Yesteryear

100 Years Ago

For the week ending

March 4, 1923

Hungarian Partridges secured for Deschutes County

As a start toward stocking Central Oregon with the Hungarian Partridge, the state game commission has secured 20 of the birds, which will be placed in the vicinity of White Rock under the direction of District Game Warden C.A. Adams. The Hungarian partridge is considered one of the hardiest of game birds, and sportsmen are of the opinion that they will thrive in this section of the state.

The commission has been endeavoring to secure birds of this species for the past year for stocking in Oregon, and the 20 being sent to Deschutes county are the first to be received. Sportsmen hope that by the introduction of new species in this part of the state, the great native game bird, the sage hen, may be saved from extermination.

Huge still viewed at tinner’s shop

The 500 gallon still which was seized last Friday morning by Sheriff S.E. Roberts in a cave five miles north from Bend, is now on unofficial exhibition in front of William Montgomery’s tin shop, 117 Minnesota avenue. The still, chopped in two, was brought to Bend on a truck Sunday by the Sheriff.

Montgomery will wreck the still, weigh the copper in it, and pay the county what it is worth. The sheriff, under a new state law, must turn the proceeds from such a sale into the county treasury. Before this law was passed, money obtained in this way was donated to the Red Cross or other similar organizations.

Pupils to aid tracing names on Oregon map

Fifteen cash prizes are being offered by the Bend Commercial club to school pupils in Deschutes county who shall turn in the largest number of correct expositions of the origin and significance of geographical names for Central Oregon. Letters explaining the contest were prepared today at the commercial club office, to be sent to each teacher in the county. County Superintendent J. Alton thompson, Superintendent G.W. Ager of Bend and Superintendent Paul Irvine of Redmond are cooperating with the local club in arranging the contest.

In the instructions sent out, Secretary L. Antles of the commercial club suggests that the children question persons who may know at first hand the origin of the names. The authority should be given with the answer. When, by whom and why the place was named, should be told.

The contest closes April 30, and no answers which are received at the club office after that date will be considered for prizes. The contest is a result of the request of Will Steel of Eugene for assistance in tracing the origin of place names an effort which he is making covering the entire United States.

Edward Brooks is Bend visitor

“You are going to have a wonderful mill town,” was the declaration today of Edward Brooks, who is visiting his brother, General Manager H. K. Brooks of the Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Co., after an inspection of the local mills and of new mill construction.

Brooks pointed out that with the completion of construction now underway here, Bend will be the scene of the biggest milling operations of both the Brooks-Scanlon and of The Shevlin-Hixon company. As an index to the increased activity in the lumber business he mentioned that Brooks Brothers, Inc., in St. Paul had January sales this year 20 times as large as those of the same month a year ago.

75 Years Ago

For the week ending Feb. 25, 1948

Kitten sniffs bobcat pelts and vanishes

A housecat met four bobcats today at the courthouse, but no battle ensued. The cat is “Deschutes,” small maltese shorthaired alley-cat, who has assumed refined manners since being adopted several weeks ago as the courthouse mascot. Four bobcat pelts were brought to the clerk’s office for collection of bounty by Fred Painter, city police officer, whose spare-time hobby is operating a trap line east of Bend.

Deschutes sniffed his departed kin, emitted a yowl of horror and ran for cover in the sheriff’s office.

Jim Short home given write-up

“Mile-away,” the home of Mr. and Mrs. J.F. Short, near Redmond, is the subject of a four-page illustrated article appearing in the March issue of Sunset magazine. Titled “Ranch House in Eastern Oregon,” the article describes decorative features of the home, and includes pictures of the grounds, exterior and interior, as well as the plans.

“To most people the words ranch house suggest a way of living rather than a definite style of architecture,” the article says. “They suggest an easy informality in daily living and entertaining- a changing background for living in the different wings of the house. Seldom does the idea have anything to dow with a ranch.”

Pointing out that many of the ideas carried out in the Short home could be adopted to a small house, the author of the article described the Central Oregon property as a “working ranch.” “Interesting features which could be adapted to a small home are: Class wall on north side of porch, giving wind protection to living room porch. The use of an enclosed service porch. The large cooler and quick freeze unit. The greenhouse built into the house. Of course, the “office” is an important part of the house on a working ranch and should be reached directly from the front entrance.”

3 babies born on leap year day in Bend

Three “leap year” babies, two boys and a girl, were born yesterday, February 29, at the St. Charles hospital.

