Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 17, 2017)
THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 3 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2017 Business / Agriculture Museum adds new lighting for rocks BY SAMANTHA O’CONNER Samantha@TheBakerCountyPress.com Friday, February 3, the Baker County Museum Commission held a special meeting at the Baker Heri- tage Museum to discuss the LED lights they are adding to the Cavin/Warfel Collection Rock Display. The Baker County Mu- seum Commission has been replacing lights in the museum with LED lights for about two years. They received several grants that have allowed them to replace the lights. “All lighting is specific to different exhibits,” ex- plained Museum Commis- sion President Dave Hun- saker. “Certain exhibits don’t do very well under certain lighting. Some other lighting might even harm certain exhibits so we have to mix and match. Overall, we’re moving to the LED because it really is a much more efficient use of our operational funds. We found that we’ve saved considerable money for the county by moving that way.” They have already switched most of the lights in the museum to LED and Hunsaker explained that the rock room is the last big chunk they are switch- ing. “The lighting does make an awful lot of difference,” explained board member Steve Bogart. “Of course, cleaning the cases makes an awful lot of differ- ence too. It’s certainly an improvement.” The collection was given to the museum on March 22, 1984 and dedicated on August 9, 1984. The two women who began the col- lection were Mamie Cavin and Beth Warfel. According to a his- tory pamphlet by Scotty Haskell, given at the museum, Cavin and Warfel began their rock collecting in 1930 in Baker County. The interest began with Warfel, who had taken a geology class and that started her interest in col- lecting rocks. The pamphlet quoted Cavin on her explanation of what it meant to be a rock hound: “You get a bag of marbles and every time you pick up a rock to keep, you throw away a marble. When you’ve lost all your marbles, you’re a rock hound.” In Haskell’s pamphlet, he explained; “One mirac- ulous find by the women is the largest known collec- tion of extremely rare Tem- skya, the petrified form of a pre-historic fern, which grew between 20 and 30 feet high. “They were investigating an old placer mine in the Greenhorn District south- west of Baker City when they found it.” Cavin and Warfel, from 1930 to 1984 found, bought, or traded eighteen tons of rare minerals and rocks, including thunder eggs and geodes, crystals, opals, fluorescent minerals, jade, saganite, fulgurite, and sand crystals, Accord- ing to Haskell’s pamphlet, some are indigenous to Eastern Oregon. Their col- lection also holds precious and semi-precious stones such as garnets, amethysts, sapphires, rubies, and Her- kimer crystal quartz. Haskell explained Cavin and Warfel didn’t just find the geodes, thunder eggs, Friday, February 10, 2017 — Eastern Oregon Prices trended generally steady in a limited test compared to week ago prices. Most demand lays with the retail/stable hay. According to some producers, horse owners prefer lower sugar, higher protein hay. The recent snows slowed movement as trucks cant get to the farms to get loaded. Tons Price Range Wtd Avg Alfalfa — Large Square Good 30 130.00-130.00 130.00 Alfalfa / Oat Mix — Large Square Good 50 100.00-100.00 100.00 Alfalfa / Orchard Mix — Small Square Premium 20 185.00-185.00 185.00 USDA Market News Service—AMS.USDA.gov Samantha O’Conner / The Baker County Press The rock display in the museum now has LED lighting. and petrified woods, but cut and policed every piece themselves. Haskell quoted Cavin, who said, “You have to do more than just go out and pick them up. You have to take it step by step. It’s a lot of work.” Haskell explained that Warfel became ill and died in 1988. Cavin passed away in 1992 at the age of 98 and lived to see her collection on display in its permanent home at the Baker Heritage Museum. Haskell explained that “The Cavin/Warfel collec- tion has been extolled by professionals as ‘one of the most magnificent and respected rock collections in the United States’.” Board member Mindy Sherrieb explained that the Smithsonian wanted to purchase the display from Cavin and Warfel, but they would rather it stayed in Baker City. Bogart commented that the phrase he heard was that they wanted to bring the rock collection home. The center cases in the rock collection were owned by Cavin and Warfel, donated to hold their displays. 