Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (May 5, 1966)
HEPrTER GAZETTE Africa Calling A REPORT FROM THS NEAR EAST Br N. C. ANDERSON Bt ITT ANDERSON Yesterday the Commlss a r y plane arrived and among the many Items we received were loads of Christmas cards from home as well as Christmas pres ents, and Valentines, so last night we celebrated several hol idays In one. Also arriving were a bunch of Gazette -Times, so now we are up to February 3, so vou see we arent too far behind with the news of Mor row county. But what prompted me to think about this item was the manv comments we had In our Christmas notes about "Africa Calling." So here I go again. Since the last "Africa Calling" I have seen a lot of Niger and finally have some extension projects underway that promise to be challenging, as well as worthwhile. I hope. The oppor tunity to see much of the agri culture of Niger came after re ceiving my new Land Rover pickup in December. At that time I began planning a trip to take me into most oi the im portant farming areas of the country so I could become, first hand, acquainted with the crops grown, cu'tural practices, op portunities for introducing new crops and practices, etc. My greatest concern was just what is being accomplished under the present extension program, and how I could contribute to It. Part of the answer was found, but part of it may be a long way off. Anyway, I saw a lot of agriculture, some quite prim itive, some amazingly advanced for this part of the world. My Feace Corps assistant and I cov ered 4500 kilometers in 12 days as well as visiting several doz en agricultural centers. Peace Corps volunteers working in ag ricultural endeavors, nurseries and experiment stations, mis sionaries, chiefs of villages, commandantes, and others. A special mission was also made for the Embassy here, too, as the French would say, "jeter un coup d'oeil" (have a look at) the far eastern edge of Niger in contemplating opportunities for development of this vast expansion of grassland, well watered with oasis and evident shallow water resources. So with rood, water (boiled and filtered), mosquito netting, canvas cots and other camping equipment, plus a 53 gallon drum and five jerry cans of gas to carry us between gas refill stations, we set out early the morning of January 27, return ing to Niamey February 7. We made the entire trip without a flat tire or any trouble, other than having to clean out the carburetor three or four times, evidently from water and rust in the barrel we took with us. We slept out on the ground be side the road part of the time. stayed in villages with Peace Corps volunteers, one night in a new school house that aid funds has helped build, and one night in a village encampment We ate two meals in restaur ants during the trip, mainly be cause there were none to be found in the area we were trav eling in. We had a very profit able trip with no bad inci dents like getting bit by a cob ra or cornered by a lion, but there were a few mosquitos that liked the taste of our blood and we furnished them with a lot of it during the voyage. The economy of Niger is al most entirely based on tradit ional agriculture and livestock. An estimated 95 of all the people are engaged In these two principal activities which ac count for about 75 of the do mestic output. The main crops are millet, sorghum, cassava, peanuts, pulses and onions. Some cotton is being grown fair ly successfully, and rice is com ing into the picture quite rap idly as it is a desired food of the people. Livestock is the sec ond principle occupation of the country. It is virtually the on ly occupation for the country's 600,000 nomads who account for some 607c of the livestock pro duction. Goats axe the most nu merous of the livestock classes, with sheep next then cattle. There are camel and donkey raisers that contribute quite a substantial amount to the econ omy in the draft business. One of the real opportunities for ex ports is livestock for meat, as there is much demand for it from the countries to the south where livestock production prob lems are many. While we aren't particularly crazy about the beef, some people who don't like choice or high grade beef would be in their glory over here. There is little fat or even a trace of marbling in most of the meat tnat can be bought during most of the season at all. (Students of the Washing ton State Livestock Short Course who bumped into Dr. "Bull" Durham from Lubbock, Texas, COLE ELECTRIC Motor Rewindina NDUSTRIAL - COMMERCIAL FARM AVn HfMP Pendleton 276-7761 - TIMES. Thsndor. Mot S. 196C would appreciate what a busi ness he would have with his little pump and peanut oil to artificially marble several hun dred thousand head of cattle each year!) Because of this important con tribution agriculture makes to the economy of Niger, the pos sibilities for extension which Is almost non existent, are