Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 10, 1977)
TWELVE The Gazette-Times, Heppner, Ore., Thursday, Feb. 10. 1077 i .5 i X. f r .tSI.. jFied ofheliostats could power plant. Boardman farmer predicts growth John Prag, Boardman area farmer, at a recent noon luncheon meeting of the La Grande Lions Club, told Lions of the spectacular develop ment of the Morrow County port area in recent years. "About 1969, the Boeing Company, who had leased 100,000 acres of land in the Hermiston-Boardman area, switched the lease to an agri industrial effort, developed the center -pivot sprinkler sys tem that is now being used in 202 installations, irrigating 130-acres each, and with all private capital; except the government installed the Mc Nary dam, developed the potato-growing and marketing industry in that area to the point where Oregon is now the third largest potato producing state in the union, with 75 per cent of the production being in the Morrow County area. "The world's largest 'fresh pack potato' operation is located near Boardman, and Outages, ice build-ups experienced in area (Continued from page 1) Power outage and ice build up have also been experienced east of Heppner up Little Butter Creek. The fog con dition has extended from Highway 395 westward, cover ing vast portions of the Uma tilla Drainage Basin south , west into Wheeler and Gilliam counties. Outside the fog bound area, sunshine has been the rule. On the east, the fog concentration through the weekend started along Highway 395, drop ping off the west side of the Battle Mountain summit. To the west, Fossil has remained generally clear. The heavy concentration of ice buildup settled in the Condon area and extended northeast into the lone area. The Eightmile area and most other areas immediately outside of Heppner have ex School district lists vacancies The Morrow County School District board has announced two vacancies on its advisory committee from the Board man-Imgon area. The positions are Nos. 2 and 5. Both are three year terms. Petitions for election are available at the school district office at Lexington. Signers of petitions and the candidate must reside in the zone or I S I i r '.(.. ... i produce energy- another plant is going in at Hinkle. Several French-fry plants are located in the area and one immense 'flaking plant' which uses the portion of the potato otherwise un used." Prag defined other results of the development and possi bilities for the future as being an extremely low tax-rate for Morrow County, around 12 mills; expectation of building a community of from 10 to 12-thousand at Boardman within the next 20-25 years, building a large steam power generating plant using coal for fuel, possible building of from 1 to 4 nuclear power plants, and possible diversification of crops to include alfalfa, beans, wheat, grass seed, mint and sugar beets. "Agricultural acreage in the area no longer than 15-years ago sold for $5 an acre, and is now around $1,200 to $1,500 and expected to soon average around $2,000," Prag stated. perienced heavy ice buildup. Heppner and the immediate vicinity have been compara tively free of ice buildup and road problems during most of the three weeks of foggy weather. Umatilla Electric Co-op has also been affected by the weather conditions and re ported as many as 35 ad ditional people in the field to clear ice from lines. A number of high school students from Heppner helped clear iced lines over the three-day weekend. In addi tion to those on extra payroll have been special construc tion crews hired to replace down power lines. Farmers and ranchers have been as sisting, bringing the number of persons at work on the problem into the hundreds. attendance area irom which the candidate is to be elected. A minimum of 10 signers is required. They must be reg istered voters in Morrow County. Completed petitions are to be returned to the school district office or to the county clerk's office before Tuesday, March 15. Annual election has been set for April 19. .; .. 1 equivalent to a 10 megawatt 3 (1 14 karat Needle v Peterson s 'etc8"' ;Trr) Jewelry .4 V3 . W. Personal - m ' 'inn . x r P. Solar Last summer, Navy planes spotted four giant, suspicious looking bubbles growing on the desert 25 miles southwest of Boardman. After circling the area several times the pilots radioed the discovery back to their base. What the pilots had stumbl ed on were neither space vehicles nor oversized jelly fish. Located at the Boeing Company testing site, four bubble shaped heliostats were being studied as possible collectors of solar energy. Three of the heliostats are under contract to the National Aeronautics and Space Ad ministration (NASA). The fourth is involved in a sepa rate Boeing experiment It is , an - - r .... V - I - ' .:M-ri V y J ra a era ezj a en e3 nancinacaannncannn T FOR H j? YOUR gold $1'50 99C . ... m Ls our x tics energy bubbles studied the company's first research model of a helioslal solar reflector. Transparent plastic, called Tedlar, covers the igloo-shaped domes that measure 17 feet in diameter. Inside the domes are round, 15-foot frames covered with a plastic coated Mylar film. The film produces a mirror reflection. They are mounted on a two axis gimbal and driven by digital control led stepper motors. The en tire unit, excluding the con crete foundation, weighs about 200 pounds. NASA's heliostats are equipped with control mech anisms that are connected to a mini-computer for testing un der conditions simulating an Diet Pepsi 8 pak 16 oz. plus deposit to A I Eight Heppner merchants join in wishing you a Happy Valentine's Day, February 14th. They offer you sweetheart deals on a variety of items. Have your heart set on a Valentine? Pick them up a prize from one of these Cupid coupons. Coupons good through Monday, Valentine's Day, unless otherwise noted by individual merchants. $ 6 piece Cutlery SePM i $13.95 -A Morrow "tv Urowers -'V actual power plant operation. The mini computer is pro grammed to track the sun in its path across the sky. The three NASA units obey the commands of the mini computer and follow the sun. reflecting its image onto a focal point at the' top of a nearby rocket test stand. The five-story stand was first built in the 1960's when the Boeing property had been chosen as a test site for a Boeing-built moon rocket That project was later moved to Mishould, La. . The rocket stand is now being used for simulation of the solar reflector receiving tower. Instruments at the top of I 4", ?g Mi $17.95 M County. fl I fer iG At I v of e W the tower measure the amounts of energy received at different times of the day and under varying weather condi tions. Collection of solar heat data as a possibility for boiling liquid to be used in turning a turbine engine is not the sole aim of the experiment Effects of weather on structure and material make-up of the helio stats is also being studied. The heliostats are designed to withstand 80 m.p.h. winds with gusts up to 100 m.p.h. Durability of the 61000th inch plastic that covers the airtight heliostats is one of the questions that NASA is checking into. "We had to put heaters in the heliostats to keep ice and snow from gathering on the tops of the bubbles," said Holmes. Researchers are also interested in seeing what affect abrasive dust storms have on the heliostat plastic. Should the units check out as a viable means of collecting 8" particle boarM , osV 'Hard board- paneling 3.79 & Supply c TT Wt art Pi r-wncement stock fi? Subscription solar energy, it could lead to a field of three thousand helio stats or the equivalent of a 10 megawatt power plant The collectors would cover about 50 acres. Solar energy will contribute to the nation's energy supply one day but John Lowe, head of solar energy activities for Boeing Engineering and Con struction, cautions that the time this will happen is not just around the corner. Hospital Admitted and dismissed from Pioneer Memorial Hos pital this week were Teena Galbraith, Lexington; Ryan Heath, Heppner; James Phil lips, California; Robert Pow: ers, Fossil; John E. LaTrace, Heppner; Beulah Florence, Heppner; Thomas Howell, Jr., Lexington; Geneva Black burn, Heppner, Marion Olsen, Heppner. Still in the hospital ! Wednesday were Alex Ulrich, Heppner, and Lyle Peck, Lexington. . - r- mm m r
