Heppner gazette-times., July 17, 1975, Image 1

DESSIE WETZELL
U OF ORE
U V. 5 T A P E R LID
FVGENi OR 97403
Crop loss varies
ectric storms cause
hail and fire damage
V
This shows the size of the hailstones that fell on the Louis
Carlson place near the Valhy Church The largest of the
group measured 2 inches by inches, ' inches thick
Historical Cecil site
of Bicentennial
On the very historic day that
the whole world was watching
by TV the launching of the
Apollo Suyuz spacecraft and
following their journey carry
ing the U S and Soviet
astronauts and cosmonauts
toward their spectacular
"handshake in space". Mor
row County folks and visitors
stepped back in tune to the
days of the great westward
migrations of the 1840s
Of all the places that the
Ricentennial Wagon Train w ill
stop, none is more historic
than Cecil, Oregon This place
was a looked for stop on the
Old Oregon Trail and the great
wagon train migrations that
wore deep ruts came there
beginning aUiut 1841 and
tapering off before 1850
State history tells that only a
r
WILLIAM V. AM) MARY K. CECIL
Founders rf Cecil, Oregon
'V' . !
few came through on their
way to the Willamette Valley
in 1841. "nearly nine hundred
came in IH-Tl. almul 1.3H) in
IH44, 3,000 in 1845. 1.34(1 111
lUt.. 4..roo in IH47 ami about
Too in I84H. with only a
comparative few after that."
As these thousands on this
great pioneer highway rolled
their wagons downhill into
Cecil's green, well watered
area where the lush grass
stood high, they were relieved
and pleased They may have
had a hot. windy trip of
several days from Fort Henri
etta on the I'matilla River
(now Echo). The sand hills of
the Sand Hollow area and the
meager water supply at the
Wells Springs Camp were not
loo pleasant Horses, oxen and
people were weary and wag-
ni tl'r
This is all that remains of the wheat field belonging to Paul Jaeger after the
severe hail storm last Wednesday night near Condon. An estimated one quarter
of a million bushels of wheat were destroyed by the storm.
I
THE
Vol.92, No.
ons were wearing out I torn the
long trek At Cecil all found
refreshment -and also, there
was a remarkable man, Wil
liam V. Cecil who was able to
help repair wagons and make
it possible for some with the
trains to continue westward.
This week's Bicentennial
celebration is only one of
several big celebrations held
at Cecil In July just eight
years ago, the centennial of
the Cecil Post Office drew
many (nend. and former
residents there to celebrate.
However, the "good old days"
were when people really had
fun there, as this quotation
from "Yesteryears of Mor
row" points out :
"Cecil is one of the oldest
settlements in the region, and
is where people congregated
for fun as well as the
humdrum of everyday affairs.
Some of the dances given
there were attended by people
who came from as far away as
Monument and other John
Hay valley settlements These
festivities last almost a full
. week as it took two days to
travel each way from those
John Day Valley homes."
William '. Cecil, the com
munity' versatile founder,
was born in England in 1819
His parents, Wilfred, an
Englishman and Mary, from
Germany, came to the United
States with him to settle in
Illinois and then to move to
Missouri. There William mar
ried Mary Ellen Robinson,
and they came west across the
plains in covered wagons with
several of their children. They
stopped at Willow Creek and
were very helpful to others
who came that way. The
Cecils were well settled by
1862. The families who located
near them were In need of a
Post Office by 1867. William Y.
and Mary Ellen had nine
children: Jame E.. 1849;
Henrietta, 1852, Nathaniel,
IBM; Mary, 1857; Wilford,
IBM; William II. 1864; Frank
lin, 1866; Anna, 1869, and
Walter, 1871.
William Y. Cecil, according
to the "History of Morrow and
Umatilla Counties (1902),
"Early embarked on raising
cattle and was prosperous
from the beginning and con
(Continued on page t)
22
V s li4
rV 's ' J'l V " ".
