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Blue Mountain Eagle
Compliance
Grant School District Superinten-
dent Brett Uptmor said the schools in
the district would have a curriculum
that meets the standards by the end of
the school year.
Rookstool said My Future-My
Choice is funded through a grant, and
other schools would not have to pay
her for the service.
Grant County Education Service
District Business Manager Stacie Hol-
mstrom said the program currently
has about $5,000 in funding.
Rookstool said, for many of the
students, sex ed classes are the only
place where they can learn and talk
about the topics the curriculum covers.
“Seventh-grade kids have not
received any sexuality education for
a year,” Rookstool said. “There needs
to be a human sexuality curriculum
every year.”
According to Humboldt Ele-
mentary Principal Darbie Denni-
Continued from Page A1
resources are scarce, the teacher said
the responsibility falls on the teachers.
Heather Rookstool, county coor-
dinator for My Future-My Choice, a
sex ed curriculum that fills the gaps
in the district’s curriculum, told the
school board she taught the curricu-
lum to seventh- and eighth-graders at
Grant Union during spring semester
last year.
Ryan Gerry, Grant Union
Junior-Senior High School principal,
said at the middle school and high
school level, the school is in compli-
ance with state.
“We have an adopted curriculum
that has been approved by the state,
and this curriculum is implemented
at both the middle school and high
school level,” said Gerry.
Wednesday, January 29, 2020
son, Rookstool will begin teaching a
fifth- and sixth-grade My Future-My
Choice class. Dennison said parents
will be notified and given the option
to pull their kids from the class.
Rookstool said it is rare that par-
ents pull their kids from the course in
the eight years that she has taught the
curriculum.
“Most parents are grateful that we
teach their kids about these topics,” she
said. “These are uncomfortable conver-
sations for a lot of parents and kids, but
at the same time they are necessary.”
My Future-My Choice takes a “pos-
itive youth development” approach to
teaching the curriculum where half of
the course is taught by teens.
Fallen Bolman, a senior at Grant
Union, has been teaching the curric-
ulum for three years with Rookstool.
Bolman teaches the portion of the cur-
riculum that covers bullying preven-
tion and healthy relationships.
Mining
a small one, can destroy all that
history.”
The race against time is two-
fold: These sites need to be doc-
umented before they’re burned
away. And they need to be
located before they’re destroyed
by thinning operations.
There’s a problem, though.
There are no reliable records of
the locations of Chinese mines.
After the Exclusion Act, many
worked off-the-books. But a few
years ago, as part of a program
to identify areas that are likely to
burn in a wildfire, the Forest Ser-
vice used a low-flying plane to
get LIDAR images of the area.
LIDAR is an imaging technol-
ogy that maps the ground with
incredible accuracy, catching
differences in elevation of just a
few inches.
For archaeologists, that’s all
they need. Because the Chinese
miners did more than dig for
gold: They shaped the landscape.
Their aqueducts crisscrossed the
mountains for miles. They con-
structed reservoirs that held and
released water in the driest parts
of summer. They built streams
where there were none, and the
massive rock piles left behind
after excavations, called tailings,
formed mounds as well as deep,
miles-long ditches.
“Before, we thought we had
maybe 1,000 to 2,000 acres of
mining area. Now we’re looking
at 7,000 to 8,000,” Hann said.
In recent years, a lot of mis-
conceptions about the Chinese
in Oregon have been corrected
— the extent of the mining oper-
ations, who was running the
mines. And even when histori-
ans began to acknowledge the
role the Chinese played in Ore-
gon mining, Hann said many
still assumed that Chinese min-
ers were laborers working for
white-owned mining companies.
But that wasn’t the case.
They ran their own compa-
nies, and as many as 70% of the
miners in the area could have
been Chinese.
“The fact that these pop-
ulations aren’t represented
now means that it’s even more
important for us to understand
their historical contribution and
acknowledge it,” Rose said.
“That’s how we can start to own
up, and make up for the wrongs
that were done to these early
immigrant populations.”
Despite all those barriers,
though, Chinese people thrived
for a time in Oregon. They built
infrastructure, established com-
munities and funneled gold into
the economy. And then, a suite
of policies, targeting one ethnic
group, erased much of their his-
tory. Racism and animosity did
the rest. But it doesn’t change
their presence.
They lived and worked and
made friends and built lives,
Rose said.
“Their stories deserve to be
told.”
Continued from Page A1
“If you look at the popu-
lation of Chinese residents [in
Grant County], in the 1860s up
through the turn of the century,
there would be a lot of folks
here,” Rose said. “There’s not
now, and there’s a reason for
that.”
The reason is the Chinese
Exclusion Act, an 1882 law that
prohibited the immigration of
Chinese workers to the United
States. It was the first law ever
passed that was aimed at block-
ing a specific ethnic group’s
entry into the U.S.