many. I returned with a whole bagfull of ideas and am now trying to get some of them off the ground. I can't give a blow by blow account of the trip but woulj like to just comment on a few observations. First. I was sur prised to see the huge quanti ties of peanuts being produced throughout the country. Being a crop that is generally in world surplus. I didn't feel too bad about our wheat situation, as there are peanuts stacked up in Niger and neighboring Nigeria in piles that would put pyra mids of Egypt to shame. I guess thev will be processed sooner or later. Most of our production. I understand, goes into refiner ies for oil. a subsidy is given by France and this really gets production. Acreage has In creased bv leaps and bounds, and some areas we visited were planning to increase production next year by ten times. One of the real interesting sidelights of this increased production was the need for fuel to furnish power for a newly constructed cement factory out in the pea nut country. Evidently much of the production was based on the demand far the shells for this power. We visited one pea nut receiving station where pea nuts are shelled, cleaned and sacked, then piled for eventual shipment to the seaport about 1000 kilometers to the south. At this plant 150 tons were being processed each 20 hour work day. The plant reminds me a lot of Gribbles pelleting pro cess where there were several stages to progress through, end ing up by coming out in 150 pound sacks of shelled peanuts that a virtual "bucket brigade" proceeded to carry via the head several thousand feet to the stacking crew. I know some of the sacks weighed more than the carrier, but they trotted off with the load on their head like it was a sack of feathers! We visited also, some primi tive irrigation systems used for vegetable and wheat production where a white man hardly ev er set foot. The small fields that employ the flood system using borders, were producing tons of tomatoes, piement, eggplant on ions (bv the acres!) gombo and other African vegetables, main ly ones used for flavoring sauce, which they are very fond of. At these irrigation areas which were located wherever there may be a wet spot of ac cumulation of runoff, and some along the Komo dougou river, a "chadouf" or balanced arm on a forked pole in the ground furnished the lifting device for getting the water into the ditches. A large gourd (calabas) with a string net around it to carry the water from the hole was the dipping receptacle. I saw some working these devices, and I swear they were putting as much water in to the ditch as a good small electric pump. At these same fields there was wheat being produced that looked real good to me. It looked a lot like Gaines, a big loose bearded head, they said It was hard and no one knows where it ever came from. It had been grown for generations. From figures they gave me I figured it to be producing about 50 bushels per acre which I didn't think bad at all for Africa. (No fer tilization). On the scenic side I saw a lot of gazelle, much like our antelope, many small foxes, monkeys running all over the place, jackals, a multitude of the brightest and largest birds I had ever seen, and last but not least, ostriches. This was the first time I had seen an ostrich in the wild and when I came up on them I thought I would see how fast thev could run. They might be clumsy looking birds but they sure have the speed. I chased them all over the country, but got one on the road and clocked him 60 kilom eters per hour. He got to throw ing up so much sand into my radiator I had to drop back and he got away. Another interest ing sight is the Lake Chad cat tle. These are predominent In the eastern Niger area along Lake Chad and into that coun RANCH AERO AIRPLANE SPRAYING CO. OWNED AND OPERATED BT PAUL fl. HANSEN NOW SPRAYING GRAIN FOR WEEDS AND APPLYING LIQUID FERTILIZER Schwarz Aptm'ts No. 5 PH. Heppnor 676-9271 ox 676-9294 try too. There went literally hundreds of thousands of those smaller than regular cattle, along the shores of Lake Chad, with their ball shaped horns that looks much like a basket ball coming out of the base of the cows head. Crossed with the other cattle of the country they have the big round horn, then a regular two foot horn on the end of that, about as big around as a mans arm. I have some excellent pictures of them that I was proud to get. I also was much Impressed with the no mads and their camel caravans with the largest being 85 load ed camels, but a lot more young camels going along for the walk, as well as dozens of donkeys. It is quite picturesque to see some of the Borroro's in their black dresses sitting on the rumps of their donkeys heading for somewhere miles and miles from the closest visible sign of civilization. A visit to Agades which is on the edge of the Sa hara, was real Interesting with the Tuaregs and their Sunday