Yesteryear

Compiled by the Deschutes County Historical Society from the archived copies of The Bulletin at the Deschutes Historical Museum

100 years ago

For the week ending

Dec. 14, 1919

Record cold for Bend causes fuel shortage

Bend felt its coldest weather in many years this morning when the government minimum thermometer registered 25 degrees below zero. This is the lowest temperature noted on official records and equals the unofficial minimum reached in the disastrous storm of the winter of 1884-1885. Only in the absence of high winds, which accompanied the cold wave of 35 years ago, do present weather conditions fail to meet the severity of the winter of early days, pioneers declare.

The coming of the intense cold was heralded yesterday afternoon, when at 5:30 o’clock 10 degrees below zero was reached. That the minimum was recorded about 6 o’clock this morning was indicated when observations taken at 8 o’clock showed 23 degrees below zero. At 9 o’clock it was only three degrees warmer, and at 10:30 o’clock a reading of six below was made.

Lack of a fuel surplus is now recognized as menacing a large number of the homes in Bend and the difficult hauling caused by the heavy snowfall makes immediate relief rather improbable. City officials were taking up the matter today endeavoring to improve conditions to allow for deliveries of wood at the earliest possible moment. In many homes the supply of fuel is entirely exhausted and in others only enough is on hand to last through the remainder of the week. A few families have already left their homes and taken up residence in hotels until the weather moderates.

A heavy demand for the services of plumbers continues in various sections of the city where water pipes are frozen up, but the blanket of snow has afforded protection from the cold in many instances and the damage from this source is by no means so large as would otherwise have been suffered.

In the Deschutes river, as the combined effect of snow and cold, the flow of water continues far below normal, and while power for the city is still being furnished by the Bend Water, Light & Power Co., there was not sufficient to resume service at the Brooks-Scanlon plant. In a large part the river is covered with ice and an effort is being made at the power plant to take out only so much water as will leave the flow supporting the solid covering. This will prevent ice being washed into the wheels temporarily at least, and in the meantime, a heavy boon is being rushed to completion to protect the wheels.

Rancher shows Osler’s error

Osler was wrong — utterly and unquestionably wrong. A man hasn’t even reached his prime until he has passed the half century mark contends C.A. “Dad” Stephenson, aged 64, and just to prove it, he headed a party which came in this morning with $5,000 worth of cattle and horses, 60 head in all, owned by the Central Oregon bank, which had been ranging near Fort Rock, a distance of approximately 60 miles. The party, which had as its other members, J.M. McKinney, and J.P. Pulliam, travelled from Sunday until today, with only their wagons as shelter, through the hardest snow and the most bitter cold which has been felt in Central Oregon for 35 years.

The three left Bend last week and spent several days in gathering the stock. Just as they were ready to start on the return trip, they discovered that they were out of provisions, and Mr. Stephenson fitted it back to Fort Rock, 15 miles, for more supplies. On his trip back to camp, the storm started, he lost his way, but trudged on through two feet of snow, finally getting his bearing after being steadily on the march from Fort Rock for 36 hours. Incidentally, he carried a 50 pound pack.

The trip to Bend commenced, and to get the wagons through, it was necessary to break trail for most of the way. This was another little chore for “Dad” but it wasn’t much worse than riding, he said. This afternoon, he started for his home in the Sisters country.

Vote to move Bend Library

In view of expected financial from the county as well as that from the city, the administration of the Bend public library should be reorganized on a county basis, it was decided yesterday afternoon at a meeting of the library trustees, at which Mrs. C.S. Hudson, Mrs. A.F. Larson, Mrs. J.M. Lawrence, Mrs. A. G. Lucas, and R.W. Sawyer, were present. It was considered that because of the more nearly adequate financial support which is to be given, it will not be necessary for the Library club to continue its work in assisting in the upkeep of the institution.

