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About The Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 19??-1984 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 17, 1936)
Section 2 THIRTY YEAR ANNIVERSARY PAGES 1 to 12 VOLUME XXX NUMBER 4 FOREWARD w A g Uhe Hrrmttun Hrraln HERMISTON, UMATILLA COUNTY, OREGON, Section 2 THIRTY YEAR ANNIVERSARY PAGES 1 to 12 SEPTEMBER 17, 1936. Herald Office In 1907. EARLY PIONEERS CONQUER INDIANS HISTORY w This anniversary edition of the HOME GROUND STORY Hermiston Herald is published to commemorate its thirtieth birth day and to portray what has Utilla Agency First White been done during the thirty years Settlement; Vast Cattle of contemporaneous life of cour Ranches Flourish. ageous people in the reclamation of a desert. The Hermiston Herald has set out Its columns of reading matter to tell the story of the march of are therefore necessarily histor time in this area as nearly as the ical. As such, we hope that not records show. Some of the im only the many pioneers, who prints are plain, some are dim and have had a part in this new Inside view of Herald office taken in 1907. C. E. Baker standing at tye case. Mrs. Baker at some have been obliterated. Never western epic, here, will be inter news desk. Washington hand press in center background. theless the remaining facts should ested in this summary of events interest us and should be recorded in but also that the many who are Templeton’s Lake Lost. District Building Erected In file, and library, and vault, and in Town Name Selected by making their homes here now the home and multitude of places will be interested in what has Robert Templeton, father ot Jas 1915 Through Coop. Move Mr». J. F. McNaught. where men keep things that live been done during a generation to per Templeton, tiled on a home like traditions in the archives of transform the rendezvous of coy The district office building in Because one of the stockholders stead In Columbia district in 1904. human existence, merely for the joy ote and rabbit, waste of land and This filing included a lake which Hermiston is the result of one of the of keeping. History has its strange ot the Maxwell Company was read water, into modern, highly civi covered part ot the land now in the first cooperative movements. This fascinations for all of us. We like ing the well known Stevenson's nov lized communities. H. J. Stillings, and Jasper Temple was among business men. When the el, “ The Weir of Hermiston ” , when to meditate on what has happened ton's present ranches. From this Umatilla project was under con It is our pleasant duty to pre the day came to give the baby town to our own selves, to note the mile lake the elder Templeton expected struction a good residence was built sent the record as best we can. a name Mrs. J. F. McNaught chris stones, to reflect on the road we For months we have been gath to pump water for irrigating the for the chief engineer and a set of took at the junction or crossroads tened it HERMISTON. The name Of ering together from public rec surrounding homestead acreage. cheaper office buildings erected for Clarkwis had been considered since and as a group of people in town, ords, from newspaper files and All went well until the early the engineering headquarters. When or country, or state, or nation, we the year was the 100th anniversary printed pamphlets, from old Spring ot 1907 when the Govern the project was completed and the like to know what has happened be of the famous expedition of Lewis photographs, scrapbooks, scat and Clark. But Hermiston was an ment was building the Cold Springs West Extension was authorized, pro fore us and why. tered historical writings and the unusual name and it proved a hap dam. A spring thaw and Chinook posals were made in 1915 to remove The lessons of history are the memories of men and women brought down such a flood that it the Reclamation headquarters to py selection. best guidance for men and the in these stories of experience and The fact that a Baptist minister carried away part ot the fill at the Irrigon. spiration from a knowledge of what movements of progress necessary by the name of Hermiston came here dam and with other debris filled the The business men of Hermiston others did in success and pleasure to the task. with a missionary railroad car and lake and cut a channel through the immediately made a counter propo of effort carries us forward to bet We want to express our warm conducted religious services a year lower embankment to the Columbia, sal to the Reclamation Service—that ter endeavor. appreciation to all persons who on a sidetrack in town had nothing which later was deepened as a drain they would buy the old buildings if With scarcely any other excuse to do with the naming of the town. age canal. The Templetons were have so generously aided us in the service would erect a substan the Herald has tried to tell you the This was a mere coincidence, but re driven from their home and spent tial office structure here. The ser the gathering of data; and. also story of the home ground. The main sulted in the first church being the night in the sagebrush. to the 100 percent of business vice agreed to take $1500 for the part of this story will have to do interests who have so generously built. original buildings and add sufficient with wresting the desert from the Delia Switzler’s Tree. supported us in advertising space, The first plat of the town was funds to do the work. coyote, and rabbit and rattlers, dur filed by the Maxwell Company on from every town and district in Twenty-three Hermiston citizens ing thirty years, and making it over the west side of the railroad track There is a tree on Switzler’s Is western Umatilla and northern gave their notes for $100 each and into modern homes and civilized in 1904, but an error was made in land where the oldest daughter of Morrow counties. these notes were used as collateral conditions. Prior efforts to reclaim the plat and in the following spring J. B. Switzler hid one night in 1878 This edition was a big under to borrow funds to buy the build land were meager in results, but a new plat was filed. About the from marauding Indians while her taking, fraught with doubts