NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Tuesday, December 15, 2020
Train traffi c set to return to Wallowa County
Bridge work will
open up rail line
By DICK MASON
La Grande Observer
WALLOWA COUNTY
— Trains could be moving
again in a major portion of
Wallowa County.
Passenger
excursion
train service, derailed, the
past three years because of
weak bridges at Howard
Creek and Water Canyon,
could be rolling in Wallowa
County in the near future
thanks to the efforts of the
Wallowa Union Railroad. A
new footing has been put in
at Howard Creek Bridge, 6
miles southwest of Minam,
replacing one that fl ooding
washed out about two years
ago. And the replacement of
the old bridge at Water Can-
yon, 5 miles south of Wal-
lowa, almost is complete.
The bridge needed replacing
because of its declining con-
dition due to its age.
‘We are very happy with
how the project is working
out. This opens up a lot of
options for us,” said David
Arnold of Elgin, vice pres-
ident of the Friends of the
Joseph Branch, a volunteer
organization that promotes
the development of train ser-
vice in Wallowa County.
The replacement of the
Friends of the Joseph Branch/Contributed Photo
A truck pours concrete recently to help put in a new footing at the Howard Creek Bridge in Wallowa County.
footing at Howard Creek
was done with concrete from
a truck that a railroad fl at car
transported to the site due to
the obstructions on the road
to the bridge.
“Clearing the road would
have been too expensive,”
Arnold said.
Trains will not be able
to run in Wallowa County
until the bridges at Howard
Creek and Water Canyon
pass Oregon Department of
Transportation inspections.
Arnold said he anticipates
the bridges will easily pass
the inspections.
“We have been working
closely with ODOT through-
out this process,” he said.
The restoration work
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
Cloudy, a shower
in the p.m.
Rain and drizzle in
the p.m.
Mostly cloudy with
a shower
Clouds, a shower in
the p.m.
Mostly cloudy and
mild
started about three months
ago.
The total cost of bridge
work at Howard Creek
and Water Canyon will be
$160,000. The work was
paid for by a $50,000 grant
from ODOT and $110,000
from the Wallowa Union
Railroad.
Arnold also said he is
EOU earns high marks for
inclusive education programs
East Oregonian
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
45° 38°
47° 39°
48° 34°
51° 39°
47° 38°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
44° 35°
45° 38°
51° 33°
52° 37°
44° 36°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
50/44
Kennewick Walla Walla
45/39
Lewiston
49/43
45/36
Astoria
51/44
38/34
40/29
Longview
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Pullman
Yakima 38/31
49/42
43/38
Portland
Hermiston
48/44
The Dalles 44/35
Salem
Corvallis
50/40
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
38/33
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
50/42
45/31
37/29
Ontario
35/27
37/27
34/25
0.01"
0.02"
0.71"
3.96"
5.05"
9.21"
WINDS (in mph)
Caldwell
Burns
42°
34°
39°
27°
68° (2002) -7° (1972)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
50/41
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 39/33
49/43
0.01"
0.05"
0.64"
12.24"
12.00"
12.15"
HERMISTON
Enterprise
45/38
43/36
42°
31°
39°
26°
64° (2002) -22° (1919)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
49/42
Aberdeen
37/32
35/30
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
49/45
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
44/36
Today
Wed.
SW 6-12
S 7-14
NE 4-8
SSE 6-12
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
36/25
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2020
7:29 a.m.
4:12 p.m.
8:44 a.m.
5:17 p.m.
First
Full
Last
New
Dec 21
Dec 29
Jan 6
Jan 12
“very optimistic” that Wal-
lowa can be a site for the
expanding operations of
the WUR’s excursion train,
which would run from
Joseph to Elgin. And he said
he’s hopeful a ticket offi ce or
a small depot can be added in
Wallowa for excursion train
passengers in the future.
“We need a place for pas-
sengers to wait,” Arnold
said.
The Wallowa Union Rail-
road, which has headquar-
ters in Elgin, has operated
excursion trains along the
track from Elgin to Vincent,
23 miles east of Elgin, in
recent years. Wallowa Union
Railroad has not conducted
excursion train runs in 2020
because of the COVID-19
pandemic.
The reopening of the rail
line in Wallowa County also
will expand the number of
cars the Wallowa Union
Railroad can store at railroad
sidings. Arnold said the new
capacity would be between
200 and 400.