Their mining claims were
taken. Their property was seized,
and they were prohibited from
purchasing new property. Their
towns and neighborhoods were
torn down. Many moved to
urban centers and many more
moved back to China. Chinese
Americans became a footnote in
Oregon’s history books.
Just because history is recent,
doesn’t mean it’s remembered.
But if you know where to
look — and Rose does — you
can see evidence of Chinese
influence all over Oregon. Chi-
nese immigrants built the rail-
roads. Their mines helped prop
up the economy of Oregon. They
worked in canneries and hop
farms. They even changed the
shape of the land they lived on,
in dramatic ways.
“We have very little that
comes from Chinese resi-
dents themselves,” Rose said.
“Archaeology is a way to cap-
ture that. The artifacts we find in
the dirt? They tell stories about
choices and opportunities.”
Eventually, Rose followed
the aqueduct to the site of an
old mining cabin. A few rotting
logs remained in a rough square
shape. The site had been dis-
turbed — probably by looters —
so artifacts like glass, cans, nails
and bits of shovel were strewn
throughout the area.
This site was just for show.
The actual excavation was tak-
ing place a quarter-mile away,
but here, Rose’s volunteers could
see snippets of the sorts of things
they might find: glass stamped
with symbols that link them to
companies in China, pieces of
pottery, tins of food repurposed
as sieves, water filters and min-
ing tools.
When they arrived at the
actual site, the excavation began.
It was less Indiana Jones and
more a meticulous documenta-
tion of each and every object in
the area.
Rose’s volunteers spread out,
marking the location of every
surface artifact with a flag. Then,
they took metal detectors and
placed a flag everywhere there
was a beep. Eventually, the
ground was covered with orange
and pink flags fluttering in the
OPB/Erin Ross
Volunteers sweep the ground with metal detectors, marking
each hit with a colored flag. GPS coordinates will be taken for
each.
OPB/Erin Ross
Miners would have brought
pots like this with them when
they traveled from China. The
pots are delicate, and a lot of
work to bring and maintain,
but pieces of home were high-
ly valued.
dry wind.
Rose and a collaborator
moved from flag to flag, logging
the GPS location of each artifact
before they ever began excavat-
ing. It took all day.
The next day, they dug, exca-
vating precisely marked square
plots. Anything the team found,
they documented, photograph-
ing it in the ground before
they removed it from the plot.
Dirt was carefully scraped and
brushed from the plot, layer by
meticulous layer, and placed
into buckets. Those buckets
were then sifted through win-
dow screens to reveal even tinier
artifacts.
Eventually, a portrait of a life
revealed itself.
Katie Johnson, an archaeolo-
gist and GIS specialist on Rose’s
team at Southern Oregon Uni-
versity, has been documenting
pieces of glass bottles found in
a hearth.
“He had a lot of different
oils and sauces,” she said. “And
some of these, I think, might
have had alcohol?”
You can learn a lot about a per-
son if you learn how they cooked.
Over the course of a week,
Rose excavated a number of
sites. Each piece, carried thou-
sands of miles across the sea, and
from there through inhospitable
Oregon desert, can tell a story.
“We’re looking at the types
of things you would bring with
you if you left home. Like,
they answer, ‘What does home
mean?’” Rose said, holding up a
small piece of blue-green china.
“We find these breakable heavy
tea pots that are just beautiful
Portable Oxygen
For The Way You
Want to Live
As of the 2018-2019 school year,
20 school districts out of 197 school
districts across the state self-report
not having a sex ed curriculum that
meets state guidelines, according to
Grenier.
In other Grant School District
news:
• John Day City Manager Nick
Green asked the school district to con-
sider partnering with the city, Grant
County and John Day-Canyon City
Parks and Recreation District on a
cost-sharing agreement to build an
aquatic and recreation center at the
west end of the Seventh Street Com-
plex. Green said the total construction
costs would be about $4.5 million.
Green is proposing the four agen-
cies apply for a 40-year loan from the
USDA.
“We need other agencies to pull
this off,” said Green.
Green said the proposal could be
things that someone carried with
them.”
It’s those fragments of home
that tell you who used to live
there.
They find pieces of bone
china: cups and plates and tea-
pots. But not all of these artifacts
are eye-catching; some look like
trash, something discarded along
the road. But the empty cans and
food containers from midden
piles can tell an archaeologist
even more about how someone
actually lived. Was the can cut
open with a knife or just punc-
tured? That can tell a researcher
if it was used to store a liquid, or
something large, like pears.
The most striking site had a
massive stone wall, the remains
of a hearth with the bones of ani-
mals the residents ate. To the side
were a pair of rubber boot soles
studded with nails — hob-nails
— that Chinese miners would
push through the soles of their
shoes for traction.
