Yesteryear: Surprise snow in 1996 buries golf, not fun | lifestyle

The cheerful tone of the eight minutes to 8 o’clock whistle announced this morning the resumption of production at The Shevlin-Hixon Company mill, meaning the employment of at least 100 additional men at the plant and the beginning of logging operations in the woods one week from today. Preparations for cutting were made Saturday when the mill was “turned on.”

Until the market becomes stronger, allowing a more rapid withdrawal of lumber from the yards, one-shift production of all four hands will continue, J.P. Hennessy, assistant general manager, said this morning. This time of year is normally dull in the box business and the factory will be operated only to fill orders.

When work started again this morning, employees who have been with the company for some time, and who have families, were given the preference until it is possible to increase the payroll.

“Only a real driver with a real car, which he knows thoroughly, should attempt the trip to Klamath Falls at present,” says S. Enders, who made the first trip of the season through with G.A. Johnson to the southern Oregon city.

At places in the Klamath marsh the car went down to the hub in mud, and there is danger of sliding the car too far to one side and losing it in the bog, Enders explained. So long as the car can keep in motion, all is well, but once the wheels slip it is “all off,” he stated.

Only one car other than the stage, so far as is known, has made the trip through to Klamath this spring. The stage met one car, driven by a Bend man, yesterday at Kirk. Many have attempted the trip. The road is drying, says Enders, and will soon be more easily traveled.

The stage does not go to Silver Lake, keeping straight ahead where the road turns to the right three miles from that town. The road taken-by the stage leads to Antelope flat, crosses the flat and the divide into the big Klamath marsh at the head of Williamson river. This road is plainly marked by signs, says Enders. On reaching Williamson river the road turns to the left, crosses the bridge and continues down the marsh through Kirk, Chiloquin and into Klamath Falls.

The account, published in a Portland paper, of a Kansas hen which laid a four and one-half ounce Easter egg, prompted Ernest Fulton, of 860 Federal street, to  bring a made in Oregon egg of the same size, to the Central Oregon bank today. Only the Fulton hen didn’t wait until Sunday. Her egg was left in the nest on Easter Saturday.

“It isn’t at all necessary to go as far as Kansas for big eggs,” Mr. Fulton declared. “Oregon hens can do just as well any time.” The Fulton hen which equaled the record of the Kansas chicken,— and did it first — is a Black Minorca.

The Deschutes county library will be closed Saturday and Monday for moving, it was announced today by the library board. It is expected that Tuesday will see the reopening in the Ellis building on Bond street. Miss Ethel Westfall, the new librarian, will arrive in Bend Friday from Fort Benton, Montana.

Against a background of history that reached back more than 100 years, Bend’s 1946 tourist school opened here last night, with Wayne Overholser, Oregon author, as lecturer and Don H. Peoples as director. Overholser had as his topic “The Romantic History of Central Oregon,” and he touched on events ranging from the visit of Peter Skene Ogden to the Deschutes country in 1825 to the days when Bill Brown ruled as “Oregon’s horse king” on the high desert.

At the conclusion of the lecture, Peoples showed colored slides, depicting scenic spots in Bend and vicinity. On his picture tour, Peoples ranged afield and showed views of the spectacular Abert lake and Winter rims and “shots” of white peaks of the Cascades.

Present for the first session of the school were scores of Bend residents who this coming season will be directly in touch with tourists. One of the primary purposes of the school is to enable local people to answer the questions asked by visitors, and to tell the tourists something about the vacation wonderland of the eastern Cascades.

The next meeting of the school will be on Monday, April 1, with Harold B. Say, retiring director of the tourist and information department of the state highway department of the state highway commission as the guest lecturer. His topic will be “Tourists Unlimited.”

The Bend park board commission today recommended Harmon playfield as the site for the proposed new municipal swimming pool, in a letter addressed to the city commission and City manager C.G. Reiter. The commission wrote that it had reached its decision after “considerable study” of available sites.

The recommendation was approved by Robert W. Pierson, planning consultant for the League of Oregon Cities who had been engaged by the city to locate sites for various public and industrial buildings.

The commission’s letter of approval, signed by Don Conner, chairman of the park commission reads:

“After considerable study of available sites for the Bend swimming pool, it is our recommendation that the pool be installed on Harmon Playfield. We also suggest that an architect’s services be obtained right away to draw plans for the pool,”

The commission then bared a number of points it had weighed in reaching its decision. Under the heading “points in favor,” the commission listed:

Level site, centrally located from a population standpoint, is needed for recreation, can park a maximum of cars, good location next to the river, bath house at the north end would give the pool good orientation, that it is adjacent to the foot bridge across the river, and that it is susceptible to a drilled hole for drainage.