markets, which includes every thing from dried dates to cam els and camel hair braided rugs of which I ended up with two, a camel blanket to go with my camel saddle, and a few other odds and ends. After returning to Niamey and getting caught up with the ev eryday chores. I began planning for some extension demonstra tions. A recent trip to several villages out in the bush where the Chief of Canton accompa nied, we Induced five villages to go along with plots of about one acre in size where I will plow their field with oxen or donkey, prepare for planting, seed with a one row seeder in straight rows with the recom mended variety of the area us ing the amount of seed per square foot as found best suit ed to the area, then cultivate the millet or sorghum for weed control, as needed. The other half of the field will be farm ed by the farmer in his tradit ional wav. then we will see who is the best farmer. If Al lah is with me, and mv field yields more, than I might im press someone and pass on the method IK the farmer can find the monev to buy a donkey (SS.OD-O.OO) an implement ton time i at S75. find feed for the donkey, and otherwise think that the whole procedure is worth the trouble. If he beats me in yield, then I pav him the difference in millet between his and my yield. Just keep think ing how much wheat I would owe people like Frank Ander son, Louis Carlson, Raymond Lundell. etc.. if this kind of an arrangement had been in ef fect with some of our fertiliza tion plots in the past 15 years. Right now, and for the next 45 days. I will be involved at least part time with a five man agricultural team who have been sent here to study the pos sibilities for agricultural devel opment in Niger. Thev are from USDA Wasington. D. C, and are specialists in agricultural eco nomics, soil conservation, fores try, credit and cooperatives, ex tension, and livestock. They are involved in a complete review of all segments of agricultural de velopment, both from the gov ernment level, into the field. Thev t supposed to come up with a lone range program that will insure a production gear ed to the need for food to feed and exploding population. I have a number of pet projects that I would like to promote, but don't know how I will fare with all the competition I have, last Tuesday we had the group out for a tour of some of the projects underway, including mv demonstration plots. It was only 110 in the shade that day and we never found any shade, but we gave them a real good ride in the back end of the Land Rover, over some of the rough est terrain in Niger. They were ready to go to bed that even ing. We became lost in the brush which was higher than the pickup, and wand e r ed around for hours, but saw a lot of new country. I think they might have suspected we did n't know where we were going. Next week we take them out a little longer, then the next week into the grasslands of eastern Niger. Some of the good live stock growers of Morrow coun ty would love to get their cat tle into this grassland. It is thick, as it comes with water everywhere. I visited recently an area in the eastern part where the Unit ed Nations are making a sur vey on the possibilities of live stock development in this area. Under their study is a 10 mil lion acre area that is being thoroughly scrutinized with the hopes of setting up a one mil lion acre ranch where about 40, 000 1-2 year olds will be run for a year or two until they are out enough to put into a "warming-up" feed lot, slaughtered, then shipped by refrigerated truck to Nigeria and other southern African countries. A contract was let this month as a part of the survey to explore for water possibilities. Ten to 12 holes up to 600 feet deep will be dug to see just what the underground water supply is. If the protect sounds feas ible at the end of the two year study, the plan calls for a plant costing up to $5 million to de velop fence, stock and build necessary headquarters for the million acre ranch, as well as develop a feed lot. slaughter plant and refrigerated trucks to take the meat to the consum ing countries. Of course, it will be necessary to find some coun try to finance the project. Well. I have gone on for some time now. Better close with Al lah klea. the good bye of the Kanurl tribe of eastern Ntgar. bt kit anderson It has been a while since 1 last wrote so I thought I'd better sit down and write a few linos. I'm her-; In Niamey now, hav ing arrived on Saturday, March 2ti. I'm enjoying mv vacation with my folks and Rick, but I only have two weeks and I'm leaving next Saturday. My trip from Nigeria was all right I lef: Lagos on Friday. 