These miners came from sub-
tropical areas, Rose said, but they
would mine all through the cold
Blue Mountain winters, standing
knee-deep in frigid water while
they worked. The boots kept
their feet warm and dry. They
were lovingly cared for, proba-
bly carried by their owner over
hundreds of miles. They were
all that stood between the miners
and frostbite.
There’s an urgency to the
work Rose and her colleagues are
doing in the Malheur National
Forest. The threat of wildfire
is always present, and it’s get-
ting worse. The already fire-
prone stands of ponderosa pine
trees are under threat as climate
change makes wildfires bigger,
hotter and more frequent.
A grant to the Forest Service
aims to mitigate those wildfires
by thinning parts of the forests
and doing controlled burns.
Don Hann, the heritage pro-
gram manager with Malheur
National Forest, said the For-
est Service is obligated to pro-
tect any archaeological sites on
its land.
“But we’re talking about
tiny pieces of clothing, milled
wood, pieces of leather and rub-
ber,” Hann said. “Any fire, even
DONATE YOUR CAR
Plumbing, heating, electrical and fire protection are
the highest costs for Humbolt and Seneca at $404,000
and $3 million, respectively.
For the high school, the cost is $4.3 million, the sec-
ond highest, behind roofing, framing and window costs,
at $6.6 million.
“Humbolt Elementary is high-priority due to safety
concerns,” said Higgins.
The electrical at Humboldt is from the 1960s and
poses a fire hazard, he said.
Higgins added that Humbolt does not have a secured
vestibule, a protected, single-entry front entrance, which
is standard for most modern schools.
The study noted how the main doors at the school,
which are wooden, are bent from years of water dam-
age. The doors, according to a Humbolt teacher, cannot
be securely shut. Additionally, Higgins pointed out stains
from leaky roofs and multiple sealing leaks at Humbolt.
At Grant Union, the study showed deficiencies to the
school’s exterior to the roof, framing and windows.
According to Higgins, the wooden cabinets in the high
school’s cafeteria should be stainless steel, according to
health standards.
According to the study, the three schools could be
classified as historical landmarks because each are over
50 years old. Higgins said the state mandates an evalu-
ation process and that might be a parameter the district
would need to consider when making repairs.
In terms of a timeline and plan to tackle the repairs,
Superintendent Brett Uptmor said the district is not com-
mitting to a single plan.
“The long-range plan will guide the direction on the
next steps,” he said. “The board will review the final proj-
ect when completed and have a discussion.”
In terms of funding the next steps, Uptmor said that
Oregon matching funds are only available with the pas-
sage of a bond.
“Our district is eligible for $4 million in matching
funds,” said Uptmor. “There are no funds that target
deferred maintenance.”
According to Uptmor, if a district determines from the
long-range planning process to go out for bond to address
the deferred maintenance issues, the matching funds can
be used.
The next long-range meeting to discuss how the dis-
trict plans to move forward will be in about a month,
according to Uptmor.
“After another meeting, the plan will be consolidated
and more definitive and will be sent to the state,” said
Uptmor.
Uptmor said last year Humbolt had heating and cool-
ing units installed in seven of its 14 classrooms, and he
sent out a bid request to have the other seven units put in
this year. The district also completed two seismic retro-
fits: the first one at Humbolt’s lower building and the sec-
ond one at the south end of the high school.
The district applied for a grant to assess hazardous
materials at the schools, such as radon, lead and asbes-
tos testing.
“The idea is to address hazardous materials in our
long-range planning,” said Uptmor.
Many at the meeting said that services such as heat-
ing, electrical and fire protection should be high-priority
repairs.
“We can’t expect kids to learn in a freezing cold, or
sweltering, classroom,” said Humbolt Principal Darbie
Dennison.
Substance Abuse Prevention Coordinator Lisa
Weigum said the district needs to make the case to the
public that fixing these repairs benefits the whole com-
munity, especially those in the community who do not
have school-age kids.
“A young doctor with kids might not come here if the
schools are not safe,” said Weigum. “That directly affects
someone like me. I don’t have kids, but I need a doctor.”
The study also revealed the district’s drop in stu-
dents. Enrollment is down by 100 students over the past
10 years, and the total county population is projected to
decrease by 600 people over the next 25 years, according
to Higgins’ presentation.
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put on the ballot in November.
• Uptmor said the high school
needs to hire a Spanish teacher, and
the elementary school needs a math
teacher before the start of the next
school year.
• Gerry, also the high school ath-
letic director, said the boys basketball
team was recognized for excellent
sportsmanship by the Oregon School
Activities Association.
Gerry said the girls cross coun-
try team would be recognized for
academic achievement at the high
school’s pride assembly.
• Uptmor submitted grant applica-
tions for repairs at the high school and
elementary school this month.
At the high school, the district sub-
mitted an application for $1.3 mil-
lion for seismic retrofitting and new
bleachers. For the elementary school,
the district applied for a $38,000 grant
for new heating units.
Repair
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