90% of the rock display in the first room is from the Cavin/ Warfel collection, the rest donated from other collec- tors. “The Cavin/Warfel Col- lection is huge,” explained Bogart. “And when you put the others who made contributions together, the rock collection probably is one of the most extensive and— I don’t know as far as value how much value it has to it—it’s one of the best ones you’ll find anywhere.” In the rock collection, they have minerals from all over the world, not just from Oregon. The Baker Heritage Museum is currently re- placing the lighting in the rock room and the display is currently closed. The museum will be closed the 24th and 25th of February, it will be open for Night at Old Auburn, and the museum and rock room will open the first weekend of March. He said that Sunday, the snow storms still kept him grounded, so he called Trindle about mid-day on Monday, January 23, to offer to get some hay to the cattle, since the weather seemed clear at that point, and Troy had planned to fly to Enterprise to retrieve the Robinson chopper. He said that he, Gen, pilot Tanner O’Grady, and pilot-in-training and mechanic Dustin Stephens boarded the six-passenger, red and white Bell 206 Long Ranger, tail number N412KK, with O’Grady and Stephens at the con- trols, and Troy, Gen, and a bale of hay in the back from Trindle, and flew to the area where the cattle were last seen, using the recorded GPS coordinates as a guide, on the way to retrieve the Robinson chopper where it had been snowed in since Saturday. Troy said upon arriving at the scene of the cattle that he noticed the cow lying on her side beneath a tree, and he thought she was dying at the time, and he saw one yearling near that same tree, and the other yearling about seventy-five yards away, standing in an opening. Troy wanted to drop the hay next to the cow, since she appeared to be in the worst shape, so, he opened the door of the chopper while Stephens hovered roughly seventy-five feet above the cow, he pushed the bale out the door with the strings still attached, and the bale landed bout ten yards in front of the cow, without breaking apart. The crew then headed to Enterprise, and O’Grady and Stephens flew the Bell chopper back to Baker, and the Woydziaks boarded the Robinson chopper, and fueled it up, to fly it back as well. On the way back, within an hour of dropping the hay off, Gen told Troy she was worried about the cow, so Troy flew to the area where the cattle were, and he noticed a newborn female calf standing, wet and shivering, with the yearlings basically where they had been seen before. He’d realized that the cow, which he said was looking very thin when they first spotted her, was on her side giving birth earlier, and he landed the chop- per in order to assess the situation. Troy said he knew that if the hay wasn’t moved closer to the cow, the cow wouldn’t have had much of a chance to survive, which would, in turn, have affect- ed the newborn’s survival, so, he placed and broke up the bale near the cow, which started to eat some of the hay. He picked up the newborn, carried her back to the chopper in knee-deep snow, and the Woydziaks flew her back to Trindle’s ranch. That left the crew to come up with a game plan, in order to retrieve the remaining cattle. Troy said that Trindle sent some indi- viduals up in snowmobiles, but they had trouble with the machines and the snow, so, Trindle asked Troy if he could use possibly the larger chopper to haul the cattle out, which he’d nev- er tried before (he helped haul other animals for Wyoming-based Hawkins and Powers Aviation, us- ing a specially made bag, which he didn’t have at the time, but no cattle yet). Troy said that, since he didn’t have a bag to haul the cattle out yet (he has since ordered a bag, be- cause there’s an increasing request for that service), he decided to try to use a net to capture the remaining animals, hobble each one, and try to haul them out. On Thursday, Janu- ary 26, morning, Troy discovered that Trindle