Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (July 19, 1956)
L1IKARY 1 p wore EtfaiNE. ORt. J' t . lima fee man Potato Harvest on ooarc Price Saef f: 'T r - ... - S E V V.r... -r. if i Art. QifflMMiliWa frifrt SPUDS EY THE TRUCKLOAD are being harvested on the Boardman ranches of Russell and Bob Miller. This photo shows the two-row digger in operation. The men on the back of the digger are cleaning out rocks and dead vines and the potatoes travel up the conveyor to the truck which moves alongside. It takes eight men to operate the digger and the tractor which pulls it. In two eight hour shifts the men and machines will dig about 2.500 sacks of potatoes. ( mj .--t . gi hih , mnmw WjAtmamm . t -l i ir-i GRADING AND SACKING of the potatoes is done along a railroad siding less than a mile from the fields. A conveyor brings the spuds up from the truck (out of picture to the right) to the washer in the background. Girls on the left sort and grade and the men in the foreground sack and weigh the spuds. From the scales in the foreground the sacks travel about 10 feet into a railroad car. v r "IkV'.'.ViNiV 4 j ' IP- POTATO GRADING is shown closeup. The number one washed po tatoes move on a conveyor into the foreground where they are sacked. Number two spuds are shunted off into another conveyor between first two girls on the right and the culls are kicked off Into another conveyor to drop into a waiting truck to be hauled off. About 80 percent of all potatoes handled here are graded number ones. - J- v ' f"nT'i ZrS 1 turn niiiii.itiiii'iilfc.4 "in , J i f , . , x' r f 1 p (j - ! - i READY FOR MARKET Russell Miller, who in addition to operat ing his farm finds time to serve as Morrow county commissioner, is shown holding a 100 pound sack of his own "Desert Gold" pota toes. He and all other Boardman spud growers are wearing big smiles because of the $6.50 per 100 pounds price they are getting this year. -(GT Photos) 51 0; ? - . PL HANDFUL OF GOOD EATING t,i, Porfford. HeoDner bank manager, who accompanied GT photographer to see the potato harvest, holds five big. Juicy Rnnd3 which were left in the field by the digger. If spuds lin uncovered in the field for even a few minutes they will sunburn end spoil so digging and hauling process must be fast . Highest in ft " , - .-- mi---. -i yku i Ml". I "?::Xf I '.1 I I am-- Swim Tests Slated; Pool Attendance Up Fifteen students in the first class of beginning swimmers will pass their swimming tests next week, Larry Dowen, instructor and lifeguard, reports. Total en rollment of three beginning clas ses has dropped to 70. Twenty are enrolled in intermediate swimming classes and 15 in the junior life saving classes, mak ing a grand total of 105 students. Attendance at the pool both afternoons and evenings is larger than at any tims, Dowen said. Canvas has been installed around the pool for wind pro tection. RHEA CREEK GRANGE SETS CLEAN-UP DAY The Rhea Creek Grange will hold a clean up Sunday, July 22, at 2 p. m. followed by a potluck supper. All members are urged to attend. if 4 History Growers Hitting "Jackpot" Because Of Spud Shortage Potato digging got under way in the Boardman area the middle of last week and by the weekend growers wers going around with the higgesf smiles they 'have sported in years. The reason? wfre bringing The lowly spuds the highest prices ever experienced by most grow ers. Last Friday number one Boardman long white potatoes were bringing the growers SG.50 per 100 pounds F. O. B. Boardman. Last year's price averaged about $1.80 per hundred. Growers Russell and Bob Miller, brothers who farm separate ranches but dig and market their potatoes jointly are digging and shipping at the rate of about 2,500 sacks per day and they expect that it will take 25 days to harvest their 130 acres of "gold nuggets". Indications are that the market will' hold close to the present prices for at least a month giving the growers what market" for their product. News stories appearing during the past week have told of the extreme shortage of spuds throughout most of the nation with the New York price called the highest in 40 or 50 years. From the Eoardmon growers point of view, such a condition is ideal. The cause of the present high price is said to be an unusual in-between season shortage. Cali fornia early potatoes and Yakima valley early reds have already been used up and it is expected to be about 30 days yet before other producing areas start to dig. The Miller Brothers have the largest acreage in the Boardman area though there are several other farmers who have 15 to 20 acre fields. Pictures accompanying this story show the digging, grading and shipping process at the Mil ler Brothers ranches. o A. Andrews Found "turitjvJ near Condon Archie Andrews, about 26rson of