Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (July 11, 1909)
4 " pt o. r. prTXAV. CENTRAL OREGON tWad? The Des chutes country asleep simply be cause that mythical railroad fails to materialize? Not a hit of it. Whoever there may hp who has the temerity to doubt the "cet up and (tet" propensities of the inhabitants of Crook County hould have dropped In at Bend last week nd witnessed the Kiddy festivities with vhich that little town celebrated the one hundred and thirty-fourth birthday of its Uncle Sam. Bend is a small place, numbering prob- 1 bly less than TOO inhabitants, and is a found hundred of uncomfortable miles rom the railroad. That means that what Bend does Is the result of local initiative and must be carried through without out side aid. But. small as Bend is, and iso lated as it is. there was more solid en thusiasm to the square inch, and more real fun concentrated on the one "main treet" than many a full-fleuged city could display. r As ' one buoyant ''Bender' expressed feimself, it was a "red-hot, triple expan sion, six-cylinder celebration;" a real frontier Fourth, lacking the big- features -tind finish of a larger place, and free from a.v trace of roughness. On Monday of the previous week the preparation for Saturday's entertainment tarted. Right at the outset it meant " Ihat trouble began for the finny inhab itants of the Deschutes, since a trout bs-fbecue was to be the feature of the day, nd upon Its sucess the people had staked, their fishermen's reputations. So, out f mm town tywoped such able-bodied citizens as were not otherwise important ly engaged and it Is v remarkable how trivial other occupations become in com parison to fishing, especially when tha catching of the fish has added the glam our of a patriotic duty and set them selves to creel-filling with an enthusiasm so profound for this arduous task that their previous employers would surely have wondered mightily had they seen. But a man will labor from dawn to dark. without food, and wet to his waist, and call it solid enjoyment when he is a-fishlng. Headed by Tom Triplctt. redoubtable fish-catcher and recounter of talcs worthy , of the good Baron Munchausen himself, gang of nshermen went up river some dozen miles and began the attack. The material results of their onslaught were conveyed to , Bend and the waiting ice nouses each' evening, when a wagon brought down Its quota of fish, a hundred weight or more, as the day's luck made it There were other things that came with those fish. Oh. those wondrous tales that floated townwards from the fish camp! Of the Dolly V'ardens who had snapped steel rods as a child breaks a straw (and of course got away) and the "red sides" who escaped, after he had been landed by knocking the fisherman over with c single slap of his tail. Surely a fish tale. that: And, of course, they saw wild animals galore up there in the timber. Coyotes beavers one evening the Easterner heard a beaver slap the water (it sounds like a pistol shot. swore it was a Dolly Jump Ing. and devoted three solid hours en deavoring to get him that is, her to take hold of the hook. Then Mr. Beaver swam out behind the boat and slapped again: after that the Easterner wen back to camp and said no more about the Jumping Dolly. And somebody said he saw a terrific fight between two water snakes; each got the others tail into his mouth, and wouid ou bulieva it? they both swal FOURTHO W CENTRAL ..AtAfy. . lowed until there' was nothing at all left. Well: And its a prohibition county, too. In addition to these past masters in the gentle art. there were many who aided in the fishing from Bend, content with more modest catches. Among these was one who may as well be styled the . Ten derfoot, who forthwith fell neatly into the river and all but went down to The Dalles. Since his experience he has de clared himself as opposed to water trans portation in the state. It all ' happened In this wise. The . x enderf oot "snagged" his fly on a ' log well out towards the middle of the. stream, and thereupon es sayed to rescue, it. It appeared xa simple task to wade out, and all things were progressing to the Queen's taste when suddenly something unfortunate happened to the wader s legs. Slippery rocks are t all times distressing; add thereto . a reacherously swift current and the re sult is disaster. So It was that the feet lost connections with the slippery- rock. a general capsize followed and the river took temporary charge of affairs. Fifty feet below, in the very -midst of a white- water rapids, the unexpected excursion came to an end as abrupt as "its begin ning, when the traveler found Wmself clinging to a submerged rock, in whose lee ne was aoie to Keep a precarious footing. He was up to his neck, and well, the Deschutes is noted as being a particularly cold snow stream. Also, It was painfully apparent that any move would mean a further trip down the rapids, with destination something more than doubtful.. At last a friend saw his predicament and contrived to get a wire otit to him, which he fastened in his belt: thereupon, preferring a certain ducking to further freezing, he ahandoneS him self to his fate, let go into the rapids and was finally dragged ashore. And instead of sympathizing with him. they asked if he had gone into the river after the fish! Fishing . breeds unkind ness, after all. 1 Patriotism, in the convenient form of much noise, and the end of all sleep, oc curred simultaneously at daybreak