NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, March 31, 2022
Oregon Trail interpretive site receives noteworthy additions
By DICK MASON The
Observer
LA GRANDE — Four
years ago, Dale Counsell
and his son, Scott, found an
unforgettable link, not to an
internet website but to an
era when digital technology
still was the stuff of science
fiction.
The Counsells were in
Ladd Canyon on their fami-
ly’s ranching land when Scott
Counsell spotted a metal
chain link sticking up from
the ground and told his father.
Curious, the Counsells began
digging. What they found
was not precious metal but
something else to treasure:
a horse-drawn logging sled
Dale Counsell said was used
by a family who had owned
the land as homesteaders in
the late 1800s.
Nobody knows how long
the sled had been buried, but
it was obvious the time under-
ground had taken its toll.
“It was in terrible shape,”
Dale Counsell said.
A skilled craftsman who
loves history, Dale Coun-
sell then refurbished the sled
by replacing its wood while
retaining its metal elements.
Today, the sled is on public
display as one of the latest
additions to an Oregon Trail
interpretive site on Hot Lake
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
Ronnie Allen poses for a photo March 21, 2022, near a newly restored logging sled at an Or-
egon Trail site in Lower Ladd Canyon south of La Grande. Allen and Dale Counsell, both of La
Grande, created the interpretive site five years ago and are continuing to add to it.
Lane, 2 miles west of the
Lodge at Hot Lake Springs.
The sled is loaded with logs
from tree species common to
Union County — white fir,
lodgepole pine and tamarack,
also known as western larch.
“The job Dale did restor-
ing that sled is incredi-
ble,” said Ronnie Allen, of
La Grande, who with Dale
Counsell created the Lower
Ladd Canyon Oregon Trail
site five years ago.
The interpretive site is
about a mile from the base
of Lower Ladd Canyon Hill.
Allen said Oregon Trail
pioneers came off the hill
directly to where the inter-
pretive site is located.
In the mid-1800s, Oregon
Trail pioneers made over-
night stops at the location,
he said. Allen estimates
that from 1843 through the
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early 1860s, between one
and five wagons were at the
site continuously during the
summer months.
The sled now at the site
likely was used not only to
transport trees but also hay,
supplies and people, Coun-
sell said.
The logging sled is one of
several significant additions
made to the Oregon Trail
site during the past month.
Other additions include an
ox yoke, donated by Craig’s
Antiques, of La Grande, that
was used by oxen to pull a
wagon across the Oregon
Trail, Allen said.
“It shows heavy wear
consistent with pulling
covered wagons over the
Oregon Trail,” he said.
Yokes, like the one
displayed, were wooden
beams nor mally used
between a pair of oxen to
enable them to pull together
on a load when working in
pairs.
Oxen are regarded as the
unheralded heroes of the
Oregon Trail, Allen said. He
noted that the vast majority of
the pioneers coming West on
the Oregon Trail used oxen
instead of horses. Pioneers
preferred them because they
are calmer and easier to work
with than horses.
“They are not as tempera-
mental as horses,” Allen said.
Pioneers took excellent
care of their oxen, Allen said,
because they knew that with-
out the animals, they would
be in dire circumstances.
Oxen sometimes drank
water from wooden buckets
on the Oregon Trail when
they could not be taken to
streams or springs. The buck-
ets pioneers used to bring
water to their oxen were
Rescuer, family fret over missing dog
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
Times of clouds
and sun
Warmer with
clouds and sun
54° 33°
61° 42°
Breezy in the
morning
Times of sun and
clouds
Becoming windier
and cooler
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
60° 35°
64° 44°
57° 40°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
60° 34°
64° 45°
63° 36°
67° 47°
OREGON FORECAST
61° 41°
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
52/41
48/30
60/31
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
55/36
Lewiston
54/38
62/34
Astoria
50/37
Pullman
Yakima 60/31
54/35
55/35
Portland
Hermiston
56/39
The Dalles 60/34
Salem
Corvallis
56/35
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
48/27
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
57/35
52/29
49/28
Ontario
59/31
Caldwell
Burns
59°
46°
62°
37°
79° (2003) 16° (1954)
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
55/34
0.00"
0.89"
0.74"
1.95"
1.73"
2.74"
WINDS (in mph)
57/30
53/20
0.00"
1.16"
1.33"
3.60"
3.34"
4.02"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 44/23
56/36
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
54/33
61/37
57°
44°
59°
37°
79° (1964) 19° (1936)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
54/36
Aberdeen
52/32
56/34
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
53/41
Today
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
62/35
Fri.
WSW 6-12
W 7-14
SW 6-12
W 4-8
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
55/23
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
New
6:38 a.m.
7:22 p.m.
6:47 a.m.
6:58 p.m.
First
Full
WALLOWA — Have you
seen an errant, dark-brown
and white bull terrier running
loose in the Wallowa area?
That could be Petey, who has
been missing from his foster
family since March 22.
Tracy Boose, services
manager for Bull Terrier
Rescue Inc. PNW, said the
foster family was out shed
hunting in Wallowa with
Petey, and the dog escaped to
chase some deer.