25, and flew to Abidjan. I stayed overnight there with a family from the American Embassy and then came here Saturday after noon. I enjoyed Abidjan a lot more as It was my second visit and I knew a little bit about it. The family I stayed with had a swimming pool so I had a lot of fun. Today in Niger is a national holiday called Tabaskl. It Is a feast for the Moslems and there Is a big religious gathering. This morning at about 8:30 all the Moslems gathered at a cemetery for prayers. There were about 20.000 all together. The Presi dent, Hamanl Dlori. led the peo ple in praxcrs. Just a ear ago. when the Nigeriennes were hav ing this "fete" an attempt was made on Diorl's life. As he was leading them in prayer, a man threw a grenade at him. As he threw it, his hand brushed against hLs robe and the gren ade landed 20 feet or so from the President. It didn't hurt him. but it tore up the chest of a small boy and killed him. This morning we went to visit the missionaries who are in charge of the Protestant church here The wife of the minister had ob tained permission from the Pres ident to take pictures of the praying for a film they are mak ing of Niger. She wanted to show that the country was Mos lem. She was about 12 feet from the President with her movie camera and a slide camera. Be fore the praying actually began, she took a wide-angle shot of the crowd. Later when the mo vie was shewn, the police picked out the man who had thrown the grenade. She got some ex cellent pictures and there are copies with the American Em bassy and the President himself. Today, I thought, would be a good day for a coup if Niger is headed fo: one. Although the military is out in full force, there won't be any trouble. Everyone Is reasonably secure and happy despite what TIME of March 11 says. Since today is a feast day, preparations are being made throughout Niamey for the grand meal at sunset this even ing. All morning sheep have been killed and dressed out for roasting. The price of sheep in town is up to 5,000 CFA, or $20 but the natives say that 20.000 sheep are being killed here. Every family has one or two stretched on wooden racks roast ing by the fire. At some fires we saw this morning while driving through the city there were six and seven sheep roasting. If the family Is too poor to kill a sheep, then a goat is roasted. However, I didn't see one goat. The sheep are skinned and a man opens a small hole in the leg to blow air into the animal. This makes it much easier to take the skin off. The hides are saved as they bring a good price ai me marnet. This evening should be excel lent picture taking time. The drummers will be out In full force and there should be some dancing. I'd like to get out and see things. School's okay with me. I did all right on my term grades B in geometry, B in PE, A in Eng- 16 VvSf) HAIL INSURANCE on Your Crop Was Never More Necessary - The Best Policy to Buy Is ' Weather Tested ' Sold Only by Your Local Agent TURNER, VAN MARTER and BRYANT Insurance Heppnor ' Ph. 676-9652 KINZUA NEWS Br VIRGINIA KELSO (Held over from last week) KINZUA The Doubled eck card club was entertained Wed nesday evening at the grade school with Virginia Kelso as hostess. High and floating were won bv Helen Wright, low by Pat McMInn and second float ing bv Lllv Mav Nlstad. Others playing were Marl Bo r I n g. Mnrge Asher. Margie Ball. Kath rvn Flack, Vonnle Browning, Rita Conlee, VI Sllnkard, and Virginia Sltton. Mr. and Mrs. Jlggs Bowman and daughters Sara and Cindy went to Stanflcld Saturday where they visited with rela tives and plaved golf at Mc Nary on Sunday. Spending the week-end In Portland where the men bowled on Saturday night were Mr. and Mrs. Don Sllnkard. Mr. and Mrs. James Hulett. Mr. and Mrs. I.ee Bailey, and Mr. and Mrs. Mark Jelllck. Miss Florence Ball of Tendle ton spent from Friday until Sunday visiting her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Ball, When she returned to Pendleton Sunday she took her mother with hrr and Mrs. Bell entered St. An thony hospital where she was placed In traction. Mr. and Mrs. C. L .Flack were In Hoppner Wednesday and again Monday for medical care. Mrs. Wavland Hvatt and dau ghter Theresa spent the week end In Portland visiting with relatives. Mr. and Mrs. Herschel Mur dock left Friday on a short trip which took them to Portland. Newberg, Pacific City, Eugene, Albany and Salem. On their wav home thev visited with Mrs. Carol Norrls In Prlnevllle. Frank DeMerrlt went to Ar lington Saturday to meet Mrs. DeMerrlt who had come from Portland by bus. She had been In a Portland hospital for treat ment. Earl Norrls went to Prlnevllle Saturday to bring home Mrs. Norrls who had been a patient in the Pioneer Memorial hospi tal for ten days. Mr. and Mrs. Scott Reed and family of Bend spent the week end visiting with Mr. and Mrs. Rustv Medlock and Mr. and Mrs. Frank DeMerrlt. Mr. and Mrs. Ernie Schell went to Prlnevllle during the week-end to bring home their children Pete and Brenda who had spent the past week visit ing with their grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Rav O'Neal. Mr. and Mrs. Lowell Sharp and Dick Frank were business visitors