on the 3d. - ' A week before. Bend had been a sleepy town. Four events alone disturbed the tranquillity. The daily arrival of the stage, when those who expected mail and those who did not. gathered about 'the' postoffice to make sure that they had guessed correctly. Then there was the regular Friday evening performance of the band, when one was almost sure to hear at - least 'one new tune In -addition to "Jungle Town" and "Rainbow Maid en. The Sunday ball games and the semi-occasional " "hoss" race were the other two attractions. A hoss race, by the way. Is. a matter even more difficult to get under way than an international war. Just as there are "wars and rumors of wars" there are races and rumors thereof and many more or tne former than of the latter. "That air sorrel of mine can run circles around any durned hoss in this hyer country, modestly declares someone. Such a speech is the casus belli if the matter ever gets as far as actual "belli." Then the stranger in the corner he with the bearskin "chaps" drawls: l sort or recKon- Blank s bay mare can Just naturally eat up that cayuse of yourn. "The h she can." This is decided sund therefore nopeful. "I'll bet you " "lt'd be like taking a dead mouse from a mina Kitten. i aon t want your money. Shucks. hy.- if the bay ever hap pened to get started first the sorrel would run over her and perhaps hurt something. THE SUNDAY OR 1 SfW fc Jytk Might even kill the bay, and , then her owner'd lose all of S3." And so it goes. The matter usually haa a conversational death, though once out of a dozen times there is a race. And then there Is always the time honored topic of conversation, the Tail road possibilities In the minstrel show they declared that the local paper, the Bend Bulletin, had built more roads than Hill and Harriman combined. ' , But the Fourth. There were the usual bi-products of an American celebration. The hit-the-nigger-on-the-head establishments., the everlast ing thihgs to eat. edible and otherwise. "Two glasses for a nickel each" was there, and the popcorn and candy folks. The "African Dodger." poor soul, who displayed his head through a hole in a canvas to be hit by whosover cared to i 'exchange . 10 . cents . for. three diminutive baseballs, experienced a run of bad luck certain husky cowboys took an aversion to the Dodger's homely physiognomy, in vested heavily in baseballs " and found their mark with such distressing accu racy and force that the disgruntled Dodger was forced to retire into private life, to the vast enjoyment of the onlook ers. t The parade of the morning was strictly Fourth of July-Ian. Uncle Sam himself was there, together with all. his original daughter states, gaily ensconsed on a lib erty float and escorted by the band and leading lights. This was followed by an address from ex-Congressman Will iamson, who, as a "Bender" remarked, "had " come over from . the village of EGO XI AN, PORTLAND, I '.i 1 & ... f .1 ... '-W-i&t'&.f .; a Prineville to the city of Bend" for the i occasion. At noon occurred the fish barbecue, the grand chef d'oeuvre of the day. Bend prides herself on the wonderful fishing of her. river, and certainly ail those who had come in from the desert and ranges, where the dust is as thick as trout are unknown, appreciated the luxury of the event. Seven hundred pounds of fish speckled trout. Dolly Vardens and "'red sides" cool and firm from the ice. found their way into the huge pans and emerged crisply brown for their last journey down the throats of the hungry picnickere. i A couple of hundred yards from the town, beside an Irrigation ditch and in the shade of the big yellow pines, the fish cookers " had constructed an out-of-door stove, walled with lava rock and covered w-ith sheet iron, upon which were the pans, three and four feet square. Sur rounding the "kitchen" was a rough counter. and for the first half hour the crowd that strove to get the front places in the "bread line" looked for all the world like a bargain counter rush on a Monday morning. If it is true that "too many- cooks spoil the broth." It Is equally axiomatic that the savorlness of the dish depends en tirely upon the "man behind." It takes an experienced hand to care for the cooking of 700 pounds of trout in less than an hour and a half, and a master hand to turn out a perfectproduct. Yet that is what happened at Bend. Every trout was done to a turn, hot. luscious and de cidedly, appetizing. There was . no doubt JULT 11, 1909. N . sir. (.Hi? V' ",.rA ' r-H& MB .r' - -v ? that the master of the' gastronomic' cere monies know' his busines; "Dad" West, veteran of .the Civil' War,, story-teller. animated guidebook to Central Oregon and, most important -of 1 all, camp .cook par "excellence.. It was a good "feed" no doubt about that.- The fishermen. . the cooks and the Deschutes all had done themselves proud. When one considers the matter, there are few towns, even in Oregon, that can supply its guests with trout in plenty, even if they number beyond the three figure mark. And the Deschutes can do all that almost any day. for about all one needs to get a creel-full is the proverbial rod and line and hook, plus a smattering of fish "sense." Then the fat men ' ran a la borious race, despite the food within and the midday heat externally, and well, they broke no records! The distance was a hundred yards, but the strict censorship Qf the judges has made it impossible to publish the time. It was, however, some thing over 10 seconds. The Prineville-Bend ball game came next, wherein the Bend boys so severely defeated the visitors from the county seat that they for a moment ceased- declaring that their home town was sure to be the one and only railroad terminus. Also, it was darkly hinted that they purposely had been persuaded to eat over much. "Buckin' hoss? That?" This with in finite scorn.