Mr. and Mrs. Ira Andrews of Heppner, was found last week end hanged in a barn on the Beck farm out of Condon on the John Day river, according to word received by C. J. D. Bau man, county sheriff, Sunday. Death had apparently occurred about a week earlier. Whether the cause of death was criminal or suicide has not been reported here. In addition to his parents, An drews is survived by sisters and brothers. o Grangers Urged To Show Hay and Grain Ranchers were urged to exhibit wheat at the Morrow county fair by Kenneth Smouse, agricultural committee chairman of the Lex ington Grange at a meeting Saturdav night. The business session followed a barbecue at the O. W. Cutsforth ranch. A sweenstakes prize of $25 for wheat will be awarded by the fair board, Smouse, who is also wheat superintendent at the fair. announced. Wheat entries will be cleaned at the fairgrounds if exhibitors get them in early, he said. Members were also asked to exhibit bales and sheaves of hay at the fair and Mrs. John Graves announced the Wheat League baking contest and na tional needlework contest at this year's fair. Plans were made for a Lexington Grange fair booth. A resolution requesting a ground water survey for the Col umbia slope district, which in cludes Morrow county, instigated by the Lexington Grange was passed at the last Pomona meet ing, Alvin Wagenblast, master, reported. John Graves and Vernon Mun- kers were named co-chairmen of the Lexington Grange dance honoring Princess Pat Steagall on July 28. August and September meetings will be cancelled, jt was announced. State deputy Joe Guttridge, Hermiston, was present and as sisted with floor work. -o- VICE PRINCIPAL RESIGNS Vivian White, vice principal of Heppner High school, has re signed to take a teaching posi tion at Long Beach, Calif. o ' Mrs. Lennie Loudon is visiting at the home of her brother and sister-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Scott Brown, Portland. Copies 10 Cents Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, July 19, 1956 Heppner-Spray Road Improvement Prospects Brighten Prospects are good that with in about six months the state I highway commission may give st from thls arpa thaf the .,,',., hicrh.a v, placed on the commission's sche dule for improvement, county judge Garnet Barratt told the chamber of commerce Monday. Barratt told the group what efforts had been made by the county court to get at least the 11 miles of now unpaved state secondary highway from Chapin creek to the Morrow-Wheebr county line paved. He said that continued efforts had resulted in the state highway commission taking a new traffic count on the road which showed an increase of more than double over the ..I l.. nn..:j record:s- e highest numBer of showed 140 cars where the pre vious record ws only 60 vehicles a day. Barratt said that he met with the state highway commission last weekend and was able to tell the engineers that the forest service, which ha3 partial juris diction over the road because it is a forest road, has approved the allocation of some of its funds for the road's improvement. The highway commission esti mates that it will cost in the neighborhood of $700,000 to re align and improve the 11 mile section of the road but Barratt pointed out that funds for such work would come from the For est Service, and other federal moneys as well as from state highway funds. He also told the chamber that the Heppner-Spray road has re ceived only $65,000 in federal funds during the past 30 years, whereas several adjoining coun ties have received upwards of $1,000,000 in the same period. The judge said that the court will continue to Dress for action by the commission'' and urged the chamber of commerce to step up its efforts along the same line. Rites Held For 0. G. Haguewood Funeral services for Oliver George Haguewood, 68, lifelong resident of Morrow county, were held Sunday at 2 p. m. at the Elks Temple with the Rev. Earl L. Soward officiating. Mr. Hague wofld died July 11 at Providence hospital in Seattle following a lingering illness. Born November 19, 1887, at lone, Mr. Haguewood was the son of William and Mary Haguewood. He was a rancher in the Heppner Flats area. He was a veteran of World War I, a member of the American Legion and the Elks. Survivors include the widow, Vivian, Heppner; two sons, Ron ald, Heppner, Jerry, San Diego; one daughter, Mrs. Mary Lou Lane, Hood River; five sisters, Mrs. Alice Privock, Eureka, Calif.; Mrs. Elsie White, San Rosa, Calif.; Mrs. Bernice Morrison, Nampa, Idaho; Mrs. Cleo Devine, Mason, Nevada; Mrs. Bird Sadler, Zillah, Wash.; one brother, Hubert Haguewood, Port Angeles, Wash. and three grandchildren. o Chamber Sponsored Parking Plan Proves Out; Fund is Ahead Heppner and Morrow county people as a whole are more th:n 100 