The queen of the trio, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Clark, was the first to arrive. She weighed in at 1:10 am, tipping the scales at seven pounds, four ounces. Her parents named her Annelle. The other two youngsters, who won’t celebrate a “birthday” until 1952, are Buck Edward Dietz, son of Mr. and Mrs. Dewey V. Dietz, Bend, and Mark Harry Bates, son of Mr. and Mrs. Bruce A. Bates of Terrebonne. Buck saw the light of day at 5:05 a.m. and weighed seven pounds, eight ounces. Mark, who weighed eight pounds, nine ounces, joined the well-populated nursery just after 2 p.m.

Skiers’ pigeons reach home loft

The second pigeon of the pair dropped Jack Meissner, the Skyline trail skier, arrived home in Eugene on Sunday, according to a report from its owner, Joe Maughn.

Two pigeons from Maughn loft, Homer and Cynthia, were parachuted to Meissner and his partner when they were at remote Jefferson park north of Mt. Jefferson last Tuesday. The skiers placed messages in tiny aluminum tubes carried by the pigeons and then released the birds.

Maughn had almost given the birds up for lost, when Cynthia arrived at Eugene on Saturday and Homer got home on Sunday. According to Maughn, the birds would ordinarily make the flight from Mt. Jefferson to Eugene in a matter of hours, but heavy blizzards were believed to have held up their flights.

Meeissner is now at Hoodoo lodge on the Santiam pass and is due to continue his trip southward along the Cascade skyline either today or tomorrow.

50 Years Ago

For the week ending

Feb. 25, 1973

StarKist tuna scare hasn’t hit here

The StarKist tuna scare isn’t causing much of a ripple in Central Oregon. None of the 172,000 cans thought to be contaminated has been located in the Bend area at least.

The tuna was canned in Samoa under the StarKist label and is found in only 61/2 ounce cans. Thirteen cases of illness which the State Health Division said were “presumably caused by eating contaminated tuna” were reported in Oregon, but none of them were in the mid-state area, the Deschutes County Health Department said. Some persons who ate the tuna were stricken with a flu-like illness that lasted about four hours.

Larry Thompson, grocery manager at Erickson’s Market, said he though consumers have temporarily lost confidence in the StarKist label because of the publicity, but that it won’t have lasting effects.

“We didn’t have any of the contaminated lot,” Thompson said, “but quite a bit of StarKist has been returned anyway, and of course we’re refunding the money. We had only our shelf stock on hand less than a case — and we’re not re-ordering right now.”

Wagner’s on the other hand, had about 400 cases on hand, according to Ron Lakey. “We’ve had some returned, but the brand is still selling about normally, so far as I can tell.”

Rolie Anderson of Rolie’s Market said there hasn’t even been any customer comment at his store, and no refunds have been requested.

25 Years Ago

For the week ending March 4, 1998

Depot derby drags on

PRINEVILLE — Two aged Deschutes County railroad depots that were supposed to be relocated to either end of Prineville’s 20-mile railway may not make the trek after all.

Prineville City Council members have become alarmed at the unexpectedly high moving cost almost $900,000 — for which the city would be billed.

Council member Hugh Dragich suggested that he won’t vote for a moving project that could cost the city nearly $1 million. He proposed instead to construct a building that would house the city’s railway headquarters and include a railroad museum near Ochoco Creek Park in downtown Prineville.

The city had sought to obtain a historical Bend depot along Division Street and move it to Prineville to become the new home of the City of Prineville Railway.

When city leaders won the rights to the Bend depot as well as one in Redmond, which the city has proposed moving three miles north to O’Neil Junction, the cost of moving the old stone buildings wasn’t known.

The Bend depot must be moved to make way for the Bend Parkway.

Teachers extended

The Redmond School Board approved contract extensions for all but two of the district’s contract teachers Tuesday night.

Under a new state law, permanent teachers must have their contracts reviewed every two years.

The law, created by Senate Bill 880, eliminates tenure and gives school districts the opportunity to decide whether individual teaching contracts should be renewed.

The law is aimed at raising the accountability of public schools.

After reviewing staff member performance reports from each school principal last month, the board voted unanimously to accept the recommendations of Judy Delahunt, human resources director.

Of 260 contracts up for extension, only two were denied. These teachers, whose names are not released to the public, will remain on the job under a one-year contract.

Within that year, the teachers will be placed on a plan of assistance to work on skills that administrators believe need improvement before contracts can be extended. While participating in a program of mentoring, workshops, teacher training and peer assistance, the teachers have to demonstrate their competence in selected areas by March 15, 1999, at which time their contracts again will be considered for extension.

“We want to improve our student performance,” Delahunt said. “If we have the very best… teachers that’s going to happen.”

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