4 Heppner Gazette Times, May 23, 1945
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EDITORIAL
Mrs. Francis Nickerson received
word Saturday that she has been
selectd for membership in Phi Be
ta Kappa, national collegiate hon.
orary society. Mrs. Nickerson took
her four years of college work in
three years, starting at the Universi
ty of Chicago and transferring to
Stanford for the last three terms.
This is. an honor not accorded to
every student and Mrs. Nickerson
is to be congratulated.
Mr. and Mrs. Chris Brown have
turned farmers again this week
during tht absence of Mr. and Mrs.
Paul Brown, who have gone to
Fort Lewis where Paul will re
ceive his discharge from the army.
The young people may be gone a
week or a month.
Mr. and Mrs. W. E. Davis have
have gone to Portland where Mr.
Davis will consult a bone specialist.
A Happy Occasion
One could not be present at a celebration such
as that staged at Madras Saturday without being
impressed with the spirit of joy and happiness hat
pervaded the very air. A cloudless sky brought the
matchless Cascade skyline into full relief as a
background for the setting of the stage where
some 10,000 people gathered to participate in the
festivities. The smiles on the faces of those who
for thirty-five long years had looked forward to
that very day, although it had not been calender
ed all that time, were sufficient to repay one for
making the effort to be present. The "great day"
had arrived and early settlers and those who have
been drawn to Jefferson county by the promise
of irrigation joined in extending a welcome that
only a people who have so much to be thankful
for could offer1.
The Central Oregon that is turned out in full
strength to welcome the Central Oregon that is to
be, for it remains only for completion of the North
Unit project to the ultimate 50,000 acres to make
that a highly productive region. In time, no doubt,
extensions will be made to the project which will
put in the neighborhood of 100,000 acres of fer
tile land under water, providing homes for double
the number of people contemplated under the
present limits. But for the present, a big work is
ahead in building homes, leveling off where lev
eling is needed to receive the sparkling waters of
the Deschutes, and the countless other things con
fronting settlers in a new land. The older resi
dents, of which there are comparatively few, may
find it difficult to adjust themselves to this more
intensified type of farming, but newcomers are to
a large extent people who have followed irriga
tion farming in other sections and their experience
will go far towards making the project a success.
Years of patience and long-suffering have
been paid off in the turning of water onto the
completed part of the project and the people who
have carried the torch for irrigation will now wit
ness the realization of their plans in the growth
of Madras and the communities of Metolius and
Culver, a growth that is well under way and will
expand as rapidly as building conditions permit.
In a way, history is repeating in that region where
some forty years ago two giants of the railroad
world staged a race up the Deschutes gorge to
gain possession of a territory rich in resources
which they could see would one day become the
center of a great agricultural development. That
marked the first extensive settlement of what now
is Deschutes and Jefferson counties. In the years
that followed, irrigation pushed Deschutes ahead
while lack of it caused Jefferson to decline. ,The
picture has changed and Jefferson is experiencing
a resettling backed by the assurance that drouth
and short crops are no longer to be feared.
In truth the "great day" has arrived and the
entire, state will look on with interest as this sec
tion of so-called Central Oregon desert comes in
to full bloom.
It Doesn't Look Right
With the war over many people already have
forgotten the part the railroads played in the
greatest transportation problem with which any
nation was ever faced. Every passable piece of
equipment was pressed in to service to meet the
requirements of wartime pressure. As a result of
this unprecedented performance the roads are
faced with a replacement program which may re
quire several years to accomplish as well as the
In the face of all this and the railroads are
expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars,
capable of looking after themselves comes a re
quest from river navigation concerns that they be
given a twenty per cent differential, that is, gran
ed a rate that much under the rail rates, so they
can increase their tonnage from up-river points
to Portland and Astoria. In other words, they
want the railroads to engage in short haul busi
ness from points of production to dock sites along
the river where the barges can pick it up and float
it to the big terminals.
It is plain to see that if this request is granted
it will not be long until the railroads will have to
abandon their branch lines. Trucks already have
taken over the short haul business and the reve
nue made by the railroads is derived from the lon
ger hauls. The roads cannot realize an earning
on wheat loaded at points like Heppner and Con
don as far as Arlington to be transferred to bar
ges. Their profit and since when has it become
illegal for them to make a profit is found in the
longer haul over the main line to the sea level
terminals.
The railroads are not asking that the barge
companies be held to the present freight level,
but if the river concerns. are granted a 20 per
cent drop in rates the,y want to be in position to
meet that cut.
We believe that fair minded citizens will see
the injustice of such a rate differential and those
not fair minded probably will be the first to set
up a howl if the railroads start pulling up their
branch line rails.