percent honest, the chamber of commerce has found out during the past four months. On March 24 city police start ed using chamber-sponsored "give-back-a-nickel" parking plan, whereby officers check ing parking meters would put a nickel in the meter In viola tion and leave a bright orange envelope on the windshield which asked the driver to re turn the envelope with a nickel rather than give citations. As of last Wednesday the special parking fund is $17.60 to the good. As much as SO cents has been returned in envelopes by grate ful drivers and dimes and quarters are not uncommon. Over the same period the city's return from the meters has been steadily climbing. Mrs. Earl Gilliam left Sunday by train for Portland on a busi ness trip. Rodeo Dance to Honor Princess Sue Coleman PRINCESS SUE First Morrow county fair and rodeo princess to be honored In a series of court royalty dances will be Princess Sue Coleman. lone. The first princess dance, spon sored by the lone Willows Grange will he held Saturday, July 21, at the fair pavilion with music by Jack Kelly's orchestra, Pendle ton. Dates for the fair and rodeo are August 29 through Septem ber 2. Princess Sue, daughter of Mrs. Ida Coleman, lone, is a striking brunet, five foot seven inches tall and weighing 125 pounds. A sen ior at lone high school next fall, Princess Sue was selected to at tend Girls State by the American Legion auxiliary this year, is a member of the lone band, volley ball and tumbling team, Girl's athletic association and Girl's League and was cheer leader two Remodeling Work On School Rooms Shows Progress Remodeling of the cafeteria and lunch room in the basement of Heppner high school and the new home economics department room on the first floor is pro gressing at a good rate, Joe Stewart, school superintendent, reported this week. Cabinets are being completed in the home economics room. Plans also include a new as phalt tile floor, new lights and a lowered ceiling of acoustical tile. Flooring is being prepared in the basement for pouring a new cement floor and plumbing and electrical work is being roughed in, Stewart said. Cafeteria and lunchroom space has been ex tended to include the area for merly used by the home econo mics department. Simonton and Steele, Portlnd contractors, are doing the work on a bid of $16, 206.16. Maintenance work done my the school custodians, Paul Warren, Nelson Connor, and Scott Fur long, includes patching the roof oh the old school building, patch ing and painting the gym roof and repairing eave troughs, paint ing the boiler room and shop on the inside and the base of the shop building and the school out side. In addition they are build ing cabinets and painting the band room, sanding desks and revarnishing floors. Ground leveling in the back of the new grade school was started this week by Richard Meadr, local contractor, with fill dirt from across Ilinton creek. Addition of top soil and seeding should be completed in about two weeks. Piping of Ilinton creek through the area is expected to be done next year, stewart said. o RITES HELD FOR JAMES SHARP Word has been received here of the death of James Clinton Sharp, 74, former Heppner resi dent, at John Day, July 16. Ser vices were held Thursday after noon, July 19, at the Driskill Mortuary Chapel at John Day with the Elks Lodge 1824 of John Day officiating. Interment was in the Canyon City cemetery, ' COLEMAN years. In addition she 'has been secretary-treasurer of her class three years, a member of the stu dent council, assistant editor ,of the class paper last year and will be editor this coming year. Living on a ranch, Princess Sue helps with cattle, harvest and haying and cooking for ranch crews. At the age of 10 she made her firs cattle drive from lone lo the mountains, covering 45 miles in about five days. Besides riding, Princess Sue's hobbies include tennis, swim ming, volleyball and dancing. She will rido her palomino, 'JColdy" during tho rodeo. -- Other members of Princess Sue's family include four sisters, Mrs. Jack Mealy, Mrs. Joan Wil liams, Heppner; Mrs. R. A. Craw ford, Anna Belle and Wally Coleman at home. Other princesses in the court of Queen Patsy Wright to be pre sented at Princess dances on suc ceeding weekends are Janet Myers, Lena community; Maxine Sicard, Boardman and Pat Stea gall, Lexington. The Queen's dunce will be held August 18. o Care Urged in Use of Water With the coming of hot wea ther, water problems again plagued the city and water sup erintendent Vic Groshens today said that the dailv use for the past few days has been over 300,000 gallons which is the maximum that can be pushed through city mains. Because of the danger of short age Groshens this morning is sued the following warning arid asked residents to use care to not waste any