100 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

July 13, 1924

Debris is removed from scenic spots

A total of 5,217 pieces of debris — tin cans, automobile tires, discarded clothing and other articles — were removed from the upper Metolius, from the head of the river to the home of Erskine Wood, it is reported by A. L. Templeton, who cleaned the stream. Wood offered $100 to the person who would remove the tin cans from the river. The 5,217 pieces of debris were scattered in the stream over a distance of about seven miles. Templeton was in Bend today, where he will be stationed as a forest service fireman for several months.

Bend woman kills huge rattlesnake

Not all women are afraid of snakes engineers of the Western Diatomite Co. at Lower Bridge decided Monday after finding that one Bend woman not only killed a large rattler, but took the rattlers home as a trophy of battle.

Three Bend women, Mrs. Sidney Hubble, Mrs. Jay H. Upton and Mrs. V.A. Forbes, were returning from the diatomite mines to Bend after having a consultation with Mrs. Walther Jordan relative to Red Cross Braille work when their machine ran over the snake.

After seeing that the snake was crippled by the machine, Mrs. Hubble, driving, decided that it should be killed, fearing that the maddened rattler would bite some person. She killed it with rocks.

Two of the Diatomite engineers came by when the Bend woman was attempting to remove the rattles with a pair of pliers.

Woman gives treat to curious diners — It’s New Here

She didn’t reach for a toothpick when she finished her meal, instead she nonchalantly took a cigarette from a package, struck a match, took a deep breath and exhaled the smoke through her nose, at the same time talking to her whiskered traveling companion, apparently her husband.

All of the diners in the local restaurant today noon had probably seen women smoke before — at least, they had read about such actions — but it was obvious few had seen a wife taking a “drag” with her husband in a restaurant, especially when seated at the counter. The “rubbernecking” of the curious obviously did not bother the couple — both young and apparently tourists. She finished her cigarette, he paid for the meal, they both walked out, climbed into a Ford — converted into a road home — and drove out of town. They came from Washington.

Worst forest fire of season

Central Oregon’s largest forest fire of the season and one of the worst in years, at present burning over an area of 1,500 acres, is menacing a virgin stand of yellow pine in the Fort Rock district, southeast of the Paulina mountains.

The Fort Rock fire, the result of a convergence of two blazes, started in the timber by lightning, several miles apart Thursday morning, is located in a waterless area near the crescent shaped lava fields. The blaze is at present in both Deschutes and Lake counties, a short distant north of an ice cave, the largest in this part of the state.

A crew of 16 men was sent to the scene of the fire today. Men were making good headway in trenching the blaze, centering on the blaze from Shevlin-Hixon and Brooks Scanlon camps. Although within the boundary of the national forest, the timber is privately owned.

The present fire is near the place where the disastrous “3 in 1” fire burned over thousands of acres in 1917.

75 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

July 13, 1949

Petition protests shift of pound to dump area

The newly-organized Deschutes county branch of the Oregon Humane society Wednesday evening carried the local “dog dispute” to the city commission. A petition, bearing 250 names and protesting against the proposed shift of the city pound to a location near the municipal dump, was presented by Mrs. Alice Oreweiler, on behalf of the society.

“There would be no water nor shade at the new location,” Mrs. Oreweiler told the commission. “We believe that even the present pound, despite its unsanitary condition, would be better than the proposed new site.”

Mrs. Oreweiler also protested against the city regulation that $6 is the minimum amount for which impounded dogs can be sold, declaring that this results in the destruction of many animals that otherwise might find a home. The city attorney, Ross Farnham, explained that the minimum fine for dogs running at large is $5, and that it costs the city $1 to advertise for owners, before the dogs are destroyed. Thus the city would be defeating its own purpose if it sold impounded dogs for less than $6, he said. Owners would be able to “buy” back their own dogs, instead of paying fines, he said.

A recent photograph, taken at the dump, was shown by Mrs. Oreweiler, showing a horrific scene of dead dogs. Embarrassed committeemen promised that this condition would be rectified, but asked Mrs. Oreweiler’s group to “give us a chance” to show what can be done, by moving the present pound to the proposed new location near the city dump.

“If your committee is not satisfied with the arrangement, it then can be changed,” Commissioner W.J. Baer explained.

Board calls new Kingston School bids

Contract bids were invited yesterday by the Bend school district 1 board on the proposed four-room Kingston school building which is to be constructed on the west side for primary use.