The meeting opted to approve the removal of the library from the Baptist church to the Athletic club, and it was decided that a contract should be let for the construction of a soundproof partition to separate the front second story room, where the library is to be housed, from the gymnasium. New shelves will also be installed.

Inquiries will be made to other cities throughout the state where county libraries are maintained, in order to ascertain the best systems of organization, and the matter of ordering new books will not be definitely taken up until the institution has been put on a county basis.

75 years ago

For the week ending

Dec. 14, 1944

Education grant for scholarships made to counties

Portland, Ore., — Students from every Oregon county but one will participate in the educational benefits provided in the will of the late Thomas Roberts, Portland merchant who died in October. From his estate of approximately $1,000,000, Roberts made extensive bequests to educational institutions of Oregon and also created the Annie E. Roberts foundation, named for his wife, as a trust fund from which worthy students would receive loans to continue their schooling.

The foundation provides $51,000, from which Multnomah received $15,000 and all counties but Lake $1000. Winners of the scholarships will be chosen by a board consisting of the county judge, county school superintendent and city school superintendent of the largest city in each county. A sum of $200 ($3,000 in Multnomah) may be loaned in each county to the student who will be most encouraged spiritually and shows the greatest ability to be of service to others. The winners may choose the university of Oregon, Oregon State college, Linfield, Oregon College of Education, Reed, Pacific university, Pacific college, Marylhurst or Mount Angel college.

Repayment of the loans will keep the scholarship funds in the form of a revolving fund, it was explained.

Bend postal route longest in U.S.

The Bend post office operates the longest rural mail route in the United States, it was revealed here today by Assistant Postmaster Farley Elliott, who said that he had received comparative figures from the postmaster general in Washington, D.C.

The outstanding route is Route No. 2, extending to the north and east and west of Bend, including the Brooks-Scanlon camp. It is 95.30 miles long, has 382 boxes and 1,500 patrons to serve. The carrier is Willard A. Higgins, whose salary for driving the nation’s longest route is $3,100 annually.

Bend businessman, developer dies in Chicago

Word was received here over the week-end of the death in Chicago, Ill., of Clarance L. Mannheimer, 57, Vice President of the Bank of Bend and treasurer and director of the Consumers Gas corporation. Death occurred Saturday evening, and funeral services were to be held in New Orleans, La., this afternoon. Death followed a prolonged illness.

A resident of Bend in early days and operator here, with his brother, Claude, for many years of the Mannheimer department store, Mr. Mannheimer retired from the local field in the early 1930’s, then returned later to play a prominent role in the development of Bend of the present. Mr. Mannheimer, his brother and their father came to Bend in 1911. The brothers, twins, first operated a small drygoods store here, then expanded in their business, constructed their own building and opened the department store that served all Central Oregon. The building, now occupied by the Midstate Hardware company on Wall street, was still owned by Mr. Mannheimer at the time of his death. Claude Mannheimer is now a resident of Portland.

After leaving the local business field, Mr. Mannheimer was affiliated with the Columbia Knitting Mills in Portland, and had other interests in the western Oregon city. He returned to Bend to assist in the organization of the Bank of Bend.

It was in the latter years of Mr. Mannheimer’ first residence in Bend that his wife, Bianca, died. Surviving are two sons, Captain Robert Mannheimer, who is now at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, following service in Alaska, and Lt. Norman Mannheimer, stationed at San Luis Obispo, Calif. Also surviving are two sisters, one of them Miss Bird Mannheimer, of Chicago, who visited with her brother here on various occasions. Members of his wife’s family live in New Orleans.

In tribute to the memory of their associate, members of the Bank of Bend staff today placed on his desk in the bank a memorial wreath.

Headlines

Parliament backs Churchill in huge vote of confidence — Budapest’s fall looms as Nazis withdraw men — New British fleet to operate under direction of Nimitz — Peace looms in Athens — U.S. troops storm citadel near Cologne

50 years ago

For the week ending

Dec. 14, 1969

Heart-shaped stone placed on display at new school

A heart-shaped slab of native stone, weighing some six tons, has been installed in an upright position in the main entrance hall of the new Redmond High School.

