41 ATHLETES COMPETE IN GOLD RUSH RUN
The
PAGE A10
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
Wednesday, June 12, 2019
151st Year • No. 24 • 18 Pages • $1.00
BlueMountainEagle.com
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
Jack Southworth explains why he planted
turnips on pasture land at his ranch near
Seneca as part of a USDA Natural Resources
and Conservation Services tour on May 15.
Building up soil at
Southworth Ranch
Bear Valley rancher continues
heritage of testing techniques
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Bear Valley cattle rancher Jack South-
worth kept 18 rangeland and soil science
professionals on their toes as they toured his
ranch near Seneca May 15.
Southworth had as many questions for
them as they did for him as he described
his approach to maintaining and improv-
ing grass on land his family settled on in the
1880s.
The USDA Natural Resources and Con-
servation Service hosted the Grazing Land
Soil Health Field Tour across Eastern Ore-
gon. Participants came from Oregon,
Washington, South Dakota, Wyoming and
Montana.
Short seasons
The Southworth Ranch began in 1885 as
a sawmill and grew into a town with a post
offi ce and stage stop. The town later moved
a mile or so south, and the land became a cat-
tle ranch.
Seneca has the offi cial record for the
coldest temperature in Oregon — negative
54 degrees in 1933. Cold soils cut down on
cheatgrass and medusahead grass, but it isn’t
Bear Valley’s notorious cold winters that
limit grass growth, Southworth said — it’s
the short growing season.
At 4,690 feet elevation, the harsh reali-
ties are a short 45-day growing season with
the threat of frost every month, Southworth
said. Precipitation is limited to less than 15
inches, with most of that in the winter.
One of Southworth’s top goals for his
grass land is moisture retention. He expects
to see warmer and drier conditions this year,
and capturing and storing moisture is key to
growing grass — which in turn feeds cattle.
Soil armor
Armoring the soil is No. 1 among the
fi ve principles of soil health, which are pro-
moted by the NRCS. Soil armor will protect
soil from wind or water erosion, and it will
reduce soil evaporation.
Southworth demonstrated his approach to
armoring soil at a pasture that was replanted
in 2012. The brown soil between the bunch-
grass left by the seed drill needs to be
See Ranch, Page A18
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
Matt Krrumenauer, left, and Joe Koerner from Restoration Fuels LLC stand next to a triple-pass rotary dryer that will be repurposed for
use as a torrefi er kiln at the torrefaction plant in John Day.
TORREFACTION ACTION
Construction underway for $15M biomass plant in John Day
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
P
rogress is being made on construc-
tion of a $15.5 million torrefaction
plant at the Malheur Lumber Co.
mill in John Day. The plant could
be running by September, Matt
Krumenauer, vice president of special proj-
ects for the U.S. Endowment for Forestry
and Communities, told the Eagle.
“This is the largest single investment in
John Day since the Malheur Lumber Co.
mill was built,” he said.
The Endowment is the parent entity of
Restoration Fuels, which will operate the
plant. Work on concrete foundations and
utilities began earlier this year, Krumenauer
said.
“That’s the hardest part,” he said. “After
that, you just put everything in place and
bolt it together.”
The Oregon Department of Environmental
See Plant, Page A18
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
A handful of briquettes made from
torrefi ed wood at a research facility in
Louisville, Kentucky.
Celebrating ’62 Days
Festivities include
parade, bed race,
mock shooting
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Beautiful, sunny skies
greeted visitors and partici-
pants at this year’s ‘62 Days
Celebration in Canyon City,
marking the discovery of gold
in Canyon Creek in 1862.
Families gathered in the
downtown city park between
events or checked out the vis-
iting vendors.
The parade moved down the
highway at 11 a.m. with dirt
bike stunts, a smoking 1927
Model T, queens and prin-
cesses on horseback and the
Whiskey Gulch Gang can-can
girls. Gary Gregg, the 2019
parade grand marshal, and his
wife, Loleita, rode in Del Ray-
mond’s Wild West stagecoach.
“We invite everyone to
participate in the parade
next year,” parade organizer
Melissa Galbreath said. “We
Eagle photos/Richard Hanners
Gary Gregg, the 2019 grand marshal for the ‘62 Days parade in
Canyon City, and his wife, Loleita, ride in a stagecoach driven by
Del Raymond.
would love to see more horses,
mules, family fl oats, organiza-
tions and businesses.”
At 2 p.m., with 200 wit-
Three young prospectors get ready for the ‘62 Days parade
in Canyon City.
nesses present, a cowboy
stumbled out of Sels Brew-
ery and was accused of steal-
ing a horse. He ran back inside
to fi nd his pistol and returned
to a hail of gunfi re. Standing
on the gallows charged with
shooting an unarmed man, the
horse thief replied, “He had
two arms.”
When they weren’t climb-
ing on the playground equip-
ment or panning for gold,
children competed in a water-
melon eating contest or dug for
treasure in a wood shavings pit
on Washington Street.
Peggy Murphy reported 80
visitors at the Grant County
Historical Museum, and most
of them likely toured Mayor
Steve Fischer’s historic home
— a former schoolhouse.
The bed race took off with
eight adult entries and four
kids entries at 3 p.m. Jeshua,
Kaleb and Ethan Sheedy col-
lected a $25 prize for fi rst-
place in the children’s contest.
For the adults, Jessica Knowles
and Kennedy and Etoile Benge
placed fi rst for $35.
The hardest task was climb-
ing into oversized pajamas at
See Celebrate, Page A18
With hands behind their backs, children compete in the watermelon
eating contest during ‘62 Days in Canyon City on June 8.