Editor’s note: This historical editorial originally appeared in the Sept. 1, 1909, edition of what was then called The Bend Bulletin.

The railroad is reaching the Bend country sooner than expected. With a Hill construction crew of 180 or more men making the dirt fly in the vicinity of the trail crossing, 28 miles north of Bend; with a Hill engineering crew camped in Bend and running a line through town; with another Hill crew surveying from Odell southward; and with Harris laborers building railroad grade at a rapid rate several miles this side of Madras, it certainly is bringing operations close to home….