JIM WISHART
Bank of Eastern Ore,
names vice president
James H. Wishart, former
manager of the Prairie City
Branch of the First National
Bank, has joined the Bank of
Eastern Oregon as Vice Pre
sident of the Heppner Office.
The board of directors made
the announcement following
their regular monthly board
meeting in Heppner, July 9.
Gene Pierce, president of
the bank, stated the board w as
extremely pleased to obtain
the services of a man of
Wishart 'i caliber. He Is not a
stranger to the community,
having lived in Heppner for
three years In the late 1960s
and his 23 years of diversified
banking experience will be an
asset to the bank and the
community.
Wishart was born In Klicki
tat, Wa , In 1928. He grew up in
Hood River and Dee, Oregon,
and graduated from Hood
River High School In 1947. He
attended Northwestern School
of Commerce, Portland, and
completed their bookkeeping
and accounting courses in
1949. Upon completion of his
Extreme hot days and high humidity spawned periodic
electric storms in a wide area. The storms continued daily
for over a week. Last Wednesday the most severe storm hit
near the Gooseberry and Condon areas.
Hail the size of ping pong balls was reported to have fallen
in the Eight mile area, causing damage to the wheat crops.
While the total extent of the damage is not known, some
ranchers estimate 10-100 per cent loss of their crop.
State Highway 206 near Eight Mile was closed due to mud
slides in the area and the state maintenance crews worked
during the night to clear the debris.
In some areas it appeared as though a winters rain had
fallen as the summer fallow fields were covered with large
pools of water. The diversion ditches carried the water to the
low lands and most of these areas were saturated with water.
Along the highway the rain hit spasmodically and some of the
existing wheat fields showed signs of damage while others
had very little.
The Condon area was the severest hit by the hail and most
of the windows on the south side of the homes received the
greatest part of the damage.
One resident reported that the hail had chipped most of the
paint from her home and that a quarter could not be placed
between the chipped paint marks.
Onlv a few weeks prior what appeared to be choice wheat
fields were now completely destroyed. The fields of Paul
Jaeger in Condon were devastated by the hail storm.
Vegetable gardens in the Condon area appeared as though
someone had used a rototiller as there were no sign of any
Heppner, OR.,
schooling he accepted a posi
tion with the First National
Bank in Hood River.
In 1950 he was drafted into
the U.S. Army and spent eight
months in Japan and another
14 months in Korea. He was
discharged in 1952 and return
ed to work at the First
National Bank. He was later
transferred to Union Branch
where he was the operation
officer. In 1966 he was
transferred to Heppner as a
general loan officer. In 1969 he
was moved to Prairie City to
manage a new branch of that
bank. In February, Wishart
completed 25 years of service
with First National.
He married Camilla Flesher
of Hood River in 1954. They
have four children. A married
daughter; Sally, living in
Prairie City, Susan. IS, who
will be a senior this year,
Jimmy, 16, a sophomore and
John IS, freshman. They
have purchased the Dennis
Martin home and will be
moving to Heppner about July
IS.
July 17, 1975
Princess
She is pretty, she is blonde,
somewhat soft spoken, a good
rider, a native of Irrigon and
very active. She is Princess
Mary Ann Proctor of the
Morrow County Fair and
Rodeo.
Mary Ann cannot remember
when she hasn't been able to
ride a horse. She is one of
those "kids" who learned to
ride and learned to w alk about
the same time. She has been
very active in the 4 H horse
club in Irrigon. She is current
ly the club's junior leader.
She trains her own horses.
Her horse Thunder Bear, a
registered Quarter horse,
whom she will be riding in the
Fair and Rodeo parade in
August, she has (rained.
Princess Mary Ann is an
active member of the Umatil
la Sage Riders. She was a
member of that court in 1973.
She says she likes to partici-
page in game events, espe
cially barrel racing She has
several trophies accumulating
the most points in particular
events over a year's time as a
member of the Sage Riders.
Mary Ann's parents, Mr.
and Mrs. Leroy Proctor, own
and operate a 175 acre ranch
four miles southwest of Irri
gon. They raise "cross-bred"
beef cattle in a manner
different from the way beef
cattle are raised in the
southern end of the county.