The bridge restoration
work also opens the possi-
bility for businesses in Wal-
lowa County to use the rail-
road for freight train service
again, something that has
not been done for about six
years. Arnold said Wallowa
businesses have expressed
interest in shipping wood
products and beef via rail.
Arnold said Wallowa would
be one of the best towns in
the county for shipping out
freight via rail because it has
the largest intact portion of
land zoned for industrial use.
Arnold said this means
it would be easier for busi-
nesses to set up distribution
sites to move products out of
Wallowa County.
LA GRANDE — Diver-
sity and cultural inclusion are
woven throughout all of the
education programs offered
at Eastern Oregon Univer-
sity, a practice that recently
earned the university national
recognition.
The College of Education
at EOU includes some of the
school’s most distinguished
programs. This year, the col-
lege’s Early Childhood Edu-
cation program received an
“A” in diversity from the
National Council on Teacher
Quality.
The Early Childhood Edu-
cation program has also been
named Best Online Early
Childhood Education Degree
Programs (31st) and Top 30
Affordable Early Childhood
Education Degree Online
Programs (bachelor’s).
“We just got ranked fourth
in the nation for early child-
hood program affordabil-
ity, and we tied with two and
three. Out of all the early
childhood
undergraduate
programs in the nation, EOU
is No. 4,” Dean of the College
of Education Matt Seimears
said.
Seimears is excited about
potential new developments
in the College of Education,
including efforts to respond
to Special Education teacher
“THIS IS HARVARD
IN THE PACIFIC
NORTHWEST.
WE JUST HAVE
TO HELP THE
STUDENTS HELP
US TELL THE
STORY.”
— Matt Seimears, EOU dean
of the College of Education
shortages and the new con-
centration in trauma-invested
teaching offered through the
Master of Science in Educa-
tion program.
Seimears said the univer-
sity is working to develop
anti-racism classes and cur-
riculum for PK-12 education
partners and also address
systemic racism students face
in higher education. A panel
of EOU students will serve
as an advisory panel on the
project.
“Teaching to diversity
is one thing, but making a
diverse model is challenging
in a complicated way. You
need the right equipment, the
right faculty, the right mind-
sets and we’re doing that,”
Seimears said.
Faculty in the College of
Education continue to explore
innovative ways to retain edu-
cation students and offer pro-
grams that empower students
to help shape their education.
Based on all of the recog-
nition and national rankings
the College of Education has
received, Seimears believes
EOU will continue to provide
students with high quality
programs and be even more
of an asset to the rural com-
munities it serves.
“This is Harvard in the
Pacifi c Northwest,” he said.
“We just have to help the stu-
dents help us tell the story.”
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 86° in Boca Raton, Fla. Low -24° in Willow City, N.D.
IN BRIEF
Interstate 84 closes for
about four hours
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
BAKER CITY — Interstate 84 was
closed for about four hours on Sunday, Dec.
13, after several commercial trucks crashed
on the snow-slickened freeway in the curvy
Burnt River Canyon between Baker City and
Huntington.
The trouble started around 6:40 p.m.
when a westbound commercial truck, tow-
ing a 53-foot trailer, jackknifed near Mile-
post 345, about 41 miles southeast of Baker
City.
According to a report from OSP Trooper
Tim Schuette, the truck, driven by Dhar-
minder Singh, 29, crashed into the concrete
divider separating the westbound and east-
bound lanes, pushing multiple barriers into
the eastbound lanes.
The truck and trailer combination blocked
both westbound lanes, and several other vehi-
cles subsequently crashed, on both the west-
bound and eastbound lanes, “as a result of
the blockage,” Schuette wrote in his report.
“Speed is the primary factor for the
crash,” he wrote.
His report doesn’t list any injuries.
The freeway was closed in both direc-
tions between Baker City and Ontario.
The eastbound lanes reopened around
11:45 p.m., and the westbound lanes about
12:40 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 14, said Tom
Strandberg, a spokesman for the Oregon
Department of Transportation.
OSP troopers responded to at least fi ve
other vehicle crashes on the freeway near
Baker City on Dec. 13. None involved seri-
ous injuries, according to OSP reports.
— EO Media Group
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
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-0s
0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
ice
50s
60s
cold front
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