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

100 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

April 21, 1918

Germans fall before yanks

By United Press to The Bend Bulletin — WITH THE AMERICAN ARMIES IN FRANCE.

Details of the battle Sunday on the Meuse proves that the Americans are the masters of the Germans.

In this battle the best storm from the Hun line, numbering more than 400, attacked the Americans in force but the American melting pot, made up of Irish, Italians, Poles, Englanders and Scandinavians, repulsed the Huns, inflicting losses of 64 dead, 11 prisoners and 22 mitrailleueses.

As a result of the encounter the Americans are laden with souvenirs of the battle, which they are closely guarding with the expectation of adding to their hoard.

One American private had been heard to say that “the Huns are great big bums, yellow clear through.”

Secretary Baker, in a report with officials today after his return from Europe, stated, “… have a feeling of pride and confidence in the American army, and the Sammies are anxious to get into the fray where it is the thickest.”

Overdose of cold cure gets man in jail over night

Feeling the need of interior warmth while suffering from a cold, Fred Forsburg last night purchased two bottles of Peruna, which “tasted so good” he soon imbibed a sufficient quantity to make him forget that the cold ever existed. Meanwhile his landlady at the Oregon hotel objected to the disturbance he was creating and called the night officer who lodged the offender in jail.

When brought into the municipal court this morning, Forsburg was fined $15 and sentenced to 10 days in jail. The latter was suspended on condition that he buy a $50 Liberty bond. Forsburg made the purchase.

He explained that he had at first only taken several spoonfuls of the “medicine,” but its flavor pleased him so much that he gradually consumed his entire supply. After that he doesn’t know exactly what happened.

Big deal in lumber is made

The most important development in the local lumber world since the construction of the Brooks-Scanlon, the Shevlin-Hixon and the Pine Tree mills has just been made public in the plans of Ray Wilkinson and John Steidl for the installation of a number of small mills in this section whose cut will be consolidated and shipped from Bend. Included in the plan are mills hitherto operated by Mr. Wilkinson and one or two others now under other management.

Backing the local men in the enterprise is said to be an unusually strong financial and selling organization which assures the complete success of the operation. They also plan to build a planer at Bend.

75 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

April 21, 1943

Doolittle suggests attack on Japan’s industrial heart

Japan can be defeated only by attacks on Japan itself and American heavy daylight precision bombers can do the job, Major General James H. Doolittle said today, in an interview with the United Press on the eve of the first anniversary of the bombing of Tokyo.

Doolittle, who led the raid on Tokyo and now commands the 12th air force in North Africa said the problem of hitting Japan “is a matter of bases right now.”

“But when we have the bases in China,” he continued, “we can carry out attacks against Japan’s industrial heart, which is the only way Japan can be defeated.

“Even if we re-take the whole southwestern Pacific, we still have not defeated Japan.”

Doolittle explained that it takes six tons of gasoline and bombs for each Flying Fortress taking part in any bombing operation against Japan.

“It would take 600 tons of supplies to put 100 Fortresses in the air over Japan,” he pointed out. “It is the supply problem that holds you back.”

Doolittle had forgotten in the rush of North African developments that the anniversary of his famous bombing raid was approaching. When I reminded him of it he checked up on the pilot’s log book he keeps in a desk drawer and said:

“Yes it was the 18th. A 13-hour flight with one landing.”

Hitler celebrates grim birthday, as tide of battle swiftly turns in allies’ favor

Adolf Hitler celebrated his grimmest birthday today since he came to power. His Nazi henchmen sounded the somber notes for the fuehrer. He kept quiet, hard at work, Axis radios said, at his headquarters.

Hitler’s real feelings on this birthday, of course, were masked by Nazi propaganda. But the world, torn by global war he caused, got an idea from the gloom-filled statements of Nazi leaders Joseph Goebbels and Hermann Goering from whom the occasion drew words resembling the truth.

Hitler is Atlas, Goebbels said, with the world on his shoulders, knowing “days cramped with work, nights cramped with sorrows.” Then, in his speech broadcast by German radios, he compared the position now with a year ago.

“We were standing (a year ago) on the threshold of unprecedented developments for Germany. The winter war was the hardest and cruelest ever experienced by mankind … a way out of trials and sufferings, or its end, nowhere can be discerned.”

50 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

April 21, 1968

Pilot Butte Inn furniture to be sold, future uncertain

The future of Bend’s Pilot Butte Inn remains uncertain. Furniture from the two top stories will go on sale Friday in the basement of the historic hostelry, the owner, Ray Smith, said today. He indicated that he is considering remodeling the ground and basement floors to include spaces for specialty shops.