water. He said, "Water is very precious, please don't waste it. We hope to have enough, and will, if you will only cooperate. If not, it will be rationed," he warned. Mercury Climbs to 95 Here Wednesday The temperature climbed to an official 95 degrees Wednesday making it the hottest day of the summer. But even at that, Hepp ner was one of he coolest places in the northwest as Old Sol be gun to bear down. Other temperatures Wednesday were 104 in Pasco, 100 in Pendle ton, 96 in Portland and 100 plus in the Willamette valley. Red Bluff Calif, was the hot spot of the nation with 112. Tuesday's temperature here was 91 de grees. The weatherman says to ex pect more of the same. HUNTERS, ANGLERS TO TALK HUNTING RULES The Morrow County Hunters and Anglers club will hold an important meeting Monday evening, July 23 at the court house for the purpose of discus sing the tentative 1956 hunting regulations. All interested per sons are urged to attend. 73rd Year, Number 19 Wheat Ranchers Vole Friday on Market Quotas Wheat ranchers of Morrow county will vote this Friday on the wheat marketing quota ref erendum at community polling places from S a. m. to 9 p. m. Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson has announced a national average wheat price sup port for the 1957 crop of $2.00 per bushel if wheat marketing quotas are approved in the July 20 vote. If wheat marketing quotas for the 1957 crop are not approved, wheat support will be 50 percent of parity, which currently figures out at $1.21 per bushel. The final support rate for tha 1936 crop also has been announced at $2.00, which is about 82'i percent of current parity, according fo in formation received by Norman Nelson, chairman of the Morrow Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation committee. If quotas are approved by at least two-thirds of the farmers voting, the wheat unit rate under the Soil Bank's acreage reserve in 1057 will be GO percent of the $2.00 national average, or $1.20 a bushel as an approximate na tional average, with the usual differentials for local areas. If disapproved the wheat unit rate under the Soil Bank acreage re-' serve would be 60 percent of the price support level of $1.21 then in effect. The Morrow county wheat al lotment will be 114,876 acres in 1057 compared to 117,010 this year. Tho decrease is clue to a total lower wheat base for 1957. The state allotment was 819,522 acres in 1956 and has been an nounced at 819,060 in 1957. The national wheat acreage allotment for 1957 will continue at 55,000, 000. Polling places are the Lexing ton Grange for Alpine and Lex ington communities; lone Legion hall for Morgan, lone and part of Eightmile and the Heppner Le jion hall for North and South Heppner and the remainder of Eightmile. Yields High For Bumper Harvest Peak of the wheat harvest in Morrow county Is expected to bo reached Saturday or Monday with the daily output hitting the 100,000 bushel mark, Al Lamb, manager of the Morrow County Grain Growers, said Wednesday, Harvest this week is running about 75,000 bushels per day. Wheal is expected to average about 30 bushels per acre, up five bushels from an earlier esti mate of a 25 bushels per acre. An extremely heavy barley crop is expected to average 35 bus hels per acre. Last year's wheat crop averaged about 20 bushels per acre and the barley crop 22 bushels per acre. Wheat produc tion over a period of years aver ages about 22 bushels per acre. The Co op expects to handle about 3,000,000 bushels of grain Ibis season, which Includes about 700,000 'bushels of barley, the largest crop grown in the county to date. About 2,000,000 bushels of storage space is now avail able in MCGG elevators. Ship ment of wheat by Union Pacific cars is not expected to keep up with grain corning in, making It necessary to store some of the wheat on the ground temporarily, Lamb said. With the exception of the Ruggs elevator, all com pany elevators at Lexington, North Lexington, Heppner, lone and McNab are now in operation. Harvest in the Ruggs area is ex pected to begin in about a week depending on the weather. Warm wather following the early July rains has speeded harvest operations. Yields of both wheat and barley has been run ning from 25 to 35 bushels per acre with the heaviest yields ex- jected to come from the south of the county in the Ruggs area. While harvest is not complete enough in other areas to accur ately gauge yields, heaviest acre production to date has been in the Blackhorse and Lexington fields, Lamb said. Daily train service on week days was started July 10 by the Union Pacific railroad and will continue through harvest, Elmer Schmidt, agent, said. Arrange mnts have been made in Port land for sufficient terminal stor age space to take care of grain shipped from the county.
