Yesteryear

100 Years Ago

For the week ending October 8, 1922

Japanese land ownership in county ended

Withdrawal of Japanese interests from agriculture in this section of the state was made known yesterday afternoon in Bend when O.B. Hardy arrived in the city from Redmond to file deeds transferring the holdings of George Shima, Japanese potato king, to George L. Burtt, prominent Pacific coast potato broker. Twenty-five hundred acres of land is involved in the deal. The consideration was not made public.

The property which passes from Japanese ownership includes the C. F. Hoskins ranch at Lower Bridge, and land at Terrebonne and in the vicinity of Opal City. It was acquired in 1919 by Shima, who operates extensively in California, and who recognized the possibilities offered in Central Oregon for the raising of high grade seed. It had been his intention to use his Central oregon holdings to produce seed for his California potato farms.

66 boys, 66 girls at Redmond U.H.S

Enrollment at the Redmond union high school is exactly divided between boys and girls, there being 66 of each. Usually girls predominate, but the emphasis which is given to industrial and agricultural courses here causes a greater proportional enrollment of boys.

Another unusual feature of the enrollment in the high school here this year is that the senior class is the second largest, being exceeded only by the freshmen. There are 35 seniors.

Bend proud of her volunteer fire fighters

Among the institutions of which Bend is proud, none is more often mentioned than the volunteer fire department which has served the city and its people for three years. Not once in the 146 times that the fire siren has blown as a signal for firemen to turn out, have they failed to give service as efficient as any paid department could have done; and many times they have accomplished things which paid firemen, interested only in earning a salary, might not have attempted.

Three men are employed by the city, a chief and two engineers, one of whom is on duty at the fire house every minute of the day or night. Assistant chiefs, house crew and hosemen are members of the volunteer department, serving entirely without pay.

Start street work from plant gates

Carrying out the offer made at a recent meeting of the city council, the Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Co. is starting work on the new street through Staats Acres which will connect the mill gate with Broadway. In consideration of this work being done, the city has promised to improve Braodway, making it one of the main streets from the mill district to the business district.

75 Years AgoFor the week ending October 8, 1947

Information For Deschutes Voters Printed

As a service to Bend and Deschutes county voters, The Bulletin today presents information concerning the special city and state election on October 7.

A map of the 14 Bend precincts is printed on this page together with the location of the voting places for each of the precincts. A list of voting precincts in other precincts of the county is also printed on the page.A complete description of the boundaries of all of the county’s precincts is printed on page 10. Election boards for the precincts are printed on page 8.

It is suggested that voters save the election material printed in The Bulletin today for possible references on election day.

Youngster, 13, Discovered In High Country

Jimmy Collins, 13-year-old Lebanon boy, was brought to Sisters about noon today by state police officers after being lost for two days and nights in the high Cascade country southwest of Sisters. The boy was found in the Three Creek meadow country near Broken Top, many miles from the point where he was last seen by members of his hunting party on Saturday. The 13-man hunting party included his father, Cleve Collins. It was reported that Jimmy had not suffered from exposure and did not need medical attention when brought to Sisters. He spent Sunday night in a cabin in the Three Creek area and had obtained some food there.

When he was brought to Sisters between 80 and 100 men were still searching for him in the upper Pole creek country. The boy was taken to his father in the Pole Creek area early this afternoon and searchers were being called in as rapidly as they could be found.

Art Hill Joins Hole In 1 Club

Arthur E. Hill, member of the Bend Golf club, Saturday afternoon holed out his tee shot on No.3 hole for a hole in one. Other members with Hill on the round were Frank R. Prince, B.A. Stover, Jack Halbrook, Dr. Grant Skinner, and E. L. Nielsen. Hill used a No. 5 iron, the shot was high, lighted about ten feet in front of the green and rolled into the cup.

Redmond Gets pageant Plaque

The Redmond chamber of commerce today received the 1947 Bend Water Pageant plaque for its first place entry in the 1947 show.

