA confab

The Bend High School chapter of Future Farmers of America received a superior rating, and two of its members were accorded top honors.

Ron Moffitt, a senior at Bend High and Ken Johnson, a junior, were awarded State Farmer degrees. Only two percent of the membership receive the degree, according to Wright Noel, advisor for the Bend chapter.

25 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

March 24, 1993

Mazama tree ready for display

If it washed up on the Oregon coast, no one would give it a second look.

But the Mazama tree, an ancient pine resembling a large piece of driftwood, is certain to attract attention in its new home, the Klamath County Museum.

Named for the mountain that erupted 7,700 years ago and spewed pumice and ash across Eastern Oregon, the Mazama tree will go on display this spring — two years after it was excavated at a landfill near Chemult.

“It’s a relic,” boasted Keith Read, the parks and solid waste division supervisor for Klamath County.

“It’s an unpretentious piece of wood, but once one realizes what it is, it’s amazing it did survive that maelstrom of volcanic activity.”

Mount Mazama, now Crater Lake, showered forests and deserts with walnut-size chunks of pumice when it erupted eight millenia ago. The Mazama tree was surrounded by 14 feet of pumice. The blast then sent hot ash over the landscape, igniting the tree tops.

“The ash poured out like flood waters, scarring, gouging and searing off any remaining vegetation said Bill Hopkins, a U.S. Forest Service ecologist in Bend.

To his amazement, the tree had not decomposed or mineralized. It may have been preserved by water, the log was saturated when found.

Radiocarbon dating pegged the age of the wood sample at 7,696 years.

Little other analysis has been done, and Hopkins said he’s disappointed the find hasn’t attracted more scientific interest.

“It’s rare to find anything that large, that old and in that good of shape,” he said. “I have a piece of it in my office that’s still intact.”

Hopkins suggested that a cross section of the tree be cut from near its base to expose rings that might reveal its growth history, the frequency of fires, and local climate before the eruption.

“We don’t have much of a stored chronological history based on tree-ring growth of the pre-Mazama area,” he said.

After being stored for a year in water, the tree is drying out in a back room at the Klamath County Museum. An airtight glass case is being built for its public display this spring.

Except for a few Native American artifacts, the tree will be the oldest item showcased at the museum, director Pat McMillan said.

“It’s exciting to have something like this that helps to explain Crater Lake’s formation,” she said.