100 YEARS AGO
For the week ending
Oct. 6, 1912
Surprised at growth of neighboring town
Monday afternoon Dr. U.C. Coe, Clyde McKay, O.C. Henkle and Vernon A. Forbes made a trip to Sisters. All those in the party had been to the neighboring town recently except Mr. Forbes whose last visit there was in August of last year. Speaking yesterday of the growth of the town, Mr. Forbes said:
“I was certainly greatly surprised at the growth of Sisters since I was last there in August, 1911. I hardly knew the place, it had grown so much. Along the main street I noticed a large number of new buildings, some of them of two stories. The town has spread out a lot, too, with new residences all about. It was a distinct surprise to me, and I must say that the conclusion which I was forced to draw is that Sisters has developed to the point where it is one of the leading towns of the county. Bend, the metropolis of Crook county[Deschutes County was formed in 1916 from part of Crook County], must sit up and take notice of this coming community at the foot of the magnificent Three Sisters mountain peaks."
Another well on Burns road
Well drilling operations in the Hampton Valley continue with great success. The latest achievement is the sinking of a hole at the 62½ milepost on the Bend-Burns road, with water a-plenty at 160 feet. A.S. Fogg, postmaster at Hampton, was here the first of the week and took out the casing.
By the end of the week this will have been installed and the well will be ready for use. Water will be supplied to all travelers who wish it free of charge. In addition sheds have been constructed at the well for the convenience of the freighters and others who wish to camp there. Hay will be kept for sale at reasonable prices.
Home labor to build sewer
In order to keep at home as much as possible the money spent for the construction of the sewer system, the City Council last night adopted a resolution calling for the embodying of a provision in the contract calling for the employment of American labor. Foreigners employed on public works have been found to send back to the old country a big per cent of their wages, to the detriment of the community where they labor. The city is willing to pay a little more for the construction, knowing that a big part of it will not be sent across the Atlantic.
City Attorney Forbes suggested the resolution to the council, stating that it was the idea of Dr. U.C. Coe, who, while he was mayor, took the first step toward having a sewer system.
75 YEARS AGO
For the week ending
Oct. 6, 1937
Black admits taking oath as Klansman
Acknowledging a former membership in the Ku Klux Klan, Hugo L. Black prepared today to don the black robes of a high justice and to sit Monday for the first time as an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court.
Speaking to an estimated 31,000,000 persons over the nation’s combined radio networks last night, Justice Black set forth his former connection with the Klan, denounced, indirectly, its creed and objectives, and pledged for religious tolerance and liberal principles.
His speech ended all reports that he might resign or that he would accept any suggestion that he should resign. It was believed that he had endeavored to close finally the public controversy growing out of a newspaper expose of his former Klan affiliation.
Congress may be called for extra session
President Roosevelt said flatly today that he had received no advance information on the subject matter of Associate Supreme Court Justice Hugo L. Black’s Ku Klux Klan radio address.
Roosevelt declared he had not communicated with Black about his broadcast last Friday night admitting one-time membership in the Ku Klux Klan.
The president discussed the possibility of a special session of congress that he may call for between November 8 and 16.
Roosevelt’s speech stirs much debate
President Roosevelt’s Chicago speech on peace met with varied reaction in foreign countries today — unfavorable in Germany, Italy and Japan, hailed enthusiastically in China and with reserved approval in Great Britain and France.
The British attitude was one of curiosity over the extent of action Roosevelt might take to put his suggestions into effect. The cabinet discussed his speech but was not prepared to take any initiative towards a boycott of Japan, leaving such a decision to the League of Nations.
Berlin was skeptical of the practical value of the president’s speech.
A Japanese spokesman said that the Japanese, as “have nots," are entitled to equal status with the nations which “have."
50 YEARS AGO
For the week ending
Oct. 6, 1962
U.S. Officers escort James Meredith to classes
James Meredith, 29, began his second day of classes today at a University of Mississippi campus tightly guarded by 15,000 U.S. troops. There were no incidents.
Meredith was accompanied by Chief U.S. Marshal James McShane and a number of other officers. To reach the Graduate School Building for his 8 a.m. class in American colonial history he was driven past the debris of Sunday night rioting that left two dead, 75 injured and more than 200 arrested.
Meredith left his first class at 8:55 a.m. and was driven to his next class. A few students glanced curiously as he passed but there were no derisive shouts as there were Monday. The car containing Meredith was followed by an Army truck containing six rifle-bearing soldiers.
Although the campus was quiet, there were reminders that it was the armed might of the federal government that kept it so.
During the night, 27 persons armed with shotguns, baseball bats and lead pipes were arrested at some of the numerous road blocks around the city. A machete was found in one car.
Those arrested were taken to the airport and placed in a compound.
The campus was anything but a typical college scene. Besides the litter, including burned out automobiles, and mounds of tear gas canisters, soldiers with rifles and combat fatigue uniforms lounged where coeds usually strolled.
Many of the coeds were not around today. Many of them were taken from the campus by anxious parents.
Meredith says his morale remains high
James H. Meredith, 29, first Negro ever admitted to the University of Mississippi, said today that his morale was high and come what may he plans to finish his education here.
“At this point it is more for America than it is for me," Meredith said, as he sat in his bare white-walled room on the second floor of Baxter Hall.
Going back to the question of whether he was discouraged by the climate on campus, Meredith said: “I am absolutely intent on seeing that every citizen is given a right to be something if he works hard enough. Negroes in Mississippi are being denied many of the rights basic to American democracy."
25 YEARS AGO
For the week ending
Oct. 6, 1987
Recovered artifacts include Indian work
The cache of illegally excavated artifacts recovered on the Deschutes National Forest last month contains the largest number of Native American objects ever seized in a raid in the United States, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman said last week.
Traces of early man destroyed by looters
In the heat of an Indian summer afternoon, a cool breeze blew through the lava rock shelter on the edge of the High Desert.
“It’s like an oasis," Deschutes National Forest archaeologist Jill Osborn said, examining the area that thousands of years ago was a campsite for a family or small tribe.
Game was plentiful near the lava flow and tribal members had an abundant supply of obsidian with which to make stone tools.
When the heat of the day became unbearable families would gather in the shelter — a “cul-de-sac" in the lava flow — to keep cool.
“I certainly would gather here," said Osborn, her face flushed from the exertion of examining the site during a warm afternoon last week.
While Osborn is able to speculate on the prehistoric people who camped at the shelter, the picture of long-ago life at the site has been muddled by looters.
‘You can see how they’ve just potted the thing out," said archaeologist Carl Davis, pointing to a patch of ground.
Three or four thousand years ago the area probably had been used for storage of such things as baskets, rabbit snares and other primitive utensils, said Davis.
Davis spent a few days last week helping Osborn launch a field investigation that will seek to match illegally excavated artifacts seized in a raid near Sunriver last month with the sites from which they were taken.
“The goal of archaeology is not to excavate every single site," Osborn emphasized.
That’s because excavation techniques are constantly becoming more sophisticated and leaving a site untouched will allow scientists of the future to glean more information.
Note to readers: Numerous interpretive signs have been put in place at sites such as the Lava Island Rock Shelter.