Superintendent Hugh Hartman said the stone was removed from an outcropping in southern Crook County, with approval of the Bureau of Land Management.

It stands upright in the center of a planter and will be surrounded with greenery when the structure is finished.

Sand blasting is expected to bring out the predominately black and rose coloring. “I’m no Phil Brogan, so I can’t define the formation,” Hartman said, “but the lava-type rock has some marine fossils in one corner and, over-all is representative of the Central Oregon country.”

Rain trap used to catch moisture for livestock

The installation is a “first,” at least for the Deschutes National Forest and possibly on all Oregon — yet it is as old as the Bible.

It is a rain catcher, and it has been set up on the dry slopes of Pine Mountain southeast of Bend. It is similar to units in use for hundreds of years on the Rock of Gibraltar.

Actually, the “thing” is a large rubber rain trap, and it has been set up on the Pine Mountain Angus Ranch by the U.S. Forest Service to collect precipitation from the sky.

The trap catches water on a large rubber apron laid out on the ground uphill from a reservoir. The water runs down the apron to a funnel, which in turn pipes it into a reservoir. This reservoir is entirely enclosed with butyl rubber to prevent evaporation.

From the reservoir, the water is metered to a trough by a float valve, as needed. The unit is designed to capture and store 25,000 gallons, Henry McCormack, Fort Rock District ranger, said. This is enough water to sustain 80 head of cattle for a month. One of the advantages of the device is to make forage available in areas where it was not within grazing reach. It will be possible to distribute livestock on the dry ranges, and reduce the cost of hauling water.

Wildlife of all types, including antelope and mule deer, will benefit from the installation. Many birds will also take advantage of the fresh water in the desert country, McCormack said.

25 years ago

For the week ending

Dec. 14, 1994

Paperless billing is catching on

Jerry Rood kept forgetting to turn in tuition checks to his son’s private school, so he signed up for a program that automatically deducts monthly payments from his checking account. “Most of our bills go in the mail,” said Rood, whose son is in kindergarten at St. Francis School in Bend. “That tuition check would sit there on the counter.”

A small but growing number of persons are paying monthly bills by having money taken directly from checking or savings accounts. No more paper checks and no more first-class letters, which will cost 10.5 percent more to mail — 32 cents each — as of Jan. 1.

Banks long have offered automatic deduction for savings accounts and loan repayments such as mortgages. Now, they’re being joined by cities like Bend, for water and sewer bills; electric and natural gas companies, and even schools. You still get a monthly notice of how much you owe, but no hassle of sending a payment back. “We’re just now starting it and we’ve already had four people ask,” said Sue Myers, a spokesperson for St. Francis School.

What’s the attraction? For customers who are good at balancing a checkbook, convenience; for businesses, a predictable flow of revenue and often less paperwork. “It’s a means to enable the customers to take care of their business more timely, and we can collect funds earlier, rather than wait for a check to be mailed,” said Lori Vencill, who works in the city of Bend’s bookkeeping department.

Bend began offering the service in April 1992. Although just 321 persons have signed up, compared to 10,285 bills mailed out, Vencill said the percentage is rising every month.

Greg Rommel, billing supervisor for Central Electric Cooperative, said customer requests, not any revenue-flow advantages, led the company to start automatic deduction just this month. “It actually is more work for bookkeeping, because we have to post it both in our computer and to the banks. As far as getting money sooner or later, that wasn’t the reason.”

Of course, automatic deduction also means no more excuses like “The check’s in the mail.” But Marie Applegate, data center manager for Bank of the Cascades, said that doesn’t happen often anyway. “If you run short, it’s going to hit your account no matter what,” she said. “But the people who sign up for automatic deduction usually are people who want the convenience. They’re pretty in tune to what’s going on with their accounts and are very responsible with it. I would do everything automatic if I could.”