Because their land is under
Clarence Rosewall
dies suddenly
Clarence Rosewall, ex
mayor and councilman for the
City of Heppner. died Tuesday
evening after returning from
the Morrow County Bicenten
nial festivities at Cecil.
He was born Nov. U. 1898, in
Missouri and came west with
his family while still a
youngster. He settled in
Union. Or., where he worked
for the Eastern Oregon Light
and Power Company.
In 1930 he married Virginia
Key and they moved to
Heppner in 1939 where he
operated Rosewall Motors
until 1958 when he retired due
to ill health.
He was a councilman and
mayor of Heppner for 16
years, member of the Oregon
Wheat league, Heppner Elks
Ixnlge No. 356, Farmers
Union. Tri City Shrint Club,
Al Kadar Temple Shrine.
Royal Arch Mason, Order of
(Continued on page 6
foilage. All that remained of some of the corn planted in the
area was the stalks about one to two inches high. An
occasional leaf of corn could be found pelted into the ground
and covered with mud.
In the Condon area an estimated 7,000 acres of wheat have
been destroyed with an additional 4,000 acres of barley also
being damaged, according to Martin Zimmerman, Gilliam
County Extension agent. The average yield in the crop
damaged area has been between 31-32 bushels of wheat per
acre. for an estimated total loss of 220,000 bushels of wheat.
The wheat could have been harvested within the next two
weeks.
According to reports this was the worst storm in that area
within the past 15 years.
Although estimates of the damage are high, insurance
adjustors could not complete their assessment of the loss as
more damage will probably be reported during the harvest.
About 40 customers of Columbia Basin Electric Coop were
without electricity for two hours when a lightning bolt hit a
69.000 volt feeder line near Ruggs. Similar strikes were
reported in the lone area and two transformer fuses were
blown at Fossil.
Lightning near Heppner started a six-acre grass fire about
8 p.m. on the Dick Wilkenson ranch, four miles southeast of
Heppner.
Another fire caused by lightning burned an estimated 4.000
acres of range land belonging to the Krebs Brothers near
Arlington. The fire was brought under control by the
Arlington volunteer fire department who fought the blaze
lias riding experience
irrigation they do not have to
own as much land nor do they
graze their cattle on a
separate range during the
summer.
Mary Ann has two brothers
and two sisters. One brother
and one sister are married.
Mary Ann's other brother is
20. Mary Ann is 17 and she has
a younger sister Theresa.
Theresa is a pennant bearer
for the court this year, so she
has the opportunity to share in
some of her sister's excite
ment. Sports minded Mary Ann
likes swimming, basketball,
golf and baseball. She doesn't
like these activities as specta
tor sports either. She likes
playing the games. A senior at
Riverside High School, she is
very active in the activities of
that school. She has been a
cheerleader for three years,
treasurer of the student body,
member of National Honor
Society, member of the pep
club. Girls Athletic Assn. and
the annual staff. Sandwiched
z" '
t v- - v
PRINCESS MARY
fcwt - 'Till 1 1 I is . " "' Jt ' 'LW"liSIIM J
; . r- . 1
f t. i ----
15c
in betw een her activities and a
busy summer as a princess on
the Morrow County Fair and
Rodeo Court she finds time to
hold down a summer job.
She has some thoughts
about the future for herself
and her community. She
wants to go to Blue Mountain
Community College in Pen
dleton and take a course in
accounting
When asked if she wanted to
see Irrigon and the northern
end .of Morrow grow any
more, her answer was she
liked the community better as
a small community. She
commented that her com
munity is changing quite a bit
and there were too many
people moving in to suit her.
But this summer is Mary
Ann Proctor's summer to
enjoy advertising the Morrow
County Fair and Rodeo, She
invites everyone to her dance.
Saturday . July 19 at the Fair
Pavilion in Heppner. Music
for the dance will be provided
bv the Country- Review.
ANN PROCTOK