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

Feb. 20, 1921

New telephone line is planned

Construction work on a telephone line to serve the residents south of town along The Dalles-California highway and to High Lake will be started immediately, according to Charles Carroll, secretary of the company recently formed by the residents of that section. The equipment will be standard to conform with the state laws, and a double-ground system will be used in order to eliminate noise in the phones. Connection will be made with the Pacific Telegraph & Telephone line at the residence of Mr. Carroll.

The line will be five miles long and 17 phones will be installed at present, one of which will be at the Carroll Acres school house. Provision will be made for increasing the service as the country becomes more thickly settled.

Valentine gifts brought by stork weigh 18 pounds

Two valentines were brought to families near Bend by the stork yesterday, one a seven and one-half pound baby girl arriving at the home of Mr. And Mrs. Joe S. Thrasher at Brooks Scanlon camp No. 1, in the morning, the other a 10 1/2-pound boy, appearing at the Oliver B. Caldwell home east of Bend, on the afternoon of St. Valentine’s day.

Fire Marshal well pleased

Bend, with but one exception, has the best drilled and best equipped volunteer department in Oregon, declared Deputy State Fire Marshall George W. Stokes at a meeting of the department at the fire station last night.

He stated that he was personally interested in the welfare of the department here, having watched its growth from almost nothing in the shape of equipment to its present state of efficiency. He complimented the members highly upon their showing during the past two years. Mr. Stokes spoke of the excellent reputation enjoyed by the Bend department in other towns throughout the state and urged that all members continue to perform their duties as well in the future as they have in the past.

The department put on an inside drill without a hitch and Mr. Stokes admitted the work to be as good as he had ever seen performed by a volunteer company of the size of the Bend department.

Mr. Stokes will remain in the city a few days longer surveying the fire prevention work that has been carried out here.

More storage room needed for stills

So rapidly has liquor-making equipment been accumulating in the county jail that sheriff S.E. Roberts ordered the removal of eight complete plants. These were transferred yesterday afternoon to the garage of Special Agent L.A.W. Nixon. Four stoves, which had been formerly used by moonshiner, were sold to second-hand dealers by the sheriff and the purchase price of $10 turned over to the Red Cross.

Sheriff Roberts has endeavored to secure instructions regarding the disposition to be made of confiscated stills, but has received no advice up to date. If the accumulation of moonshine plants continues, he may be forced to sell the equipment as junk copper to allow for more storage room for the bulky evidence, he states.

75 Years Ago

For the week ending

Feb. 20, 1946

Redmond quintet noses out Bend

Bend’s American Legion basketball team lost a hard fought game to the Redmond town team, composed mostly of veterans, last night by the score of 36 to 34. The contest was a thriller from the first toss to the final whistle, with the Redmond quintet easing into the win column through the brilliant shooting of Endicott who scored 13 points and Lewis, who accounted for 5.

Tomorrow night, the Bend legionnaires will tangle with Prineville, on the Crook county court.

Betrothed news told at meeting of a sorority here

The engagement of Miss Marian Mowery, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E.D. Mowery, to Leon Devereaux, son of Mr. and Mrs. Leon E. Devereaux, was announced at the regular Beta Sigma Phi dinner meeting Tuesday evening in the Pine Tavern. A date for the wedding has not been set.

Miss Mowery, a 1944 Bend high school graduate, is a clerk at the First National bank. Her fiancé, a veteran of ten months service overseas as a fighter pilot on the Shangri-La, was released from active duty in the navy last November. Before his three years in the service, he was a student at Oregon State college, where he is affiliated with Delta Tau Delta fraternity.

Many children get health aid

Activities of the Deschutes county health department yesterday included a child health conference at the courthouse and immunization clinics at Richardson school and in Redmond. Fourteen babies and pre-school children attended the conference at the courthouse, accompanied by their mothers. Dr. P.W. Chernenkoff was in charge, assisted by Miss Lucy Davison and Mrs. Gladys Cochran of the health department staff.

Both immunization clinics reported an identical attendance, 27 each. Miss Elma Mullins, public health nurse, was in charge at the Church of Christ in Redmond, assisted by Mrs. George Fairfield. Dr. Chernenkoff gave the immunizations at Richardson school, with Mrs. Cochran as assistant. At Richardson 10 smallpox vaccinations and two Schlick tests were given and two were protected against diphtheria.

Hodkinsons sell theater interests

Interests in the Tower, Capitol and Liberty theaters formerly owned by Mr. and Mrs. Ken Hodkinsons have been sold to Albert Forman of Portland and William Forman of Seattle, it was announced here today. The sale will be effective March 1.

Henry Mullendore, formerly of Portland, will represent the Forman interests in Bend and will handle the management of the local theaters with B.A. Stover, pioneer Bend showman, who will retain his interests in the company. Mr. and Mrs. Mullendore arrived Wednesday night from Portland.

The Hodkinsons plan to spend a month vacationing in California, after which they will return to Bend. Hodkinsons has numerous real estate holdings here, which he will continue to manage. He and his wife came here seven years ago from San Francisco. They built the Tower theater, which was merged in 1941 with Stover’s interests. First known as Bend Theaters, Inc., the owners later adopted the name of Bend Amusement company.

