100 Years Ago

For the week ending

Jan. 14, 1923

Bend cut off from the world by heavy storm

Bridges and roadbeds are washed out on the main railroad lines between The Dalles and Portland.

One bridge is washed out, and numerous slides have blocked trains on both the O-W.R.& N. and the Oregon Trunk in the Deschutes canyon. Dynamite will have to be used to clear the tracks of huge boulders, in same places piled up several feet high. Telephone and telegraph wires are down beyond Madras and Gateway, the only phone communication being by way of Shaniko. Days may pass before these conditions can be remedied.

Bend is again, for the second time in 13 months, cut off from the world at large, with the exception of such communication as can be made by radiophone and by telephone via Prineville and Shaniko. While ideal spring weather is prevailing in Bend, and the country immediately surrounding, chaos reigns farther down the Deschutes canyon, has in fact since Saturday night. Conditions on the main lines, so far as is known, are even worse. Railroad, telephone and telegraph officials are unable to say with any degree of certainty when regular service can be resumed.

The last train to come in was the Oregon Trunk which reached Bend at 5 o’clock in the afternoon, 10 hours late. The incoming O.W. train, which should have arrived Saturday night, was stalled at Maupin, and is understood to have gone back to The Dalles. What has become of the train which left Bend Saturday morning is not known.

Taking with him a crew of linemen, Station Agent Jack Wright left last night for South Junction. An effort is now being made to effect repairs which will allow the resumption of telegraph communication between Bend and The Dalles.

Woman leaves cabin in time to escape death

Four huge pine trees, uprooted by the gale, crushed the cabin of Mrs. H.L. Van Tassel of Shevlin Hixon Camp No. 2, a few minutes after Mrs. Van Tassel had hurriedly left on warning from Assistant Logging Superintendent R.S. Linton Friday night. The cabin and all the furniture which it contained were smashed to bits under the impact of the big pines.

Mrs. Van Tassel, unaware of any danger, answered a knock at the door, to be informed by Linton that the high wind was placing her home in danger. Waiting only to gather a few of her most cherished possessions, she rushed from the house.

The wind rose higher and before long the crashing that told of the ruin of her home was heard.

Radiophone news used by Bulletin

For the first time since last winter’s memorable tieup, an attempt was made by The Bulletin to receive outside news by radio. The news heard last winter was by wireless telegraph, so that today’s Bulletin is the first to carry news received by radiophone. The set operated by P.L. Williams was in perfect working order, and the only thing that prevented the receipt of a considerable amount of up to the minute news was that on Sunday night the programs broadcast consist principally of music, sermons and similar features, omitting most of the news service which is sent out on other nights.

As it was, some news was heard, but nothing regarding storm and flood conditions in the northwest. Just once was a word or so caught regarding the condition of the Willamette river at Corvallis.

People who own radio sets may hear Governor Walter M. Pierce in his inaugural address, tonight at 9 0’clock. He will give it in Portland.

75 Years Ago

For the week ending Jan. 14, 1948

‘Golden Earrings’ coming to Bend

“Golden Earrings,” the Mitchell Leisen production that was filmed partly in Central Oregon will be shown in Bend at the Capital Theater. The Gypsy adventure stars Ray Milland and Marlene Dietrich. A company of actors and a corps of camera men and technicians were on location in Central Oregon in August, 1946, while background scenery and mass scenes for the picture were being filmed. A number of local people took parts as “extras,” in scenes on Newport bridge, at Suttle lake and the Metolius resort area.

The portion of “Golden Earrings” filmed in Bend was viewed by hundreds of Central Oregon residents, who watched the scenes from a distance. For part of the Bend filming, the camera was on a Pilot Butte Inn balcony, facing the river.

Gunfire barrage halts man in stolen car near Sisters

Leonard J. Michelson, 25, of Bly, was arrested this morning several hours after he had driven an automobile, which he admitted stealing in Portland, through a barrage of gunfire at a road block set up west of Sisters about 2 a.m. by state, county, and city officers.

In running through the road block the car, a 1947 Buick was struck three times. A shotgun charge struck the windshield directly in front of the driver, shattering the glass but failing to pierce through. A rifle bullet struck the left front corner post of the vehicle and lodged there and a second bullet passed through the glass wing of the left front door and then hit the lower left corner of the windshield. Michelson was not struck by any of the shots. He faces a charge of burglary in Linn county and a charge of larceny of an automobile in Multnomah county. He is lodged in the Deschutes county jail until it is decided whether he will be delivered to Multnomah or Linn county authorities.

260 attend Deschutes Pioneers’ dinner

Present for the annual dinner meeting of the year-old Deschutes Pioneer’s association last night in the Pine Forest grange hall were 260 persons, part of a membership that is rapidly nearing the 400 mark. Attendance exceeded expectations by nearly 100.