had found someone who had a snowmobile which could make it to the cattle, and that morning, one of the yearlings was roped, and hauled back down to the ranch, with a sled that was pulled behind the snowmobile. Troy asked Trindle whether he wanted to still use the chopper to try to retrieve the remain- ing cattle, and Trindle said that he did, because the first yearling rescue had taken so much time, and the crew was running out of daylight. Troy flew to the scene of the remaining cattle, with mechanic Carl Mathis, who held a net gun, and after about an hour, the duo captured the calf, and — Cattle Market Report — Wednesday, February 8, 2017 Vale, Oregon Cattle sold through the auction: 1920 Steer Calves 300-400# Bulk 151.00-168.00 Top 177.50 400-500# Bulk 147.00-176.00 Top 183.00 500-600# Bulk 129.00-158.00 Top 159.50 Heifer Calves 300-400# Bulk 126.00-143.00 Top 143.50 400-500# Bulk 118.00-145.00 Top 146.25 500-600# Bulk 116.00-134.00 Top 135.00 Yearling Steers 600-700# Bulk 116.00-133.00 Top 135.00 700-800# Bulk 114.00-124.00 Top 124.50 800-900# Bulk 109.00-120.00 Top 120.50 900-1,000# Bulk 96.00-113.00 Top 116.25 Yearling Heifers 600-700# Bulk 109.00-122.00 Top 122.50 700-800# Bulk 106.00-118.00 Top 119.00 800-900# Bulk 103.00-115.00 Top 116.75 900-1,000# Bulk 89.00-106.00 Top 110.50 Thin Shelly Cows 37.00 TO 48.00 Butcher Cows 49.00 TO 58.00 Butcher Bulls 69.00 Pairs Young 1250.00 TO 1375.00 Stock Cows N/A Stock Cows Young - N/A ProducersLivestock.com 541-473-3136 — Log Price Report — Snowbound calf rescued CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 — Weekly Hay Report — Submitted Photo. Lucky. tried to hobble it correctly, but Troy never felt secure about the hobble setup, so, Trindle’s crew managed to haul the steer back down to the ranch. The cow had died by Thursday, Troy said, and she hadn’t moved from where she was first discovered. Troy added that Mike relayed to him that the yearlings had eaten snow for survival, and it took some time before they were able to start drink- ing water. Troy said that the newborn female calf, which the Woydziaks named “Lucky,” has since been successfully paired with a mother, who had lost her own calf. Troy said, “The Trindle family has always been really supportive of us, and our business. Mike’s the guy that got me started in flying... Mr. Trindle has al- ways bent over backwards, to help us out... He taught me a lot about aviation... He’s been a great mentor for us, and we’re happy to do something for him, once in a while...” Prices are based on the majority of saw mills in Northeastern Oregon and Central Idaho. The prices listed below are a composite prices of various saw- mills willing to visit with me about this topic. Ponderosa Pine—small diameter class 8-11 inches diameter class $250 per mbf. Only one sawmill was willing to buy small diameter pine at this time. Ponderosa Pine—medium diameter class 12-17 inches diameter class $300 to $350 per mbf Ponderosa Pine-large diameter class 18 plus inches diameter class $380 to $410 per mbf The Pine prices are still approximately $40 per mbf below average lumber/log market due to 2017 fire salvage Doug Fir & Western Larch—$380 to $420 per mbf. Normal prices typically ranged between $425 to $475 per mbf. White Fir-$300 per mbf. Normal prices typically ranged between $340 to $360 per mbf. Engelmann Spruce—$350 at one Idaho sawmill, other sawmills including with White fir prices. In general, the log prices still impacted from 2015 fire season and fire salvage that resulted. Sawmills are starting to get log yard inventory in line with sawmill production needs. With a new Administra- tion as of 1/20/2017, a more normal economic envi- ronment should result and hopefully a more healthy housing situation will result in a better climate for Northeast Oregon Sawmill and private forest land- owners. Courtesy of Arvid Andersen, Andersen Forestry Consulting — Precious Metals Report — Price per ounce, USD Gold: $1,233.20 Silver: $17.75 Platinum: $1007.07 Palladium: $787.34 Bloomberg.com — Ag Commodities — Corn: $377.75/bu/USD Wheat: $466.00/bu/USD Soybeans: $1,067.50/bu/USD Oats: $251.00 bu/USD Rough Rice: $9.38/cwt/USD Canola: $531.35 CAD/mwt Live Cattle: $113.60//lb./USD Feeder Cattle: $124.48/lb./USD Lean Hogs: $71.35/lb./USD Bloomberg.com