Yesteryear: Chicken dinner served by farmer to jail crew in 1925; Redmond airport to gain extra money for repairs in 1975; Big honors for a small town's big tree in 2000

April 5, 1925

Shevlin Band Planning Trip to Rose Festival

That Bend may be represented in Portland this year at the annual rose festival by the Shevlin-Hixon band became known with the announcement that T.A. McCann, vice president of The Shevlin-Hixon Company, when in this city recently, expressed a wish that such a thing could be done.

Because the band, now being directed by Frank B. McCord, must have new uniforms and other equipment before it can take part in the rose festival, it is estimated that the expense of sending the musicians to Portland will be approximately $3,000.

When McCann was in Bend he reminded the local management of the lumber company that a promise had been made to send the musicians to the rose festival, but at that time it was not realized that the expense would be so great.

Choice Dairy Product Will Be Manufactured

A small modern factory, equipped to handle choice dairy produce from the Jake Ashbacher dairy farm, a short distance east of Prineville, one of the finest dairies in Crook county, will be located in Ochoco Inn, in the room formerly designated as the Ochoco Inn garage, in the northeast corner of the building.

Equipment for a creamery, where first class butter will be made from selected cream, and delicious, wholesome ice cream will be manufactured, have been ordered from Portland, and it is Ashbacher's expectations that the machinery will be installed within a few weeks, when operations will begin. Clear, clean ice, made from pure city water, will also be manufactured in the Ashbacher creamery.

Bend Garage Employe Captures Huge Spider

As alien to its present habitat as the frog which is reported to have been found in the middle of the Arizona desert and which is seven years old but has not learned to swim, is the tarantula which was found in the Bend Garage service station Tuesday.

How the venomous spider, native possibly of a California or other southwestern desert, found its way to Bend is unknown, unless it stole a ride on a California tourist's automobile and deciding that Bend was a good place to make its home, dropped off while the tourist was taking on gasoline.

It was probably only a few minutes after he alighted that he was found by "Bud" Bennett, employe in the service station.

Bennett picked him up in a tin can and turned him over to some high school students, and the city's strange guest now reposes in state in a glass jar in the biology laboratory at the high school.

The so called tarantula of southwestern America is not the true tarantula or wolf spider (lycosa tarantuala) of Europe, whose bite was supposed to cause an uncontrollable desire to dance, but belongs to the family of eurypelma or avicularia.

Chicken Dinner Served by Farmer to Jail Crew

M. Dunn, rancher living near Bend, served an elaborate chicken dinner this noon for four county prisoners, members of the road gang which had reached his place in the course of their labors, Deputy Sheriff Purdom reported when he marshaled his crew back into Bend this afternoon. Dunn had promised the dinner when the county first started its prisoners to work on the roads.

75 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

April 5, 1950

Open House Set At Wizard Falls

An open house will be held tomorrow at the Wizard falls hatchery on the Metolius river north of Sister. Visitors will be welcome from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m., according to the Sisters chamber of commerce, which is sponsoring the open house in conjunction with the hatchery.

On display will be 150,000 legal size trout, and more than 1,000,000 small trout. Guides will be at the disposal of visitors to the open house.

The chamber reports that at 4 p.m. the fish will be fed. Gene Morton, superintendent of the hatchery, and Clarence Smith, of Camp Sherman, have made arrangements for the open house.

Kite Flying Contest Staged On Harmon Field

Braving a blustery April wind Jaycees of Bend sponsored a kite-flying contest on Harmon playfield Sunday afternoon — and today the sponsors awaited the receipt of "flying saucer" news from the northeastern part of the state. Those reports, Jaycees believe, can be traced to kites lost by contest entries.

Erratic winds, which at times reached an estimated velocity of 35 miles an hour, whipped several kites away from participants, and broke the anchor strings of others. Entrants losing kites included Everett LeRoy, 8. His kite was sailing high and majestically in the cloud flecked sky when it broke away and drifted into the northeast. Other kites were torn to shreds by the stiff wind.

Largest kite was entered by Tom Carter, who was aided in the launching by his father. It was a massive kite, made of cloth. Its already long tail was given additional ballast, to offset the stiff winds aloft.

A kite entered by Dennis Merritt reached the highest altitude, and soared well above the Mirror pond pines. Spectators were sure it went even higher than Pilot Butte. The youngest entrant was Donald Orell, 3, who flew his kite from a fish pole, with tackle and reel attached.

The special prize awarded the entrant having the toughest luck went to Arthur Baty, who was unable to cope with the stiff April winds.

In one of the contests, a dozen entrants were arranged on a line reaching across the playfield, with an award offered the first to get a kite into the sky. At a given signal, all kites were released. most of them whipped back to the earth, one broke away and a few got into the dusty sky.

The Jaycees plan the contest as an annual affair.

Dog Rescued After Crooked River Tumble

A dog leaped over the Crooked river parapet near The Dalles-California highway bridge today and lived, as the result of a dramatic rescue.