- "I'd as soon ride a hobbled billy goat." "Would, eh? Well, Just you wait and see him sail." - "How about that one yonder came over from Harney, I hear," OLD FASHIONED CELEBRATION AT BEND, INCLUDING A BARBECUE OF TROUT AND UNCONVEOTOMAL SPORTS "Him? Oh. he's guaranteed to kill six men a minute. Cow punchers over Burns way give him up as a bad job." "Sho. that so? Well, he sure must be something." - "I reckon BlH'll put the leather on him." "Reckon. H , why " Spread such sentiments as these through the crowd, and one has the gen eral' conversation before the bucking con test began. One horse had been brought in from the range country to the East, and seemed to enjoy a first-class reputation as a "bad actor." Thereupon the hopes of the onlookers rose, for a' bit of excit ing riding meets with approval every where. Only temporarily, however, for it soon . became known that the purse seemed too- small to the "Buckaroos," who asked ; for a big raise before they would tackle the proposition. Then there was a bit of growling, which usually came to a speedy finish when the corn-plainer.- was asked, "Why don't you ride the horse- yourself, then?" One old fellow, w-ho had managed to keep on- the first wave of frontier life for half a century, and now bemoaned the fact that '"'twas as dum thick with white folks westerly as back East," said;. "I've seen the time, not so many years ago, .when this hyar country was a respectable place for a man to live in. Ust ter be open ranges, plenty er caows an' liquor, an. a few fellers who warn't afeard to ride any kind of an ornery critter with four legs. But now the hull place ain't nothing but an old ladles' home farming country, garden patches -'stead o' ranges, sheep for caows .and Ice cream sody served In old 'skee - glasses. 'Tis distressing, shore.".. - The old-man was further disappoint ed, as was everyone else, when the broncho contest dwindled down to the riding of one animal, who "pitched" and ducked with some degree of vigor, but entirely failed to impress anybody with. his, "ugliness.". But even a mildly bucking horse, wen ridden as was this one is a pretty sight . to watch, as he rose cavorting about the ground. entirely oblivious of everything; ex cept the-riding of himself or his rider, now bolting. - all but stationary, with store for her.'robs the expectant mother of all pleasant anticipations of the coming event, and casts over her a shadow of gloom which cannot be shaken ofT. Thousands of women have found that the use of Mother's Friend during pregnancy robs confinement of all pain and danger, and insures safety to life of mother and child. This scientific liniment is a God-send to all women at the time of their most critical trial. Not only does Mother's Friend carry women safely through the perils of child-birth, but its use gently prepares the system for the coming event, pre vents "morning sickness", and other , discomforts of thi5 Tierihd So'dby 11 druggists ini! pci iuu. at $l 1)0 per bottle Book of valuable Information fre. THE BRADFIELD REGULATOR CO. Atlanta, Ga. Air- wvj head and neck drawn down betweeu arched fore legs, or up in the air with arched hack, descending stiff-legged in a cloud of dust. And always the "huek aroo" sitting with apparent ease, per haps "quirting." if things are not lively enough for his taste, or slapping his mount over the ears and face with his hat. Horse and pony races brought to a finish the daylight programme. These were run on the main street "Wall street," if you please and. judging by the interests and varied opinions re garding the raceAs. not a little money "changed hands on the streets." As the sun went down the fun was just about to begin, for whoever heard of a celebration wittiout an all-night dance as a "chaser"? A haJf hour's recess gave opportunity to "clean up," change riding boots and baseball shoes for something mora danceable, and attend to the needs of the inner man. These details having been effected and the full moon risen, the dance was on. A large platform had been construct ed for the occasion in the center of the town, lightly roofed with pine boughs, and here the band operated with might and mai-ti while the dancers "balanced to corners." "swung their partners." waltzed and two-stepped for endless hours, until at last the moon and the band went into partnership and struck, leaving them liBhtless and inusicless. And then well, Bend's Fourth of July was over. Bend, Or., July S. Come on Sunday. I been good since vacation come. An' I tended the lawn, I washed my feet ev'ry evening, some. An' I ain't never gone Out doors at night, ner flippin' cars, Ner turtle flshin". An' ain't et them preserves o' ma's' Without permission; So whadda you know about this here An' it ain't no lie I got to go to church this year On the Fourth o' July! Cleveland leader. AuPtria-Hunsary has prohibited the im portation of bran adulterated with mineral Is an. ordeal which all women approach with indescribable fear, for nothing compares with the pain and horror of child birth. The thought of the suffering and danger in MIiMlSjy