100 YEARS AGO
For the week ending
Dec. 15, 1912
Work on sewer starts
With 31 men working, construction of Bend’s $75,000 sewer system commenced Monday, and already 1,500 feet of ditch is opened up. Yesterday and today there has been some delay in the work, which will continue for a short time, as a large force cannot be used until the rock drilling equipment is fully installed.
The portion of the trench first opened up extends along the alley west of Wall Street, from back of the Pilot Butte Inn in the rear of the Altamont Hotel, in block 5. In that distance all the dirt has been removed, and today five machine drills are being set up along the ditch and a steam boiler has been rigged up about midway along the stretch.
Subcontracts have been let to Geo. Nelson and to Hannon & Davis. Nelson was one of the contractors on the Oregon Trunk Railway. The work that will be opened up now will be confined to the southern part of town including the alley west of Wall, Ohio and Kentucky streets from that alley east to the alley east of Bond Street and that alley north to Oregon Street. Work on the alley between Wall and Bond streets, from Ohio to Greenwood, will not be commenced until all the drills available can be put on there, so that this portion of the job can be rushed through with the greatest possible speed, as it is here that the most inconvenience will be created.
Electric siren fire alarm scheduled to wake dead
The city’s electric fire alarm siren arrived last week and was tried out. While the test was made indoors and with an inadequate motor supplying power, the noise produced is said by those who heard it to have been ear-splitting.
“It will wake up the dead — hereafter no one will sleep through a fire in Bend," was the way one councilman expressed it.
It is believed that the siren will be easily heard in every part of town.
Its cost was $45, plus transportation. The cost of the two-horsepower motor will be about $90.
Boys run away, come back
Starting out to see the wide world, four Bend boys got no farther than the first station down the railroad. When they got to Deschutes they were recognized by the G.W. Hall family, were taken in and given dinner. That evening they were sent back to Bend on the train. A little matter of eight miles proved to be enough for the would-be wanderers, and they were not loath to return to the paternal and receive the forgiveness of their fathers and mothers.
75 YEARS AGO
For the week ending
Dec. 15, 1937
Grotto built at St. Charles hospital in Bend
Constructed entirely of semi-precious stones, petrified woods and geodes collected from Central Oregon’s high desert and from the Antelope country of Wasco county, a grotto of cemented rocks, gift of Mrs. John Matson has been completed at the St. Charles Hospital. The impressive grotto, some 15 feet high and holding a statue of St. Joseph and the Christ child, has been built against the new wing of the hospital and faces the snow capped Cascades on the west.
The grotto was constructed by Ray Williams who selected contrasting stones — agates, geodes, chunks of red and green jasper and petrified woods — to obtain beauty of structure. Each stone has been carefully cemented into place. The statue is within the grotto.
In presenting the rock to the St. Charles Hospital, Mrs. Matson fulfilled a promise made a number of years ago to Sister Louise, then in charge. All of the stones used in the grotto were gathered by Mrs. Matson, aside from a few purchased by her from local rock collectors. Editor’s note: Mrs. Matson was also known as Klondike Kate in earlier days when she was an entertainer during the Alaskan gold rush.
Bend gets a splendid new Nash dealer
Nash is proud to announce this appointment ... of a dealer selected for proved ability to take good care of Nash car owners in this locality.
And here’s the new Nash dealer’s side of the story — quoted direct: “Our success as a dealer depends upon our being able to offer you the greatest possible automobile value for your money. That’s why we’ve teamed up with Nash. Nash has produced this year the greatest automobile values America has ever seen."
You’ll want to see this sensational new 1938 Nash. World’s first car with Conditioned Air for Winter driving keeps you 70 degrees warm in zero weather. New Super-Thrift engine, too, that’s breaking all records for gas-saving and low maintenance cost. Plus 81 other great improvements.
Plus Values in Lower Priced Cars! 1931 Auburn Sedan $150 — 1932 Studebaker Sedan $150 — 1930 Hupmobile Coupe $150 — 1930 Ford “A" Coupe $165 — 1936 Terraplane Sedan $550 — 1934 Hudson “8" Coupe — 1937 Willys Sedan $500.
50 YEARS AGO
For the week ending
Dec. 15, 1962
Pilot Butte Inn sale scheduled
The Pilot Butte Inn, long involved in complicated litigation, is to be sold at public auction Monday, Jan. 14, at 10 a.m., to satisfy a judgment. The sale will be conducted by Sheriff Forest C. Sholes, at the courthouse door.
The sale is understood to be a maneuver to clear the title on the property, in order that purchase by Dickerson, Inc., a corporation, may be consummated.
The corporation holds a mortgage on the property, and won a judgment for $168,000.
A legal notice of the sale will appear in Friday’s Bulletin.
2 men recaptured after swimming away from Alcatraz prison
The myth of “invincible Alcatraz," tarnished six months ago when three inmates disappeared from the island prison in San Francisco Bay, was shattered a second time Sunday night when two convicts escaped from “The Rock."
Both men were captured within a matter of hours.
John Paul Scott, a Kentucky bank robber, floated and swam three miles through the churning, rain-swept bay and landed on a rock under the Golden Gate Bridge.
Scott and another bank robber, D. Lee Parker escaped from the rock around 5:47 PST when their absence was discovered.
Parker was captured 28 minutes later as he shivered on a rock outcropping known as “Little Alcatraz," only 100 yards off the main island.
It was the first instance of a convict actually negotiating the cold, fast-moving bay and reaching shore in the 28 years Alcatraz has been a federal prison.
On June 11, three bank robbers from the south — Frank Morris, John Anglin and his brother Clarence — disappeared off the northeast edge of Alcatraz and have not been seen or heard from since. The FBI and federal prison authorities presumed they drowned, but their bodies have not been recovered.
25 YEARS AGO
For the week ending
Dec. 15, 1987
A growing figure on the ice
Thirteen years ago, Tonya Harding sat down in the middle of Portland’s Lloyd Center and cried until her mother let her go ice skating for the first time.
It was a humble beginning for the Milwaukie tyke, now 17 years old and on the verge of becoming one of America’s most famous figure skaters.
Harding was at The Inn of the Seventh Mountain’s rink Wednesday, showing the style that has made her a strong candidate for the 1988 U.S. Olympic team. She will go after a berth — and the national championship — next month in Denver.
Considered the best woman jumper and fastest spinner on skates in the world, Harding doesn’t seem capable of lifting her body high above the ice, twirling in the air as if attached to a wire.
She’s barely five feet tall and maybe 100 pounds wearing her skates. She’s just a little girl who would look more at home talking with the football star between high school classes than she would talking with ABC’s Jim McKay after an Olympic competition.
But there is a maturity about her, a confidence and a reservoir of athletic talent that is obvious on the ice.
“My goal is to be on the Olympic team in 1988," she said. At Calgary I want the gold medal. That’s my top goal. That’s where I want to be."
Harding has a real shot. And even if she comes up short, she will have something few will ever own.
The pride of being great.
“The fun of it is, I know I am one of the best," she said. “And I know that I can be the best for a while."