The dog was removed from a rocky ledge by her owner, R.E. Cline, of Redding, Calif., after obtaining several sections of rope from nearby farm houses. State police were called, Redmond firemen were notified and passing motorists assisted.

Mr. and Mrs. Cline and two-year old daughter, Charlene, stopped at the bridge about 10 o'clock this morning, en route to Grand Coulee. At Peter Skene Ogden park, their English pointer, "Lady," was permitted to get out of the car, for a bit of exercise. Lady immediately skirted the parapet in a joyful race, then hurdled the stone wall, along the south bank of the gorge, about 15 feet downstream from the bridge.

As "Lady" crossed the parapet she went over the edge, struck several jutting ledges, then plunged some 80 feet to lodge on a ledge near the foundation of a steel tower. She remained quietly on the ledge, more than 200 feet above the water.

After obtaining ropes from a ranch home, Cline lowered himself over the rocky wall, with the rope anchored to the bridge. On reaching the ledge, cline tied the rope around "Lady," and waited for assistance. Man and dog remained on the lava edge, near a steel pillar of the 300 — foot high bridge for more than an hour. Finally Cline gave orders to volunteer helpers above. "Lady" was hoisted directly to the bridge.

Cline made his way up the face of the cliff, hand over hand, while spectators above held their breath.

An examination of the dog indicated she was not seriously injured. After being released she went to the car and jumped into her kennel.

50 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

April 5, 1975

Redmond airport to gain extra money for repairs

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has agreed to provide an additional $300,000 for runway and taxi way improvements at Roberts Field, boosting the agency's participation in the project to $1 million.

Curt Lantz, chairman of the Redmond Airport Commission, said this morning the FAA apparently agreed to provide the extra money because it determined the necessary work would cost more than the previous $830,000 estimate.

Lantz said the project now is estimated at about $1.2 million.

The state has agreed to provide $66,885 for the project, leaving the city to finance about $133,000. Lantz said the city probably will obtain its funds by borrowing $60,000 and using the market value of land to be donated by the county as the remaining matching funds.

According to Lantz, FAA has determined that both of the airport's main runways must be leveled to improve visibility. The runways presently are higher in the center than on the ends.

The FAA requires that, at an elevation of five feet, or about eye level if one were standing on the ground, a person must be able to see from one end of a runway to the other end. It also requires that a person one-quarter of the way down a runway must be able to see the intersecting runway.

Lantz said the requirements must be followed here because Roberts Field has no control tower to regulate airport traffic. He said accidents may be avoided because it will "be a habit" for local pilots to use runway 10-28, the present main runway, even after runway 4-22 becomes the main runway.

Engineering of the proposed runway improvements began about three weeks ago. Actual construction of airport improvements is expected to begin this summer. Completion is expected by October.

25 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

April 5, 2000

Big honors for a small town's big tree

Oregon's largest Ponderosa Pine, the Big Tree in La Pine State Park, will be the site of this year's Oregon Heritage Tree statewide dedication next week.

Two heritage trees will be honored this year: La Pine's Ponderosa and the Baker/Russell Black Walnut, located in Yamhill County.

"The objective of the program is to teach Oregon history through the heritage trees," said Alan Tocchini, parks forester with the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. "A statewide guide to the locations is available, and the idea is to make visiting the trees a kind of hobby."

Located in the state park about five miles west of Highway 97, six miles south of Sunriver and six miles north of La Pine, the Big Tree is large by any standards. The official Heritage Tree measurements show the tree is 28.9 feet in circumference, about 9 feet in diameter and about 162 feet tall. Its age is estimated at more than 500 years. It is in declining health, Tocchini said, shows signs of substantial fungal decay and has scars from at least two major fires and numerous camp fires.

The tree has withstood numerous lightning strikes, insect infestations, disease outbreaks and the ravages of careless humans who have camped under its canopy and carved their initials in its trunk during the past century.

Native Americans and early settlers gathered under the large tree, Tocchini said, and the location is flat, in a little hollow near the Deschutes River.

"The area was obviously a gathering place," Tocchini said. "The fishing was probably good in that spot, and you could see people on the river easily."

Further evidence of human camping can be seen by the large fire scaring on the tree's south side.

The scar shows people built campfires next to the tree, Tocchini said, probably to use it for a windbreak.

Ironically, the tree's size — too big for logging, and too rough for milling — made it unappealing to early settlers and lumbering operations that swept through the area several times from the late 1890s through the 1960s. The tree gained national fame in 1945, Tocchini said, with its recognition as the biggest Ponderosa Pine tree in the nation under the American Forestry Association's Big Tree program.

Though the La Pine tree has the largest diameter of its species, it was dethroned several times by others with more height or crown spread. It regained the title as those trees died or failed several times over the years.

Today, the Big Tree is recognized as the second largest of its species, Tocchini said, with the largest Ponderosa located in northern California.

The Heritage Tree program was formed in 1995 under the guidance of the Oregon Travel Information council and is the first state-sponsored heritage tree program in the United States. After the dedication at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, a young ponderosa pine will be planted in the park as part of the governor's grove project.