Points against the site were given as: It would take away the ball field, it is a small site, people might object, and it would put more traffic on Harmon boulevard.

It was recalled that several months ago when the question of a location was under discussion by the city commission, that residents in the vicinity of Harmon playfield had petitioned against the pool being installed there.

The city commission is due to consider the recommendation at its next regular meeting next Wednesday night.

On the first day of parallel parking in Bend, local motorists seemed to take the new style of car spotting as a matter of course, and police reported that they had encountered no trouble in dealing with the drivers. Motorcycle officer Garold Reid who was on duty immediately after the new parking lines had been painted, said that he did not find it necessary to make arrests.

Some confusion marked the first day of the new parking on Wall Street and Franklin and Greenwood avenues, but for the most part drivers found little difficulty in backing into the 20-foot stalls. Varied comments accomplished the new parking. One person was heard to say, “Well, Bend finally is getting metropolitan.” Most persons, however, commented the ‘much wider street,” through which four lines of traffic now may flow.

Senator Bob Packwood Tuesday asked a Senate subcommittee to speed up construction of the $3.2 million Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery in Wasco County. Only $425,000 has been appropriated to the hatchery since it was authorized in May, 1966.

The Oregon Republican also asked the Subcommittee on Appropriations of the Interior Department to give special consideration to the fishing rights of Indians under existing treaties. Packwood proposed that an assistance program costing $250,000 a year be administered from the Bureau of Interior’s Portland office. An estimated 80 per cent of the efforts of seven professional fishery biologists, three non professionals and several seasonal aides would be directed at providing assistance to Indians.

Packwood said the management of anadromous fishes — such as steelhead and salmon species is most difficult and highly technical. He said sport and commercial fishermen, as well as the Indians, are concerned about these fish returning to their spawning grounds that often are located on Indian reservations.

Recent Mississippi transplant Steve Williams knew there would be days like this, but he moved to Central Oregon anyway.

Williams, new assistant pro at Widgi Creek Golf Club on Century Drive, wasn’t giving any lessons or arranging any tee times this morning. A surprise spring snowstorm dumped 3 1/2 inches of powder in Bend, sending cars skidding and giving a long spring break a winter-like twist.

When the snow began sticking Wednesday afternoon, golfers began leaving the course. “They told me this would happen any time,” Williams said. “I guess they are probably used to it up here.” Indeed, Bend didn’t come close to breaking the March 27 snowfall record of 5 1/2 inches, set back in 1903.

Sisters got a dumping of 4 1/2 inches of snow, Madras and Sunriver recorded 2 1/2 inches, and LaPine had 2 inches, as did Redmond.

Skiing was prime at Mount Bachelor, where 6 1/2 inches of snow fell. Lake of the Woods, in the Southern Cascades, got 13 inches.

Meanwhile, kids played in the snow at the Inn of the Seventh Mountain’s heated outdoor pool. “The pools are real warm,” said James Gavino at the front desk.”It’s just like a hot tub.” A weather-related accident closed Highway 97 near Shaniko for almost eight hours this morning, Oregon State Police reported a tanker truck and hay truck collided five miles south of Shaniko.

There were no injuries, and no fuel leaked from the tanker, but hay spilled across the roadway.The crash occurred about 12.30 a.m. during heavy snowfall that piled up drifts a foot deep.

To the south, about a dozen accidents occurred around Deschutes County between midnight  and 8 a.m., but only one — near Bend airport — caused any injuries, according to Deschutes County 911 dispatchers.

Golfers weren’t the only folks taken by surprise by winter’s sudden return. Oregon Department of Transportation crews had been switching their rigs over to spring and summer duty, but had to haul out the plows and sanders again.

“Our heavy snow equipment is set up for (the road to) Mount Bachelor all the time,” said Arlene Thomas, ODOT’s area maintenance coordinator.”But we’d been making our switch into spring, getting ready to start hauling sand for shoulders and fix potholes and do some paving- and here we go again.”

The snow was typical spring stuff — wet and heavy. “It’ll probably melt very fast — probably,” Thomas said as the sun emerged.

Bend’s streets supervisor, Les Shores wasn’t surprised a bit. “I’ve seen it snow in the middle of July,” said the 48-year Bend resident.

Bend had six sanders and two plows on the road this morning “We don’t take ours off until the middle of April,” Shores said.

The National Weather Service issued a snow advisory for much of Central Oregon, but forecasters said the cold low-pressure system was moving out of Oregon, leaving behind clearer, colder weather. Lows could dip into the teens tonight but highs are expected to climb toward 50 Friday.