100 Years AgoFor the week ending Aug. 5, 1923

Development of Resorts Is Decided On At Suttle Lake

With the completion of a deal announced today whereby John M. Gates of this city obtains concessional rights at Suttle lake, there has been made known a plan for the greater development of summer resorts and tourist attractions in the Deschutes National forest.

The grounds are to be enlarged at once, and an attractive lodge with a dining room, dance hall, pool room and soda fountain will be built. Tennis courts will be laid out and individual log cabins will eventually be constructed around the lake. All building improvements are to be of the rustic type, made out of logs.

Present plans call for the building of individual bath houses on the margin of the lake. A swimming instructor will be provided and a fleet of canoes will be purchased by Gates.

Painters Show Proper Way To Cross Streets

Jaywalking is forbidden on Bend’s downtown Streets.

It will seem queer to those who knew Bend five years ago, when there was considerable traffic, but when those alleged streets were so rough that five miles an hour was about the best speed that an automobile could make without doing violence to its springs. There was little danger to pedestrians then.

Now Bend is a real city and along with the periodical necessity of traffic officers on the street corners, comes the necessity of protecting life and limb by prohibiting jaywalking, declare the members of the city council. While there have been no deaths from automobiles hitting jaywalkers, there have been a number of accidents, some of them serious; and near accidents are an hourly occurrence.

Last night the painters painted lines to show just where pedestrians are permitted to cross the streets; and today the police, at the direction of the council, began the difficult task of enforcing the rule.

Pony Express Race Planned

Appointment of a committee to make plans for a roundup to be held in Bend during the all, a feature of which will be a pony express race to Prineville and Redmond and finishing in Bend, was the result of last night’s meeting of sportsmen at the fire hall, attended by about 30 men. The committee will also investigate the possibility of securing one of several sites suggested for holding the roundup and to be used as a permanent athletic field for Bend.

Boy Of 10 Shows Business Acumen

Business enterprise sometimes reveals itself at an early age. For instance, there is Gerald McConnell, aged 10, who today earned a neat little sum of money for purposes best known to himself.

Gerald noticed on the windows of most of Bends’s business houses the signs painted last week, “Welcome Fire Chiefs.” The boy decided that those signs shouldn’t stay there any longer, now that the chiefs’ convention is over.

He borrowed from R.J. McCann, sign painter, a tool which would remove the paint. He also equipped himself with a wiping rag.

Then the 10 year old boy advanced upon the managers of Bend’s business houses with an offer to remove the paint at a very modest figure. It took him about two minutes to complete each job. Tonight he is a plutocrat among boys of his age.

75 Years Ago

For the week ending Aug. 5, 1948

Bend Band to Give Concert In Drake Park on Thursday

Bend’s municipal band will present another in the series of summer concerts, Thursday at 8 p.m. in Drake park. The program this week will be the organization’s seventh evening appearance of the season, including participation in the two-night Fourth of July water pageant. Final program in the series will be next Thursday evening in the park.

Large turn-outs at this season’s concerts indicated that many people enjoy this type of entertainment. The band has been set up as a permanent part of the civic recreation program, and is financed by city funds.

Tiny Pines Growing at Bend Nursery

Millions of tiny pine trees, planted about two months ago, are now up and growing at the Bend pine nursery three miles northeast of Bend near the Butler road. Crews of men have been hired to weed the rows of pines that will be used to restock burned and cutover areas of the Deschutes and other forests.

Bend Chosen As Site for Timber Office

Portland- The bureau of land management announced today it will open forestry offices at Bend, Ore., and Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, for management of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho public domain timber lands.

Northwest regional administrator W. H. Horning said the new offices will determine sustained yield cutting practices on about 1,000,000 acres of public lands in the three states. Opening of the Bend office will depend upon obtaining space for five personnel, including a forester and two assistants. It probably will be located in early August.

Tumalo School Being Improved

Remodeling work on the Tumalo school, to include excavation for additional basement space and installation of a modern cafeteria, got under way yesterday, with major projects to be completed before the beginning of the fall term next month.

Excavation under the brick building, one of two structures that house the school, will provide for a large playroom and a cafeteria with all-electric kitchen, equipped with modern range, refrigerator and water heater.