to Maupln on Saturday. Mr. and Mrs. Sam Howell re turned to Camp 5 Friday after spending the shut down at Monument. Mr. and Mrs. Robert Ferrel re turned home Sunday from Port land where Bob had been In the hospital. They went to Monu ment first to visit with relatives before coming to Camp 5. Forrest Logan and daughters Vlckl and Terrl came Sunday to spend some time with Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Woods. Mrs. Jack Sltton went to Ar lington Thursday to meet her sister, Mrs. Mary Taffey of New Orleans, La. Mrs. Taffey went to Spray Friday to spend a few days with her mother Mrs. Cora Burnslde and then went to The Dalles Saturday with Mrs. Slt ton. Mrs. Sltton went back to lish, A in French, A In history. Our House won the Inter-House Sports Competition In track but I only did one race, the 8S0. Of course, I did real good, 6th out of 6! I'll stick to baseball. I got my hou.se Stripe the last week of term. It's a position in responsibility but I can't explain It too well Vou get more priv ileges or something. Anyway I was a good boy so I got one. The highest a student can go is School Stripe, which comes af ter House Stripe. Only 4 kids In my class have their HS so I guess I'm pretty lucky. I sup pose you would call It a perfect system. How's the weather there? It's been plenty hot here but last nl'jht It mined a little and cool ed down some. The rainy season will be starting again soon. Well, I suppose I had better finish this up for this time, if you find time to write, send It to Nigeria as I'm going back to school on the 9th. Yoollay forget Don't Delay Over The Tee Cup r DEE CRIBBLE (Held over from lnt week) Coifing news Is acaree thee days, flie strong wind makes weak golfers out of many that do turn out Sunday men's plav Is In the very capable hands of Hon Turner and Uiwcll Cribble. Sun day, the 17th, found 30 rnen out. and a real gotxl time was had by all. Hurry O'Dnnnell made coffee and served Juice and hot rolls, too. (Didn't know ho cimlt cook ) The day's low wrnt to Don Turner. Kd Bennett was eltwest to the pin on No, 4. Maurice The Dalles Tuesday taking Mrs Rurnslde with her so that Mrs. Burnslde could fly to New Or leans with Mrs. Taffey for a visit. The Needle Knocking Knitting club held a mobile food sale last Saturday realising $1250. Those participating In the bake sale were Delorls Shelton, Pax la Brock, Judv. Sharon and I. or ell Huhhrll and their leader, Mrs Helen Shelton. The Busy Bee Bakers hPld their ninth meeting at the home of their leader. Mrs. Wanlta Hubbell recently. The president Joyce Hatter appointed l.lnda Rice as secretary for the re mainder of the year. A discus sion was held on the muffins made at the last meeting. The new business was plans for a bake sale to be held at the Kin zua Mercantile on April 30. Nancy Benson, reporter Mr. and Mrs l,ee Bailey re turned home Thursday from a three weeka trip to visit rela tives In North Carolina. They had good traveling going east but returning home thev were ahead of tornadoes in Knii.nu and had Ice and snow In Neb raska and Wyoming, and were glad to get home. rmn 'rV 4. But it makes a great antique It's a good Idea to keep that old-fashioned pump around. It'll remind you of that happy day when you brought modern living Into your home with' a wonderful electric water system. Running water means so much to your family's health and comfort. Makes so many chores easier. Yet an electric water system costs only pennies a day to operate, thanks to low-cost rural electricity. An effective elec tric water system Is Indeed your first step to modern living I ELECTRIC WATER SYSTEMS Wt'M b glad to hap you plin tho ft tltctrle mittr lyitom for your homo or farm. Phono or vilt ut for frtt Information, No obligation, of courser COLUMBIA BASIN ELECTRIC CO-OP SERVING MORROW. WHEELER Oroves had par on No. 9, for hidden hole honor Long drive honors went to Don Turner. Since the committee had prev iously decided that awards are won on a bast of one time only, It was "be kind to Ifcin" ween. On Sunday, the 24th, 1.1 men played. Alter the play, a draw ing for partner ami matching scores fount! Van Marter, Sr., am! Kay Maxitey partners and low scorers. Joe Balfe and Uiw ell Cribble were mvoiuI low. Itay Mitxsey had close! to the pin. Willow Creek Ladle played both Tuesday, ant! the number out both times wa eight. Dee Cribble put the coffee on for April V.nli, ant! Cora Mae Ferg uson Hun nrd the day's play for the Win. Carol and Cheryl Crib ble were In charge. Two ball foresomes will he held on one Sunday each month for Mav, June and July. Only eli gible winners will lie the gal now annul that! ifsiMif s stm GAZETTE-TIMES JIM'S MEAT CO. CUSTOM SLAUGHTERING Stan field, Orvgoa Curing. Cutttiw. Wrapt Slaughtering Dart- ' Moadara, Wadnaadonnb Friday LOCKER BEEF AND PORK Phoaa 44S-S623 Jim Tolas Dot Night ar.;: - ; fJT mailbox NRECA AND GILLIAM COUNTIES mm