No change in policy is anticipated, adn the same personnel will be retained, it was indicated by the managers.

HEADLINES: Entire Northwest rocked by earthquake — Subs to cruise under polar ice may be designed — Truman signs Employment Act of 1946 — Steel strike naring settlement, industrial peace looms for U.S. — Navy sets date for A-Bomb tests, drone planes are also to be used.

50 Years Ago

For the week ending

Feb. 20, 1971

Blaze damages Madras High

A fire of undetermined origin gutted the choir room at Madras High School this morning and caused damage to several other rooms in the west central part of the building. The blaze was believed to have started in a small closet off the choir room where robes were stored. Other rooms that sustained damage included music library and practice rooms and the band room.

First indication of the fire came when about 35 drama students rehearsing in the cafeteria next to the band room smelled smoke. They notified Homer Moore, maintenance supervisor, who discovered there was a fire and called in the alarm at 7:20 a.m. Three fire departments, the city, North Unit and Warm Springs, responded to the alarm. They had the fire under control about 8:15 a.m.

A Chickering grand piano in the choir room, purchased about a year ago, was a total loss, according to Supt. Don Kipp. But the number of band instruments damaged in the blaze had not been determined by late this morning.

Smoke damage was extensive throughout three-fourths of the building, according to David Green and Paul Lundgren of the Insurance Mart, which handles insurance for District 509-J.

Green said there was a one-quarter-inch layer of soot in some places. Don Chapman of the North Unit Fire Department said that water damage was extensive throughout the halls. Insurance adjusters from the general adjustment bureau in Bend were to meet with the school board, Kipp and Darrell Wright, assistant superintendent, later this morning to try to determine the exact loss.

All school records were moved by school personnel to Buff Elementary, adjacent to the high school. Kipp said that the cause of the fire was unknown.

School will be resumed as soon as possible, but just how soon had not been determined by noon.

Streets leading to the school were blocked off, keeping away arriving students and teachers. Bus drivers were notified not to pick up any high school students before they began their morning routes.

The drama students were rehearsing for a play. They customarily go to school early to rehearse on their own time.

25 Years Ago

For the week ending

Feb. 20, 1996

City sweeping tide of red grit

As Willamette Valley residents sweep miles of muck from their flood-ravaged homes and businesses, a less damaging but hard-to-ignore phenomenon coats the cars, streets, shoes and lungs of Central Oregonians: leftover cinders.

Road cinders that once were welcomed by slipping, sliding motorists have become a major post-thaw nuisance in recent days, crunching under feet, tires and bicycle wheels as they are pounded into pumice that sends up plumes of blinding, choking dust.

Weekend rain proved to be enough to dampen the cinders, if not wash them away. But a cold snap could bring more snow later this week — and with it the need for yet another layer of grit.

In the past month, Oregon Department of Transportation crews have dumped 18,029 cubic yards of volcanic red cinders worth $133,913 on snow-covered highways from Madras to Mitchell and Sisters to Brothers, said spokeswoman Arlene Thomas.

The city of Bend spread another 10,000 cubic yards. Deschutes County dumped a like amount.

Travel lanes cleared fairly quickly on major streets, but side streets, sidewalks and bike paths are still coated with the stuff. To avid cyclists like Nils Eddy of Bend, the results are obvious: “Grit in the face, breathing it, getting it all over you.”

“Eat my dust” may be just a saying for dirt-bike riders, but driving behind street sweepers these days could bring a cloud of reality wafting in.

As for health effects, the grit can irritate eyes, nose and lungs. Cinder exposure also can aggravate a sinus condition or allergy.

Of course, dust and the High Desert go together all year long. But the extra clouds have left some broom-wielders wearing face masks and asking the question: when will it be gone? “Whenever the weather permits, we’re sweeping, at least during the night,” said Dave Neys, the state transportation department’s Bend-area maintenance manager. “We try and pick up the sand within 24 hours after we put it down.”

County Public Works Director Larry Rice said, “We’re making a dent in it. We’ve got our main sweeper on double shifts, and a couple of other broom sweepers. We’re sweepin’ like mad.”

But he said, “There’s a heck of a lot of it. We’re painfully aware of that.” Neys said the state picks up the cinders on curbed highways, but it’s not cost-effective on rural roads, where they are swept onto the shoulders. Cinders are not reused, as gravel is in the Willamette Valley.

“The cinders crush down and pulverize, so they don’t work very well,” he said. “We don’t use hard rock here. It’s expensive, and it causes a lot more flat tires and chipped windshields.” Not that the cinders can’t cause their own car damage.

“It’s just like sandpaper,” said Mike Fassett, manager of Red Carpet Car Wash in Bend. He and others recommend washing of the cinders with a high-pressure hose before touching the vehicle with a sponge or mitten.

Bruce Hoard, shop manager at Professional Auto Body in Bend, said “The worst thing you can do is take a rag and try to dust the car off.”