Days of Yore for August 22, 2024
10 years ago—
The Fossil Volunteer Fire Department recently received the gift of a vehicle to be used for an Emergency Response Unit. Columbia Basin Electric Cooperative had retired a 2005 one-ton vehicle, and did not receive adequate bids, so decided to donate the unit. Fossil answered the call immediately and was awarded the vehicle. The rig will be converted to an Emergency Response Unit.
25 years ago—
Sally Motley has recently made the leap from a career in child care to the administration of a retirement and residential care facility. Motley started July 6 as the new administrator of Haven House at Fossil. She and her husband, Duane, have moved from Redmond to the home they purchased at the Kinzua junction.
From Spray Facts and Fallacies by Virginia Humphreys: Hard to fathom is the addition of air conditioners to all teaching rooms at the school. Perhaps starting out in a one-room school on Mountain Creek near Mitchell has something to do with this feeling. Our luxury was a shed which housed the horses we rode to school. We had a common bucket for water and, of course, the out-door privies.
Zac Grooms of Arlington has landed a recording contract in Nashville. Fourteen-year-old Zac has recently recorded two of his original songs with musicians Mike Champman, bass player for Garth Brooks, and Glen Duncan, fiddle player for Tim McGraw.
50 years ago—
The Potter and Sons’ harvest crew was working overtime Thursday as they just sat down to dinner when a fire was reported at the Sid Seale ranch. Firemen had a difficult time quelling the blaze as it was in rocky terrain in the bottom of a canyon near the John Day River.
More than 100 family members and friends gathered for a Logan family reunion at Lake Umatilla in Arlington. The reunion was the first gathering of the descendants of the early Gilliam County settlers, John L. and Eliza Jane Logan. The Logans are one of four families in the north end of the county who have been farming the same land for five generations. The other families are the Weatherfords, Wests and Smythes.
75 years ago—
A new playground is under construction in the upper end of camp in Kinzua. Men are donating their work and the company is furnishing materials. This new ground will accommodate a number of youngsters, both large and small, who are too far away to enjoy the play ground below the store. Equipment such as swings, teetertotters, etc. will be furnished by the company.
Fire destroyed the Condon Lumber Co. mill in Condon early Saturday ad left the newly installed sawdust burner and the green chain. Thought to have originated in the power room of the mill, the fire was first discovered by R.R. Shaw, a mill worker who lives in a trailer near the mill and was off duty at the time. Mill officials hope to bring in a portable mill to take care of the logs in the pond and the logs which had been felled in the woods above Lonerock.
A new partnership will operate the firm of Hollen & Sons hardware store in Condon. An interesting sidelight is the fact that there is no necessity to change the name of the firm. The new owners are Frank L. Hollen, his son, Carroll, and his son-in-law, Adrin W. Carnine.
100 years ago—
m emerged singing “It Ain’t Goin’ to Rain No More” Dr. L.L. Taylor drove up from his Olex ranch on Rock Creek with a load of fine watermelons (Kleckley Sweets) and cantaloupe and tomatoes, which he disposed of at the city stores. He is now making regular trips to Condon. The home grown melons are hard to beat – being much sweeter than Irrigon melons.
The boxing match at Lonerock between Jack Maple and the Omaha Wild Cat appears to have been a mixed affair in which Maple was given the decision, but the receipts were split evenly.
Mrs. Clara Peacock, the young California woman who was mixed up in the recent white slavery case here in Condon, has been sent to Portland to join her husband, a reconciliation having taken place.
From the Condon Times 1909—
Mrs. Oscar Portwood left to spend a couple of weeks with her folks in Fossil, under the spreading chestnut tree.
Mitchell Summers returned on Saturday of last week from a week’s visit at the McKinney home on Thirty Mile. He reports killing six rattlesnakes, three porcupines and innumerable wood rats.
The Misses Irma and Francis Northrop left for Salem. They will act as stenographers for Governor Bowerman during his campaign. They are two nice girls and will be missed in Condon.
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