The association, it was announced, enters its second year as one of the largest and most active units of its kind in Oregon.

A potluck dinner was served, and despite the large crowd there was food for all. Following the dinner, a short business meeting, including election of officers for 1948.

One of the objects of the club is the preservation of pioneer relics and stories, and the group in 1948 will devote considerable effort to the development of a historical record dealing with the Deschutes pioneers. Heading the committee in charge of historical records is Mrs. E.M. Thompson with Robert Sawyer and C.P Becker. It is planned to place the historical record, including old photographs, in the Deschutes county library.

By-laws of the association call for only two major meetings of the group yearly, a picnic in the summer and the annual dinner meeting in the winter. Concluding feature and highlight of the meeting was a dance that lasted until near midnight, with old-timers “swinging them on the corners” as a few younger couples performed modern capers.

50 Years Ago

For the week ending Jan. 14, 1973

Cold weather creates icy job

Central Oregon’s sub-freezing weather has created some unusual problems for local businesses this week. At Brooks-Scanlon, where bark chips are usually blown from the Deschutes River to a nearby holding pond with a watery spray, the cold weather has really slowed things up and the new, modern equipment has given way to more archaic methods. Now men must go out in the cold, armed with long poles, and smash the chips apart so they can be dragged into the pond. The job, which wouldn’t be too pleasant any time, is especially bad when temperatures reach a daytime high of 10 degrees.

COCC women win team title at Mt. Hood races

Female skiers from Central Oregon Community College finished in first place in the women’s division of the Mt. Hood Classic held over the weekend.

COCC men finished sixth in a field of seven.

Marianne Duberow of COCC was named female “Skimeister” after she won the giant slalom and the slalom. She also finished second in the cross-country race.

COCC women took first place in the three races. Behind Miss Duberow in the cross country for COCC were Twila Wilson, fourth, and Gail Noble, ninth.

Julie Neils finished second in the slalom and third in the giant slalom. Pam Eggers was sixth in the giant slalom.

The highest the COCC men finished in any one race was fourth in the slalom. Top Bobcat finishers in that race were Dave Rockwood, seventh; Lloyd Beasley, eleventh, and Brian Hakar, twelfth. Behind the COCC women at the Mt. Hood Classic were Oregon State, second; Southern Oregon, third; the University of Oregon, fourth; College of Siskiyou, fifth, and University of Alaska, sixth.

25 Years Ago

For the week ending Jan. 14, 1998

Bridge options now three

Bend city councilors, eager to resolve a long-simmering debate about where to build a new bridge across the Deschutes River, have asked a consultant to quickly analyze two routes and a new, third option: two smaller bridges.

The council voted unanimously Wednesday night to spend up to $20,000 on a comparison by Kittelson & Associates of Portland of three options: a four-lane bridge to the north, one to the south or a new choice, suggested by City Manager Larry Patterson; two bridges, each two lanes wide.

“Do you really want a four-lane bridge across the river anyway?” Patterson asked. The consultant was given a fast-track timeline and asked to be back next month with a comparison of traffic counts and costs.

A route has existed on maps for decades, close to the Deschutes River and crossing to Mount Washington Drive. City councilors balked two years ago at endorsing such a route, amide public concern over environmental issues.

When Old Mill District, developer Bill Smith offered to help pay for a bridge on his land to the north, the city turned to the consulting firm to analyze just where a more northerly bridge could go and what good it would do, in terms of relieving congestion.

The results were what many had expected: A four-lane bridge would carry more vehicles and relieve more traffic elsewhere than a two-lane span. However, either option doesn’t relieve the need, over 20 years, to widen at least part of Colorado Avenue to five lanes and add seven or eight traffic lights to cope with rising traffic counts.

Otherwise, consultant Dan Seemans warned, crossing or turning left on Colorado will become close to impossible.

Seeman said it appears a second new bridge would not be needed along the original southern route if a four-lane one is built to the north, hooking into a realigned Colorado Avenue. “That would replace the need for a more southern river crossing,” he said.

Mayor Bob Woodward said a northern bridge route would be closer to where growth is occurring in the Shevlin industrial area. But Councilor Jim Young warned that giving up the southern route could mean losing a valuable right of way.

Brooks Resources Corp. President Mike Hollern warned the key is not which route, but to make a choice as soon as possible. “If you wait, and cause more uncertainty, you are creating, I think, a hectic planning situation for years to come.”

The idea of a pair of two-lane bridges appeals to Smith, said Old Mill spokesman H. Bruce Miller. Smith has proposed one or two river crossings solely for bikes and walkers, but Miller said the project also must have a road link to succeed. The twin-bridge idea also drew favor from former Mayor Allan Bruckner, who suggested that a riverfront area near the southern crossing could become another urban park similar to Drake Park.

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