The presentation was made at a meeting of the Redmond chamber of commerce by B.A. Stover of Bend, who was chairman of the float committee of the 1947 water festival. Stover also represented Joe Mack, president of the 1947 show, who was not able to be present. Also attending from Bend was Howard J. Steib, chamber manager, and Jack Halbrook, chamber president. The plaque was received by Ben Galligan, president of the Redmond chamber.

The Redmond entry in the water show was the carrier Enterprise, one of the most spectacular floats ever entered in the local show.

50 Years AgoFor the week ending October 8, 1972

Most LaPine residents to get cheaper fire insurance because of rating

Residents in the southern three-quarters of the LaPine Rural Fire Protection District will pay lower fire insurance premiums as a result of a new rating of the district by the Insurance Services Office of Oregon.

A rating of 9-b has been placed on that portion of the district running north to an east-west line about a mile and a quarter north of the LaPine State Park Road.

Because of its distance from the fire protection facilities of the LaPine Fire Department, the north quarter of the district will continue to carry a Class 10 rating.

A Class 10 rating is the lowest given under Oregon’s insurance rating system. Normally, the best a rural fire protection district can hope to achieve is a Class 8 rating. Ratings are based on a number of factors, including the amount of equipment and the number and training of fire fighting personnel.

The effective date of change is April 15,1972. Reduced rates will be retroactive, but in most cases the reductions will come in the form of credits at the time residents pay their next premiums. Chief Harry Anson said the fire district has plans to improve protection in that part of the district still carrying a Class 10 rating. The plan, he said, will probably involve establishment of a fire station in the north end of the district, possibly in the Montgomery ranch area.

Establishment of the station and training of volunteers to staff it, Anson said, would likely result eventually in an improved rating.

The LaPine Rural Fire Protection District was established last year. The LaPine Fire Department is about four years’ old, and presently has seven vehicles and 14 volunteer firemen.

25 Years AgoFor the week ending October 8, 1997

Lava Butte Lookout comes down

A Forest Service crew reduced the 40-year-old Lava Butte Lookout to rubble Wednesday to clear the hilltop for a new lookout to be built this spring.

Workers fought gusty winds as they tore into the old tower but had most of the structure dismantled by the end of the day. They still need to tear out the old interpretive center and foundation underneath the building.

Keith Clinton, a spokesman for the Deschutes National Forest, said one of the few artifacts found in the debris was an old, yellowed time sheet. But the unknown employee never completed and dated the paper, “so I don’t know if the guy got paid or not,” he said.

Bids for the construction of a new tower and visitor center on Lava butte will be opened soon. Estimated construction cost is $80,000. Work isn’t expected to begin until after this winter, and the Forest Service wants the new lookout ready to occupy by May.

Gym restoration near fund goal

The Bend Metro Park and Recreation Foundation has raised nearly all of the cash needed to restore the historic Bend Amateur Athletic Club. The only major obstacle that remains now is four feet of concrete.

Fundraising Chairman Jim Crowell said the group is less than $50,000 away from the $2.2 million needed to turn the building into the permanent home of the Boys and Girls Club of Central Oregon. Three weeks ago an anonymous donor gave $25,580, Wells Fargo Bank has contributed $10,000, and another major donation is on the horizon, he said.

A sports celebrity is being lined up for the annual Sharelift Gala early next year and funds raised from that event will go to the gym project. Details won’t be available until next week, but foundation board members said they expect an Oregon sports hero to add support to the cause.

The first floor has been the least tractable part of making the old gym downtown into a modern youth center. Construction workers expected a concrete layer of less than a foot, but their jackhammers found three to four feet of concrete laid over the bedrock.

The extra work isn’t expected to knock the schedule off enough to keep the club from opening next September though.

The first floor of the club is on several different levels, all of which have to be flattened out for the Boys and Girls Club. The old swimming pool, the caretaker’s apartment and the bowling alley have differences of several feet from the other parts of the building.

When renovations are complete, the first floor will house offices, classrooms and other academic space for the club. Once demolition is finished, a new floor will be put in, along with steel supports to make the building earthquake resistant.

“It’s looking very good,” Crowell said. “We’re very pleased at this point.”

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