The remodeling will also include installation of indoor toilet facilities, conversion of part of the older building into a library and complete redecoration throughout. All the work will be completed by early September, with the exception of new lavatories and toilets, which will not be completed until about November 1. Cost of the entire project was unofficially estimated at upwards of $4,000.

Installation of the cafeteria room will provide for a complete school lunch program, and will make the school eligible for federal assistance, according to Mrs. P.R. Buckingham, county school superintendent. Contractors who are doing the work include William Spencer, plumbing; Melvin Cyrus, excavating, and A. L. Davis, carpentry.

50 Years Ago

For the week ending Aug. 5, 1973

Fall River fish to be destroyed

All fish in an eight-mile stretch of Fall River will be destroyed sometime after Labor Day, according to Len Mathisen, director of Bend’s Oregon Game Commission office. The stretch covers almost the entire length of Fall River, from the springs to the Fall River Guard station to the falls.

“We feel strongly obligated to eradicate problems from the stream,” Mathisen said. The “problems” are a lethal virus and a kidney infection discovered in fish at the Fall River Hatchery in June.

The game commission is in the process of notifying all property owners along the river of the decision to kill the fish. Affected state and federal agencies must be notified of the plan, too, Mathisen said. At least one public meeting will be held to explain the situation and the reasons for destroying the fish. No date has been set, however.

So far tests have shown the virus present only at the hatchery and immediately downstream from it. All of the brook and rainbow trout at the hatchery already have been destroyed.

The fish in the river will be destroyed with two chemicals, as proposed in the game commission plan. Rotenone and fintrol probably will be used. The treatment would take about three days, and the water at the end of the stretch would be treated with chemicals to counteract the rotenone and fintrol, Mathisen said.

If the game commission can begin the treatment right after Sept.3, Labor Day, then the river can be restocked with trout. The trout would be large enough to be caught during the following fishing season.

“We’re confident we can do the job successfully, without any other detrimental effects (to the water itself, for instance),” Mathisen said.

Meanwhile, the game commission still is trying to determine the source of the virus, infectious pancreatic necrosis. Extensive testing is under way at East Lake, because that is a major source of eggs for the hatchery. So far the virus has not been found there. The kidney infection in the Fall River fish was detected June 1, along with the more dangerous virus. Its presence is not as serious as the virus, but it is concerning hatchery officials.

The game commission decided to treat Fall River above and below the hatchery to assure that the hatchery will not be re-infected if the virus originated upstream. The river flows through the hatchery, and the hatchery will be completely disinfected when the river is treated.

25 Years Ago

For the week ending Aug. 5, 1998

City’s historic study funded

A state grant of $9,000 will enable Deschutes County’s historic preservation planner to continue work on a proposed “national register historic district: in Bend’s Old Town neighborhood.

Michael Houser will study the area and draft a district nomination using the grant from the State Historic Preservation Office. The proposed district includes 42 city blocks and about 320 properties bounded by Franklin Avenue on the North, Arizona Avenue on the south, Division Street to the east and Broadway Street to the west.

Starting in October, each structure will be photographed and studied in depth to learn the building date and name and occupation of the original owner. Houser said. The properties then will be categorized according to their age and physical integrity. There are five designations a property may receive, from “primary contributing”- early structures that

contribute significantly to the district- to “non-compatible non-contributing,” buildings built later that have designs incompatible with the district.

Houser expects about 240 properties could be listed as contributing within the district, along with 75 to 100 secondary structures, such as garages and sheds. Property owners have attended several neighborhood meetings and will have several more opportunities to comment on the proposed district over the next year. If a majority supports the nomination, the district would be created in January 2000. If the district passes, exterior design review will be required for all properties when changes or additions are proposed involving porches, windows and doors, for example. Maintenance work, such as repainting or repairs with like materials, won’t be subject to review. There’s no cost for review of proposed alterations if done before the work begins. In Oregon, properties on the National Register of Historic Places, individually or as part of a district, can take advantage of a 15-year property tax freeze. Commercial businesses or rental property can take advantage of a 20 percent investment tax credit on federal taxes. Houser also explained that a national register district could boost neighborhood and community pride, as well as tourism.

Once the Bend Parkway is completed in 2001, he said, the Old Town neighborhood will become the entrance through which visitors enter the downtown core and the Old Mill District to the south.

Anyone with historical photos of buildings in the neighborhood or stories about the area is asked to contact Houser.

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