of ings and rebuild them into residenc paved the way. The first strong ef same time a plat for the East side father yielded to the persuasions of success, by a weekly newspaper es. A contract was made with H. A. forts brought little good but through was filed by Newport and Skinner, the reds to row them across the Co from the average resources in the Frick to take over the property and experience: and by continued faith both under the name of Hermiston. lumbia. The Indians wanted to communities we serve, and to do the carpenter work and refund and work the final achievements Each townsite was 40 acres and ad hold a parley with the Yakimas to their most liberal response in the donations. R. S. Oldaker was have been proven worth while. But ditions were made to each. arouse a general uprising, and every way we ascribe the success made trustee and after he left Her we do not want to be commentaries, A strife ensued known far and Switzler with needle gun in hand, miston the trusteeship passed to of the publication. merely record makers of events. wide as the Hermiston townsite held them oft until discretion seemed Thomas Campbell. All signers were One of our chief purposes is tc Geological. fight. A business of each kind was the better part of valor and rowed finally paid out and there now re give all our citizens a common In the beginning, we are told, established on each side of the track. them over. During this time the | mains to their credit $115 which knowledge of our several com “ God created the heavens and the For three years this strife was con girl Delia remained hidden high in may be used for some other public munities and towns, and to por earth. ” Since then many geologi tinued but finally faded away. The the tree tops. The next day she rode benefit. tray and encourage a common in cal changes took place. According to The townsite fight has no real his to Umatilla to join the rest ot the terest in each other’s welfare. Our The Reclamation Service per Dr. Thomas Condon, the Pacific toric value but is a good subject for fa mlly. historical knowledge is the same formed its part of the contract with ocean swept freely once over our a western novel. It resulted at the and our future interests are the the result of the fine building and Old Umatilla Forts. plains and hills. Then a nucleus of time in much competitive building, same. A common knowledge, a well kept grounds now used by the the Blue Mountains appeared above the results of which are yet seen in common pride, and a common district officers, the county agent Resembling ancient remains are the floods. Then the Cascades low values of several costly struc pursuit should produce a united and various other useful, public en arose and slowly shut out the ocean tures in each district. It also re the evidences ot two old rock build terprises. spirit for the duties and accom , ings at Umatilla which were used and a great inland lake covered sulted in a costly water system and plishments of the future. these spaces. Shores appeared and expensive streets and sidewalks for forts during Indian uprisings. Many stories of personal and Blalock Island Named. the John Day fossils show a vast spread over a larger area than is Women and children were taken human interest have been neces there while the men mustered into mammalian life. Strange creatures necessary or convenient to common sarily eliminated from this edi Blalock Island, across from Board roamed over the Blue Mountains, uses, and numerous lots are still service to guard towns and settle tion. Some historical features man, was named from the once fam ments. One building was owned by nothing like our present day animal idle because the town was not held have not yet been established. ous Dr. W. G. Blalock of Walla Wal life. A diminutive horse with 14 to a smaller area. Along with the the Kunzies and the other by Some errors, doubtless, will be la. Also the little station below Ar Koontz. hoofs ambled over the plains and townsite competition was also the revealed. It is surprising, in lington received its name from the dogs similar to our own mingled general boom and a belief that Her many cases, how meager are the same source. The doctor who be Hungry Harbor Eddy. with them. There was a plodding miston would become a city accord sources of history and how dim came wealthy in Walla Walla In the rhinocerous and the lake was full ing to the slogan “Five Thousand in and incorrect are the memories. Hungry Harbor is an eddy in the eighties, was also a great believer of water life. During that time came Five Years.” We propose to publish other ar Columbia river just above Umatilla in the future of the Columbia val great flows of lava and all lake life But Hermiston survived the bad ! rapids, situated under cliffs where ley. He made several attempts at ticles in subsequent issues and was destroyed : these were followed effects through the good effects of urge all our readers to submit boats rested a week at a time until irrigation development, but was by an alluvial period when the wash its location and resources and the corrections, additions, and any in winds subsided before attempting ahead of his time and died almost from the mountains was carried in enterprise of the early day spirits teresting incidents that may the perilous descent. The harbor Is without a dollar. He retained the to the lake and life was renewed. who were always inspired by the be near Hat Rock and Flat Iron basalt highest honor and respect from citi have occurred during the years Dr. Condon’s findings were shown lief the town would finally become pinnacles, seen so plainly from the zens all over the northwest for his gone by. These will be added to in the drilling of the oil well on the a very important center. the volume of history that will be Wallula Cutoff. integrity, vision and enterprise. edge of Hermiston in 1923-24. The The city domestic water system preserved In schools and libraries, bit drove through alternate strata was first built of wood pipe, with a files and personal records. In the The whistling well, drilled while Hermiston never had a saloon ex of lava and alluvial formation, three large reservoir on the Butte nearby. testing the Umatilla