You're As Young As You Feel
If our readers will foreive us for saying so
much about the Madras celebration we want to
comment on one feature of the parade (By the
way, we missed the parade, being held up by road
work and one-way traffic in Sherman county, but
saw most of the participants in costume and re
galia after we arrived at Madras.) There was one
character who rode a horse in the parade that
seems ageless. That was Jim Blakely, once Crook
county sheriff when that county embraced all of
Central Oregon and later Wallowa county sher
iff. Jim is a mere 94 yearsof age now, but still
stands erect and sits a horse as gracefully as he
did nearly fifty years ago when the writer as a
small boy first saw him. It was a great day for Jim
and from all appearances he will live to see full
development of a region that was wild and woolly
when he first settled there.
Way Cleared For Hospital
With the substantial approval of the eight mill
tax for construction of the proposed Morrow coun
ty hospital at the special election last Friday the
way is cleared for immediate action. The vote
showed that at least a majority of the voters who
took time to go to the polls still desire the hospi
tal and construction of the building is now defi
nitely in the hands of the county court and hos
pital commission.
The authorities quite properly refrained from
making a definite commitment relative to a site
and with assurance of the entire fund it will be
their purpose to make a selection and set the
machinery in motion for acquiring the location and
awarding .construction contracts. In these uncer
tain times it may not prove easy to interest con
tractors and if delay is caused by reason of this
we will have to exercise a little more patience.
The court is charged with an obligation to get the
greatest possible value out of the money and that
purpose will not be accomplished through haste.
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FOR SALE
Nice small ranch one mile from Hepp
ner School.
173 Acres-75 cultivated, 98 acres in
pasture.
30 fruit trees, grapes and berries.
For Further Information, See
Turner, Van Marter Co.
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PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY
HEPPNER
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Meets Every Monday Noon at the
Lucas Place
Veterans of Foreign
Wars
Meetings 2nd and 4th Mondays at
8:00 p. m. in Legion Hall
A. D. McMurdo, M. D.
PHYSICIAN & SURGEON
Trained Nurse Assistant
Office in Masonic Building
Heppner. Oregon
Dr. L. D. Tibbies
OSTEOPATHIC
Physician & Surgeon
First National Bank Building
Res. Ph. 1162 Office Ph. 492
Dr. C. C. Dunham
CHIROPRACTIC PHYSICIAN
Office up stairs I. O. O. F. Bids
Housj calls made
Office and House Phone 2572
O. M. Y EAGER
CONTRACTOR & BUILDER
All kinds of carpenter work.
Modern Homes Built or Remodeled
Phone 1433 415 Jones St.
HEPPNER. OREGON
Blaine E. Isom
All Kinds of
INSURANCE
Phone 723
Heppner, Or.
Our Fur Policies
Cover loss against Fire, Theft, Ac
cidental damage and .many other
hazards, anywhere, at all times.
TURNER, VAN MARTER & CO.
Phelps Funeral Home
Licensed Funeral Directors
Phone 1332 Heppner, Ore.
JOS. J. NYS
ATTORNEY AT LAW
Peters Building, Willow Street
Heppner, Oregon
J. O. TURNER
ATTORNEY AT LAW
Phone 173
Hotel Heppner Building
Heppner, Oregon
P. W. MAHONEY
Attorney at Law
GENERAL INSURANCE
Heppner Hotel Building
Willow Street Entrance'
J. O. PETERSON
Latest Jewelry and Gift Goods
Watches, Clocks, Diamonds
Expert Watch & Jewelry Repairing
Heppner. Oregon
OK Rubber Welders
FRANK ENGKRAF, Prop.
First class work guaranteed
Located in the Kane Building
North Main St. Heppner, Ore.
Heppner City Council
Meets First Monday Each Month
Citizens having matters for discus
sion, please bring before
the Council
J. O. TURNER, Mayor
Morrow County
Abstract & Title Co.
INC.
ABSTRACTS OF TITLE
TITLE INSURANCE
Office in Peters Building
NELSON & BARGER
Public Accountants
Room 214
First National Bank Building
Heppner, Oregon
HEPPNER
GAZETTE TIMES
NATIONAL EDITORIAL-
SSOCIATION
ifuewA
IJIU
The Heppner Gazette, established
March 30, 1883. The Heppner
Times, established November 18,
1897. Consolidated Feb. 15, 1912.
Published every Thursday and en
tered at the Post Office at Hepp
ner, Oregon, .as second claw,
matter.
Subscription Price $2.50 a Year
O. G. CRAWFORD
Publisher and Editor