A8
Out of the Past
Blue Mountain Eagle
75 years ago
June 26, 1942
No New Licenses: Protect
Old Ones
Keep your present license
plates clean and in good con-
dition because there will be no
new ones available next year,
according to the Oregon State
Motor Association, which re-
ports that license designations
during 1943 will be by spe-
cial stickers. Registration will
be similar to that employed in
the past but the licensee will
receive a sticker instead of a
plate. These will be numbered
and the car will be identifi ed
with that number in the state
records. It is important that
title transfers and clearances
be completed without delay
so that the vehicle owner may
have proper papers to pres-
ent when licensing the car.
The Motor Association offers
the follow suggestions for the
maintenance of license plates:
Clean the plates carefully and
thoroughly, being certain to re-
move all traces of oil and road
tar. Cover the plate with shel-
lac, varnish or similar protec-
tive material. Be sure that the
plate is fastened securely to the
automobile so that it will not be
lost. Record the number of the
plates so that proper authorities
can be notifi ed in case of loss
or theft. Those authorities are
the local and state police, and
the state license department.
50 years ago
June 29, 1967
Monument Named Top
Site For Corps Project
Monument was named as
one of the three most promis-
ing sites for a reservoir project
by the Army Corps of Engi-
neers for the lower John Day
river basin at a Monday meet-
ing at the Alec Gay Hall.
Frank Parsons, of the Wal-
la Walla district, listed Monu-
ment on the North Fork, Butte
Creek on the main stem, and a
site not yet defi nitively estab-
lished near the mouth of the
John Day as feasible projects.
The main benefi ts provid-
ed by these project would be
power, irrigation, fl ood con-
trol and recreation.
“From our studies so far,
these projects appear to be
well justifi ed economically.
We have not gone into de-
tailed design yet and the prob-
lem of passing fi sh has not
been investigated. This will
be studied with the hope that
an acceptable solution can be
found,” said Parsons.
Mapping of the Monu-
ment and Butte Creek sites is
nearly completed. It will be
three months before drilling is
completed on Butte Creek and
Monument.
“We plan to have the second
phase of this study completed
in about a year. We will then
write and submit our report on
the whole basin, including the
fi ndings of the Bureau Recla-
mation,” said Parsons.
The Corps is conducting
three investigations in the John
Day basin. One is a fl ood con-
trol project on the John Day
River and Canyon Creek; the
second is a fl ood control project
on Beech Creek in Mt. Vernon;
and the other is a survey report
covering the entire basin.
25 years ago
June 25, 1992
Every other Monday in John Day at
Blue Mountain Hospital
170 Ford Rd. • 541-575-1311
“Fanny” entertains at
chamber ceremony
The Grant County Chamber
of Commerce held its Annual
Awards Banquet on Wednes-
day at the John Day Elks
Lodge, featuring a presentation
by a woman who is the closest
most of us will come to meet-
ing a pioneer woman of the Or-
egon Trail.
“Fanny,” aka Joyce Smith,
is a compilation character
based on an Oregon Trail diary
and journal entries researched
from Oregon Historical So-
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Eagle file photo
From June 29, 1967: GEOLOGY TOUR – Congressman
Al Ullman discusses some of the geological features of
Sheep Rock for a national monument proposal with J.A.
Shotwell, paleontologist from the University of Oregon.
Shotwell is a consultant for the National Park Service,
who are studying the areas in Grant and Wheeler
counties for the park proposal.
ciety, Idaho Historical Soci-
ety, Baker County Library
Archives, oral histories from
Eastern Oregon and a multi-
tude of published works deal-
ing with the Oregon Trail.
Fanny appears on stage in
authentic Oregon Trail costum-
ing – her great-grandmother’s
work dress and bonnet – with
Oregon Trail-era props. She
speaks fi rst person with her
audience about her Oregon
Trail experience, detailing
not only the physical journey
of 2,000 miles, but also the
emotional and psychological
journey those 2,000 miles de-
manded. She compares life in
rural Missouri society to life on
the Trail, and what she under-
stands life to be in “this new
Oregon country” from a typi-
cally female perspective.
“I remember the day like
it was yesterday…rockin’ on
the porch, children runnin’ all
’round me. ‘What a fi ne life
this is,’ I was thinkin’…Then
Theo (her husband) drove up in
the buggy and said, ‘Fanny, sell
everything you can’t pack in a
wagon, I’ve sold the farm and
we’re headed to Oregon…’”
And with that, Smith, exec-
utive director of the Oregon
Trail Preservation Trust, brings
her audience back 130 years.
10 years ago
June 27, 2007
The Can Man
Derral Dew has found
a hobby in collecting what
many folks carelessly toss
from their cars.
More than 20 years ago, he
and his kids began collecting
cans from the roadsides of
Eastern Oregon. The result
was some spare change from
the returnables and an impres-
sive collection of more than
2,000 cans and bottles – each
different from the others – lin-
ing the walls of his workshop.
It all started on a whim,
when he and wife Esther were
taking trips back and forth
to Portland with their kids.
“Across the wheat country,
they’d start to get bored,” he
said. “So we started counting
cans.”
They saw so many, they
decided to try picking up
some cans. One weekend,
Dew and his sons, Darren and
Barry, took the pickup truck
and two bicycles up to Dixie
Summit. They started a relay,
dropping the bikes and riders
at one spot, parking the truck
at another, and collecting cans
in between.
They got to Brogan Hill
the fi rst day, and went all the
way to Vale the second. The
fi rst trip produced some 2,800
cans. “It didn’t pay for gas
and wages, but it was sure fun
doing it,” he said.
The collectors took their
bags of cans to the local dis-
tributors and sorted them by
brand. As they sorted, they
noticed some unique designs
and set those cans aside. That
was the start of an impress-
ible collection. The workshop
he had built on the farm had
walls with open studs, so he
placed boards in between as
shelves for the keeper cans.
Dew and sons continued to
collect, usually garnering
1,000 cans or more each trip.
Most were cashed in, but the
odd ones went back to the
shop.
Later, Dew built racks to
accommodate the bottles that
began joining the collection.
Today a couple of racks hold
about 100 old glass Coke
bottles, many of them from
the days when Coca-Cola
stamped the city of origin into
the glass bottom.
Church Services In Grant County
Come Worship with us at