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THE ANNUAL SNOWY EXCURSION TO FIND THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS TREE: PG. 1B
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
December 13, 2019
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Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Julie
Adams of Baker City.
BRIEFING
17TH OREGON
LEADERSHIP SUMMIT
IN PORTLAND
Baker County Library’s Historic Photo Website Gets An Update
Help With History
Applicants sought
to fi ll vacancy on
Baker City Council
Baker City residents
interested in serving on
the City Council have
until 4 p.m. on Jan. 6 to
submit an application.
To be eligible, applicants
must be registered to vote
in Oregon, and have lived
within the Baker City limits
for at least 12 months prior
to being appointed. The va-
cancy on the seven-mem-
ber City Council results
from Councilor Ken Gross
resigning at the end of this
month due to his job being
moved. The remaining six
councilors plan to meet
with applicants during a
work session on Jan. 8,
and then to appoint Gross’
replacement on Jan. 14. To
apply, go to www.baker
city.com and download the
City Councilor application.
Submit the application and
a letter of interest to Katie
LaFavor at City Hall, 1655
First St. The person ap-
pointed will serve through
December 2020, and
would be eligible to run
for a four-year term in the
November 2020 election.
WEATHER
Today
39 / 24
Mostly cloudy
Saturday
38 / 21
Mostly cloudy
Sunday
37 / 19
Mostly cloudy
The space below will be
blank on issues delivered
or sold from boxes. The
space is for a postage
label for issues that are
mailed.
Lugging a
freshly cut
grand fi r back
to the rig
Locals
will
attend
summit
By Chris Collins
ccollins@bakercityherald.com
Baker County Library Historic Photo Collection
This photo from 1910 is Gary Dielman’s favorite. The scene is looking north on Baker City’s Main Street from
Valley Avenue.
By Lisa Britton
For the Baker City Herald
Access to Baker County’s history
is richer than ever thanks to an up-
dated program on the Baker County
Library’s website.
The library has preserved historic
photographs for a number of years.
The newest update is Past Perfect
5 and features an easy-to-navigate
menu and search option.
“It’s more user-friendly,” Perry
Stokes, library director, said of the
program.
Access the collection here: https://
bakerlib.pastperfectonline.com/
From the library’s main website,
bakerlib.org, click on “Historic Photos
and Archives” to fi nd the collection.
Gary Dielman is chair of the library
board and has been instrumental in
scanning, researching, and uploading
the photos.
In some cases, that’s quite a process.
Take, for instance, the collection
acquired last spring of photographs
taken by Robert N. Gambs, who
owned a studio in Baker City in the
1930s and ’40s.
The boxes, which very nearly
headed to the trash, were donated
to the library by Gambs’ family. The
seven boxes were full of photographs,
negatives, and keepsakes.
The negatives — about 1,000 —
measure 8 inches by 10 inches. Diel-
man’s scanner can scan only a portion
of those negatives at a time.
“I have to scan it three to four
times,” Dielman said.
Then he uses Photoshop to stitch
“Anybody in the world can go
to this website and get these
pictures.”
— Gary Dielman, chairman,
Baker County Library Board
the image together.
The Gambs collection provides a
glimpse into Baker City life during
the late 1930s to 1950 — an era shy of
photos in the library’s collection.
“It fi lls a gap we didn’t have,” he
said.
Most of the library’s photos date
from 1910 and earlier.
The new program, Dielman said, al-
lows users to enlarge a photo to truly
see the detail. At the bottom right is a
“Request Image” icon where anyone
can access a copy of the photograph.
“Anybody in the world can go to
this website and get these pictures,”
he said.
Stokes said the new program
includes Google indexing, so images
from the library’s collection can turn
in up a Google search.
Obtaining a copy of a photograph
is free because all the photos were
donated to the library, Dielman said.
The images can also be download-
ed directly from the website.
The home page allows searching
by location, such as the 1700 block
of Main Street, or 10th Street. Other
categories are Small Towns, Ghost
Towns, Mining Districts, and Other
Topics. Each has a more specifi c list
beneath the heading.
Access The
Collection
THERE ARE 2 OPTIONS:
• type this address into your
browser:
https://bakerlib.pastperfectonline.
com/
• go to the Baker County Library
District’s website, www.bakerlib.
org, and click on “Historic Photos
& Archives”
The photo fi les contain a title,
description, date, and photographer
— if that information accompanied
the photo or could be found through
research.
The collection’s main page is
accented by a photograph Dielman
chose for a simple reason.
“It’s my favorite picture,” he said.
“It’s a great picture of Baker City in
1910.”
The photo (see above) captures
Main Street looking north from
Valley Avenue. A woman is walking
up the middle of the street and a
man in a carriage is tipping his hat
to her.
Stokes said 200 of the library’s
photographs are also available on
the Washington Rural Heritage
database, which is a project of the
Washington State Library and soon
also the Oregon State Library.
See Photos/Page 2A
Baker County Library Historic Photo Collection
An 1884 Hazeltine photo of the covered wagon, old couple, four kids, and motley livestock pulling their
wagon.
TODAY
Issue 103, 14 pages
Calendar ....................2A
Classified ............. 3B-6B
Comics ....................... 7B
Community News ....3A
Crossword ........3B & 6B
Dear Abby ................. 8B
Horoscope ........3B & 6B
Jayson Jacoby ..........4A
News of Record ........2A
Obituaries ..................2A
Opinion ......................4A
Outdoors ................... 1B
A contingent of about 20
Baker County residents
representing a wide range
of government agencies,
businesses and economic
development interests will
travel to Portland Sunday
to participate in Monday’s
17th Oregon Leadership
Summit in Portland.
Mark Witty, Baker School
District superintendent,
said he led the charge to
gather the group and to
focus the session on eco-
nomic opportunities. Those
making the trip west will
offer their perspectives of
how collaboration between
public and private enti-
ties is needed to restore a
middle class economy to
rural communities.
“The idea is to fi gure out
ways the school district, pri-
vate industry and local gov-
ernment agencies can work
together for the betterment
of economic development in
Baker County,” Witty said.
The trip is being spon-
sored jointly by the Baker
School District, Umpqua
Bank and the Oregon Trail
Electric Cooperative to pay
the $150 registration fee
and cover motel expenses,
Witty said.
See Summit/Page 5A
Facility
committee
to discuss
B2H plan
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
PENDLETON — The
Oregon Energy Facility
Siting Council will discuss
the proposed Boardman to
Hemingway (B2H) power
transmission line, which
would run through Baker
County, when it meets next
week at Pendleton.
The Council, which is
reviewing Idaho Power
Company’s application to
build the 293-mile, 500-ki-
lovolt line, will convene at 5
p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 19,
at the Red Lion Inn, 304
S.E. Nye Ave. The Council
will reconvene there at 8
a.m. on Friday, Dec. 20.
Council members will
discuss comments received
on the draft proposed order
authorizing construction of
the line, which could start
in 2023, as well as Idaho
Power’s responses to those
comments.
See Power Line/Page 3A
Senior Menus ...........2A
Sports ........................6A
Weather ..................... 8B
MONDAY — BAKER BOYS, GIRLS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT RESULTS