Meadows dam- cept that a hotel bar was operated Carnegie library in Hermiston an of each. 80 feet in thickness. In the (Continued on Page 10) site. is still blowing. historical section will be provid a year in 1907. lower alluvial stratum drilled, were ed and all these features will be found smooth water worn stones carefully preserved. Early Project Settlement Scene. and a petrified piece of tree limb at Again we want to thank com a depth of 280 feet, and below two munities of Boardman. Irrigon, strata of lava flow. Umatilla. Echo. Stanfield. Butter Later, it is said, that during some Creek. Umatilla Meadows and great torrential deluge or due to Hermiston, and officials of all the melting of glaciers near Dry the towns, Irrigation districts, Falls and Grand Coulee, the waters clubs, lodges, churches and num of the lake beyond Wallula gap erous citizens for their assistance broke over and the lake of this re and kindly interest in the cre gion tore through the Columbia ation of this anniversary edition. Gorge and destroyed the geological The Herald particularly urges dam near Bonneville, or the Bridge the public schools to encourage of the Gods, and the waters of the interest in our early history, and Inland lake‘returned to the mother in the history ot the development ocean. of these irrigated projects. Much The Cascades rose higher and yet remains to be done. The ex perience we have had and the | shut off the clouds and moisture progress we have made will be j and the desert condition was pro- | duced. That was how the Indians come very valuable in the gui found it and that Is how it was dance of future endeavors. when the white man came on the There are many small incidents scenes. or happenings which are of his It is claimed that the Columbia torical significance. Some are once had its course through where ! humorous, some are romantic: Hermiston now stands and the crags | and lava peaks nearby were caused i some illustrate endurance and by the erosion of the waters. During | sacrifice, but all are essentia! some upheaval or terrific flood t parts of the history of people. chanced its course to the canyon PAULINE M STOOP north of us and wore its way down ALFRED QUIRING during the ages to its present bed. Publishers E. R. Crocker said in his report E P. DODD. of the Umatilla rapids base for a Historian. dam. that It was composed of ths Early settlement scene in 1908. Leather's cabin, A. C. Drop canal, now Alpha Chrlstley ranch. ., .tu over columpia district looking into unsettled district. (Continued on Page 11) % ‘ * s a F saw Da This anniversary edition is in celebration of the thirtieth birth day of the Hermiston Herald. During its lifetime it has ap peared every week for 1560 weeks. It has never failed to record the doings of its commu nity each week, and has never been in financial distress, or been hindered in its progress. Early in September, 1906, the townsite firm of Newport & Skinner felt the sudden urge to start a newspaper. The townsite squabble was in sight and a man named Brown, editor of the Echo News, who was unfriendly to Newport & Skinner, was prepar- Ing to issue a paper. One even ing Col. Newport and Wm. Skin- ner had a meeting with Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Crawford. Crawford subscribed $100, and the townsite company the remainder. Togeth er they wrote the news of the whole country around and pre pared advertising. The next day they went to Pendleton and re viewed the subject matter with Mr. and Mrs. C. E. Baker. Baker was then operating a linotype on the Pendleton Morning Tribune, then published by E. P. Dodd. That night the baby Herald was born and named, and its godfath er, the late Col. Horace Greely Newport, proudly carried it away in his arms from the Tribune hospital to the railroad station at nine A. M. and brought it to Hermiston. The name of each citizen of the new town was writ ten on a copy of the paper and. bearing a green penny postage stamp, the issue was placed ex ultantly in the Hermiston post office. For several months news was supplied by Newport & Skinner, and Mrs. Crawford, who was a graduate ot Stanford University. The Pendleton Tribune did the printing. In the meantime the Townsite company transferred the ownership of the paper to C. E. Baker. During the winter of 1906-1907, A. A. Lathrop, an able man ot the old time newspa per fraternity, kept the office ot the paper open and gathered news, advertising and subscrip tions. Early in the Spring of 1907, Mr. and Mrs. Baker moved to their home in Hermiston and continued the publication ot the Herald for three and a half years. The cut published in this edition shows Mr. Baker standing at the type case and Mrs. Baker at the desk. The old Washington hand press was soon cast out for a modern cylinder press, and a good job printing plant was installed. The Herald was well established when the Bakers, because their land interests required attention, sold out to F. R. Reeves. Mr. Reeves published the pa per several years, and both he and Mrs. Reeves were very active workers In community life here. They live at Santa Rosa. Cal. They were succeeded by James O’ Connell, who now publishes a pa- nc. on the Oregon coast. He was followed by Bernard Mainwaring, now editor of the Baker City Herald-Democrat. Bernard Main waring was followed by Raymond Crowder, now editor of the Ar lington Bulletin. His interests were transferred to Athey and Kingsley who sold to J. F. Har vey, and Harvey sold to J. M Biggs. The present publishers are Pauline M. Stoop and Alfred Quiring who have owned the pa- per six years. The Herald now has a more modern plant, having installed a Babcock, four page cylinder press in May. 1935, six series of new type faces and various other equipment to make possible a more efficient plant. Starting the first of Angus' this year four pages of additional features were added to the Her ald columns, making it an eight page paper each week. At times the business justifies ten pages or more. These new features in clude a continued story, national news, a page of timely pictures. Sunday school lessons. Oregon state news, articles by Irvin 8. Cobb, and a page of comics, be sides the news stories of local in terest.