According to the plans drafted by F. Marion stokes, Portland architect, the building will be of pumice block construction. In addition to the four rooms, with seating capacity for 120 students the building will house a nurse’s room, rest rooms and a small office. Interior walls are to be finished with plaster board and acoustics material will cover the ceilings. Oil will be utilized for heating, and lighting will be the incandescent type. The construction will have a shed type roof.

Blast inaugurates Ochoco Dam rehabilitation project

A blast that sent a cloud of dust billowing up the face of cliffs overlooking the Ochoco valley Saturday afternoon signaled the official start of the rehabilitation of the 30-year-old Ochoco dam and provided the highlight of a three-way program. Thousands of persons, watching from neighboring hills and cars parked along the Ochoco highway, viewed the Bikini like puff of dust that first mushroomed, then spread over the hillside.

Earlier in the day tribute was paid R.J. Newell, who recently retired as regional director for the bureau of reclamation, following service dating back to 1903. Also linked into the program was observance of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the department of interior, of which the bureau of reclamation is a unit.

50 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

July 13, 1974

Deschutes library back in business

Deschutes County librarian Richard Tuffli said this morning he is “a lot less tense” than he has been the last few weeks.

Tuffli’s comfort can be traced to voter approval yesterday of a request by the county to levy $109,480 for each of the next two years to operate the county library in Bend and its branches in Redmond and Sisters.

The request gained voter approval by a comfortable 4 to 1 margin. The final tally was 4,197 yes votes and 1,090 no votes.

About 25 per cent of the county’s registered voters cast ballots on the library issue. The library has been closed since July 1 because it has no operating funds. County commissioners sliced the library from the general fund budget when voters rejected the county’s request to levy taxes in excess of the 6 per cent limitation last month. Tuffli said this morning the library should reopen at 9 a.m. tomorrow. The library levy request was defeated in only one of the 32 precincts in the county. Voters in the Alfalfa area rejected the request by a 16-11 margin.

Bend area voters registered overwhelming support of the serial levy request. The yes votes out numbered the no votes in bend area by a 9 to 1 margin. (2,468 to 316) In Redmond area where voters turned down a school budget request, voters approved the library by about a 2 to 1 margin.

The library request gained approval in Terrebonne, Sisters, La Pine and all other precincts beside Alfalfa.

Mike Shannon, chairman of the library board of directors, said he was “gratified by the recognition of the importance that libraries play in the community.”

“We’re looking forward to adding new programs and providing better service to the people of the county, “ Shannon said. “We’re very confident we’ll live up to the strong vote of confidence shown by the people,” he added.

25 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

July 13, 1999

Exhibit’s founder looks ahead, counts blessings

Quilts have been coming to Sisters on the second Saturday of July for 24 years. More than 800 specimens — one for every resident who lives within the city limits — will be displayed, on fences, walls, balconies, stair railings and window ledges.

The Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, as it’s officially known, is the biggest event of its kind in the country. And for organizer/founder Jean Wells, who’s already pondering a silver anniversary for the millennium year, the event has grown about as much as it should.

“We don’t want it any bigger,” Wells says. “We’ve started limiting the number of quilts. We want it to remain a local show.” More than half of the quilts come from Central Oregon, which (not surprisingly) has a higher-than-average number of quilting groups.

“The point of this show is, no judging,” Wells says, noting that comparable exhibits are juried. “If you pick stuff on the ‘art’ level, people get intimidated. And we don’t want that, either.” Quality of the work, she adds, has never been a problem.

Officially, the quilt show opens Saturday at 9:30 a.m. and closes at 5 p.m. But preparation for the event started before last weekend, and the pace will be picking up all week. Thousands of quilt fanciers are expected, meaning that Sisters normal level of weekend traffic flow will be even slower. West bound travelers will be able to detour around the city center via Camp Polk Road. Wells feels the problem is overstated.

“Every single Sunday after the snow is gone, traffic is icky,” she says. “When my son visits from Portland and gets ready to go home, he laughs and says, ‘Time to get in line.’ But it takes no more time to drive through town than covering the same distance in Bend — or any place else.

You’ll forgive Wells if her traffic count doesn’t square with yours. When July rolls around, she tends to see things with a certain bias.

“Somebody once said to me, ‘Aren’t you luck!’ and I am: making a living doing something I love. I love seeing people learn, and being part of the process.”