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About The Chemawa American (Chemawa, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (May 22, 1929)
The CHEMAWA AMERICAN PROGRESS AT CHEMAWA By the time school opens next September wonderful changes will have been wrought at Chemawa. The projects Supt. Lipps has under way and assurance of starting soon are certainly cause for the elation of all true friends of our great school. At this writing the new Brewer Hall, a magnificent two-story brick structure which will accommodate nearly 200 boys, is well underway to replace the old wooden building which for more than 20 years has been known as the Small Boys’ Home. This old wooden structure will be razed and thus will pass from the campus the last of the wooden dormitories for use at our school— nothing but brick dormitories will be seen here hence forth. The new Brewer Hall will have new furniture throughout, splendid electrical wiring, and all plumb ing up-to-the-minute, baths, toilets and everything representing the last word in safety and convenience. A fine reading room is provided for and there is also to be in the building an especially equipped room as a barber shop. Mitchell Hall is to be renovated during the summer. It will be rewired electrically and will be given a new fire-proof roof. It will have new floors, new baths and toilets, in fact it will be made modern in every particular. This work will be started early in July and is to be completed by September 1st, next. Our power plant is to have two more new tubular boilers. 250-horse power each, installed to replace two old boilers which are worn out. They are to be installed, with all equipment complete in every par ticular, during the summer and be ready for use by the time school opens in the fall. This will make for a good supply of heat and power during the coming winter—and later. Approximate cost of this work is about $25,000. On moving the old wooden structure last year, the building known as Winona Hall, that part known to be in good condition was saved and it now stands in a convenient location on a good foundation. It has been rewired, electrically, and is soon to be repainted inside and out and made modern in every way. The lower floor will be made acceptable for the purposes of religious services and teachings of the Protestant de nominations, and a home for our local Y. M. and Y. W. C. A. organizations. We understand that Miss Eakin will undertake to provide the furnishings for this floor. The upper floor will be partitioned into some ten fine rooms, or apartments, for employes. The location of this building among the firs makes it most attractive for a home. This work is to be done during the summer. One of the greatest projects launched at Chemawa in a long time was that of dredging out the drain or Page 3 swail from the north side of our farm in a circle clear around to the south side, to a point south of our dairy barn. The dredging of a perfect ditch is only a part of the work, the contract calling for the clearing out of all brush on both sides of the ditch, the grubbing of stumps as well, and the plowing and seeding to grass the many acres of land to be thus reclaimed. This work is now well under way and it will make for the perfection of our new septic tank and filtration system for caring for sewage at Chemawa. Plans for our filtration plant represents the work of Mr. H. B. Hommon, sanitary engineer of theU. S. Public Health Service. This whole matter is one bound to prove of great value to Chemawa, in fact, wre cannot over emphasize its importance. This work will be com pleted by early fall. It is estimated that the filtration plant will cost in the neighborhood of $10,000.00. To refer back to the work on our drainage canal across the farm, we wish to state that by this work about 30 acres of fine land will be reclaimed and some 40 acres improved or benefitted, thus adding value and importance to the project in addition to its sani tation values. We have arrived at a point where we wish to direct our readers’ attention to what we are going to empha size, and that is, Chemawa’s wonderful health record during the past year. Not a single death! We had the “flu” here, but had no fatalities, nor were there any after complications. This is a splendid testimon ial for our school and we think almost a record-breaker among large schools of like character anywhere. At any rate, it is a record that cannot be beaten, go where you will. We believe a major part of the credit is due to Dr. Sisco and his untiring efforts for health—all matters of sanitation getting his attention before conditions have a chance to become a menace to health. He has a system of giving “health talks” to the various academic classes, and giving this instruction in terms that are understandable by the child. Ever lasting care on the Doctor’s part is of benefit to all of us, and we think the credit for our great health record is largely his. Next year we will «have finer domitory accomodations, better sanitation in many particulars, in fact nearly everything will be better here and we look forward to a condition pretty nearly ideal at Chemawa next year. It will be a fine place to be for students and employes. Just great, we think! Mr. and Mrs. James Evans of Metlakatla, Alaska, were recent visitors at Chemawa. Mr. Evans is a graduate of Chemawa some fifteen years ago. At pres ent he is one of the prominent business men of his part of the territory and is getting along splendidly in every way. While here Mr. and Mrs. Evans were the guests of Mr. and Mrs. Downie.