Smith said that 1,000 items, including beds, springs, mattresses, chairs, dressers mirrors and lamps, will be on sale.

Smith hopes to restore the building for hotel use but has run into difficulties in meeting fire and building code regulations. The building was condemned by the state fire marshal in December 1965, and has not been in use since that time.

Smith says he is negotiating with several prospective tenants, including one who wants to establish an extensive Americana museum in the basement “recreation room.” He said he wants the restoration to include a first-class restaurant and lounge on the main floor. Other possibilities for the business spaces are a gift shop, a sports goods store and an “Alpine Village” outlet.

Bargain hunters rush to purchase furnishings from Pilot Butte Inn

It was bargain basement day at the Pilot Butte Inn and the bargain hunters and souvenir collectors came in droves. The new owner of the famed hostelry, Ray Smith, opened the basement doors at 9 a.m. this morning to sell all of the furnishings from the top two stories, and the rush was on.

More than 100 bargain hunters swamped a handful of clerks asking prices on some 1,000 items. Housewives jostled among the throngs, laden with lamps, chairs, mirrors small tables and babies. (The babies were not for sale. They just came along for the show.)

Workmen, business men, and people by the score jammed the small basement in search of a good buy.

A chorus of questions and comments rose from the general din around the sale table. “Isn’t this just darling!” “Where did you find those?” “This will be lovely in our family room.”

But chivalry prevailed amid the turmoil. A man in coveralls stopped to help an elderly lady carrying a huge rocking chair who was about to founder in the sea of shoppers.

The success of wool blankets with Pilot Butte Inn woven onto one side and souvenir dinner plates indicated that souvenir hunters seeking a memento from the historic inn composed a major portion of the crowd.

The shortage of sales personnel created a hectic situation for a reporter. Anyone standing with a pencil in hand was fair game for such queries as, “How much do you want for the dresser drawers?” “Where are the mattresses?” and “How about if I give you five bucks for this end table?”

A beaming Ray Smith was delighted over the success of his sale. “This is just wonderful,” he exclaimed. “I just hope we can sell rooms like we sell furniture. This really makes you feel like you are in business.”

It is uncertain when the Inn will reopen its doors to regular visitors, but Smith said he plans to lease various concessions in the hotel.

When asked how he was handling the volume of sales and shoppers, Smith smiled and said, “We just depend on everyone being honest.”

Editor’s Note: The enormous fireplace in the Pilot Butte Inn was carefully taken down and stored for several years and now has been reassembled in the Athletic Club of Bend.

25 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

April 21, 1993

Parkway debate plies old routes

If not the Bend Parkway, then what?

That was the key question during a debate between Commissioner Tom Throop and Stop the Parkway PAC chairman Brenden Adams.

“There is no other option that will ease Bend’s traffic problems,” Throop said.

“Every conceivable alternative was considered — and the parkway was unanimously chosen by a citizens’ advisory committee, and by the city and county commissions, and supported overwhelmingly by voters, because it is the option that works.

“Stopping the parkway will bring urban sprawl and gridlock.”

Adams suggested moving the Burlington Northern railroad lines and switching yard out of town, and “just get on with it” building an eastside bypass.

“The railroad cuts off the usual four-way grid that disperses and dissipates congestion in an intuitive and natural way,” he said. “Get the railroad out of town, and traffic will flow east/west and north/south.”

Both options were rejected early in the planning process. Relocating the railroad would cost $22 million just to build new tracks east of town and would mean running spur lines into town to businesses that ship by rail.

The eastside bypass wasn’t chosen because traffic engineers say most traffic in Bend is coming into the city, not moving through it to somewhere else.

In his closing statement, Adams said the project will not work.

“When our city and county commissioners sit blandly by and attempt to fine-tune the parkway by replacing stoplights with overpasses, they are doing little more than rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic,” he said. “But we have not yet hit the iceberg.

“The parkway does not solve either our surface traffic or through traffic problems,” he said. “In the nature of classic pork-barrel projects, it is unreasonable, over-priced, enormously disruptive and most unlikely to solve the problem.”

Throop, on the other hand, said the parkway was chosen after much study as the best option, and that it remains such. He cautioned against any delay.

“The Bend Parkway project is the most important part of our transportation plan,” he said. It is a comprehensive, long-term solution and best environmental solution for this community.

“This project is scheduled to start in September. We had a vote two years ago and since that time the state, city and county have been working as if that were a direction to build this. The state already has spent $6 million. The idea of delaying the project is just inconceivable.”