“I think they were not
paying close enough attention
and he had a leash on that was
too loose and he was able to
get out of it and took after the
deer,” Boose said.
Based in Puyallup, Wash-
ington, she said her organi-
zation fosters out dogs all
over Oregon, Western Idaho,
Washington and part of Brit-
ish Columbia, Canada.
“He came from an area in
Oregon where he was living
on a ranch and had done really
well there,” Boose said.
She learned Mia Kennon of
Wallowa was looking to foster
a bull terrier and Petey had
been with the Kennon family
for a month and a half.
Tracy Boose/Contributed Photo
Petey, a 5-6-year-old bull
terrier, went missing from
his foster family in the Wal-
lowa area March 22, 2022.
“I thought he’d be a great
dog for her to foster,” Boose
said.
Her organization regu-
larly finds families interested
in “fostering to adopt.” That
means Bull Terrier Rescue
provides food and pays any
veterinarian bills, while a
foster family provides a home
and “just loves the dog.”
She said the Kennons were
seriously thinking of keeping
Petey. BTR insists a family
does a trial adoption of at least
30 days.
“Sometimes they fall in
love with the dog and keep
him,” Boose said. “We try to
match the dog with the home
and the people.”
IN BRIEF
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 98° in McAllen, Texas Low 0° in Saranac Lake, N.Y.
Mar 31
Apr 8
Apr 16
Apr 23
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Walla Walla firefighter
charged with child sex crimes
WALLA WALLA — Anthony Spada, 46, a
Walla Walla firefighter and paramedic accused
of child molestation, has been formally charged
by County Prosecutor James Nagle’s office,
court documents show.
The formal charges — first-degree child
molestation, second-degree child molestation
and communication with a minor for immoral
purposes — match the booking charges for
Spada’s arrest on March 23 by the Walla Walla
County Sheriff’s Office.
First-degree child molestation is a Class
A felony in Washington with a maximum
sentence of life in prison. Second-degree child
molestation is a Class B felony with a maxi-
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-0s
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showers t-storms
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flurries
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ice
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cold front
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mum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Communication with a minor for immoral
purposes is a misdemeanor.
Spada is due back in court Monday, April 4,
for arraignment.
The probable cause affidavit shows Spada
is accused of inappropriately touching a minor
whom he knows, as well as showing the minor
pornographic content.
Spada was released on his own recogni-
zance March 24. He has been ordered not to
have any unsupervised contact with minors.
Spada, who has worked for Walla Walla
since 2003, has been placed on administrative
leave, instructed to stay out of city offices and to
not contact city employees, pending the Sheriff’s
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CORRECTIONS: The article “Cold night in the canyon” in the Tuesday, March 29,
edition of the East Oregonian misstated the date of the helicopter rescue of two men
from a deep canyon. The correct date was July 2, 2021.
The Tuesday, March 28, article “Pendleton World War II guardhouses under threat”
misstated when the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport Commission meets. The commis-
sion’s next meeting is on April 20.
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After a placement, she
keeps in touch with the family
to make sure everything
works out.
“I want to make sure the
dog’s going to be happy there
and they’re going to be happy
with the dog,” she said.
Boose said Petey is
believed to be 5-6 years old.
“Petey is friendly, neutered
and current on vaccinations,”
she said. “He likes most other
dogs and livestock. He will
chase a cat for the chase, but
has never hurt one.”
She said she’s been in
contact with local authori-
ties, including the Wallowa
County Humane Society, the
Wallowa County Sheriff’s
Office, the Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife, the
Oregon Department of Trans-
portation “and anybody we
can think of.”
Boose said she’s losing
sleep over his being missing.
“I’ve never lost a dog in 30
years,” she said. “The longest
I’ve ever had a dog lost is 90
minutes. He’s eight hours
away and in the wilderness.
… I am beyond frantic.”
Anyone with information
on Petey should contact Boose
at 253-341-6632 or by email at
rcrtracyb@gmail.com.
Last
NATIONAL EXTREMES
-10s
virtually identical to a bucket
that was also recently added
to the Oregon Trail interpre-
tive site, Allen said.
It is easy for visitors to the
site to get a feel for the type
of wagon oxen pulled across
the West for it has two repli-
cas of them. Both are farm
wagons more than 100 years
old that are like those used on
the Oregon Trail. Allen said
farm wagons started being
used on the Oregon Trail
due to a shortage of the more
popular Conestoga wagons.
No actual wagons in which
pioneers traveled across
the Oregon Trail still exist,
Allen said. He explained by
the time pioneers made it to
Oregon, most wagons were
in terrible condition. Those
that were functional were
used for farm work until they
worn out. And after about five
years of farm work, he said,
“they were useless.”
Allen, who received a
Distinguished Service Award
in 2019 from the Northwest
chapter of the Oregon-Cali-
fornia Trails Association for
his work in helping create the
Oregon Trail interpretive site
in Lower Ladd Canyon, said
there will be more additions
to the center in the future.
“It is an ongoing project,”
he said. “There really will be
no end to it.”
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