VERNONIA EAGLE,
FRIDAY, AUGUST 13, 1937
VERNONIA, OREGON
BETTY BRITE CIRCLE MEETS must be near the Rocky moun- other up and down and around
;; seemed
_____ ; that
;; __ long, we
—- one’s spinal column, and I was
AT MRS. MALMSTEN’S
tains, it
came through into the most amaz- thinking flow rejuveniting and
The Betty Brite circle met at ing picture of beauty.
Above looked at myself to see if it was
the home of Mrs. Franklin Malm- golden sunshine with a sky of so> and discovered what I thought
sten Tuesday afternoon In the blue, below a carpet of white to l>e a touch of jaundice and
absence of the president, Mrs. mounds, puffs and miniature liver spots, but was caused by
Fred Lumm took charge. Visi mountains all made of whipped , the reflection of the plane’s sky
tors were Mrs. Hazel Griffin and cream so it looked, and in the light, and that the spots were
Miss Kathleen McCrae.
distance I know I saw a castle. freckles.
Remember “Jack and the bean I Sorry to Land
JUNE WATTS ENTERTAINS
salk?” Well I think it was the
I was right down sorry when
WITH SCAVENGER PARTY
giant’s castle, and it gave one we started to drift toward the
a glimpse into fairyland, for
Miss June Watts entertained surely it was the second floor of airport, for I wanted to stay up
a long, long time, but we kept
at her home with a scavenger the fairies home.
circling lower and lower, and
hunt Tuesday evening, honoring
It was so indescribably lovely the folks who have experienced
Miss Grace Schurman of Beaver
that the thrills just chased each difficulty with their tummy’s in
ton.
PAGE THREE
landing have picked the wrong. is shining up above the clouds,
pilot, because there was abso-j even when it looks dark down
lutely no disturbance of any here below.
o
kind in the inner workings.
So into my mental memory
BENEFIT DANCE
book goes this delightful, thril-
SAT. AUG 14, 9 p.m.
lig experience, and we will re
member that if we ever become
Deer Island Fair
a parachute jumper we will make
Grounds
our jumps above the clouds, be- '
cause all you have to do is step
Proceed* benefit new fair
off to a carpet of exquisite j
auditorium and St. Helen*
white.
We are going to turn
swimming pool.
the trend of thought in our 1
Music by
'
small sons’ heads from being fu- ■
COLORADO WRANGLERS
ture presidents to being avia
Admission 50c Person.
tors, and all oui lives we will
know that somewhere the sun
■
EARTH BEING GETS
SUPREME THRILL IN
FIRST' FLIGHT
By Faith Gyaham Lamm in the
Keltonian Tribune
Some of you
earth beings,
who have been married, vaccinat
ed and the like, may think you
have had all the thrills life has
to offer but if you have not had
a glimpse above the clouds, you
have not made the acquaintance
of the supreme thrill, and you
certainly “ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”
I have always stood in awe of
airplanes, and promised myself I
wouldn’t ever get into one, not
unless I could keep one foot on
the ground, but the fellow with a
wooden leg is the only one who
could accomplish that, and he
could leave his on the ground.
When Lawrence J. Sohler, in
vited me to take a trip above
the clouds some day, my inner
self resisted plenty, but the out
side person, who tries to be brave
and modern, through a parched
and swollen throat thanked him,
and Saturday morning when it
looked as if there was no end to
the clouds he called and said it
was a perfect day to go above,
and could I go at once.
Her Face Lifted One Mile Up
Oh, I knew lots of other folks
have flown, but as far as I am
concerned I am the first, last
and only person who has ever
been, or ever will be, above the
clouds. I got my face lifted a
mile, 5280 feet. Mars has noth
ing on me now. This marvel of
the ages, man has invented cer
tainly is fascination. Wonderful
is it not, when one gives it a
bit of thought.
But wonderful or not, my
knees were bending all directions
when we walked to the plane
from the car, with awe not fright
at least that is my story and I'm
sticking to it, and when Sohler
said that magic word, “Contact”
the Robin flew, and as we rose
gracefully into the air it was the
most delightful sensation one
could hope to expedience.
It just did not seem possible
,and still it was, and when you
get your breath and your tongue
back in place and look down,
and see Mother Nature present
ing her earth in a study of pat
terns and prints, well you just
simply cannot explain, you just
have to see for yourself.
All the words Mr. Webster and
the modern generation have mun-
ufactured could not begin to tell
about it. We circled higher and
higher until all at once we sailed
through
something
absolutely
white, a lacy fleecy cloud, and
soon we were going through
1’00 feet of this ceiling of clouds,
not being able to see one single
things but Sohler’s nice hair cut.
Whipped Cream Mountain«
When we began to think we
♦ Motor Cruising for Fun ♦
W/iere
Pete French Once Ruled a Range Empire, the Motorlog Party Visits a
Haven of Refuge for Wild Birds
One of the newly flooded area» of Malheur reserve it thown at left. Right, the famous old ‘P’ ranch house
This newspaper is co-operating with the
Oregon State Motor association and The
Oregonian in presenting a series of motor
cruises under the title, “Motor Cruising for
Fun.” It is hoped thereby to stimulate
travel in the Pacific northwest. The follow
ing article has been condensed from a'
full-page article appearing in The Oregonian
on June 6.
on his father’s ranch where that
The next morning, escorted by
town now stands, recalled for the Jean F. Branson of the United
benefit of the members of the States biological survey and Merle
travel party conditions in the early Jacobs, hunter for the biological
days when literally ’’acres” of peli survey, we headed south for the
cans, ducks, geese and other wild headquarters of the reserve 30
fowl made the Blitzen river and miles away, located not far from
BY FRANK BARTON
Malheur district their customary where the Blitzen river enters the
Staff Writer, The Oregonian
habitat.
old Malheur lake bed, a group of
Protruding from the waters of
The touring party composed of attractive stone buildings con
Malheur lake are a series of hay Charles A. Sprague, publisher of structed by the CCC.
hummocks now alive with nesting) the Salem Statesman; Ben R. Lit-
Upon <zur arrival we were told
pelicans, gulls and other water-1 fin, publisher of The Dalles Chron about a spoonbill duck which was
fowl.
icle; Vinton Hall of the state mo nesting In tall grass not far from
These unusual Islands, which tor association, and myself had an expanse of water a hundred
have become colonies of wild life, spent the night at Ed Barnes' yards away.
are the tops of haystacks left by Hotel Welcome in Burns after an
We carefully uncovered the eggs
the ranchers when the federal gov easy one-day trip from Portland and took a picture after which we
ernment began flooding the region over excellent roads. We went by recovered them again. The old
in its program to restore the lake way of The Dalles to pick up Ben, duck would never know the dif
and the Blitzen river valley as a but cut off seven miles from the reg ference, according to John C.
refuge for migratory birds.
ular distance by taking the old Scharff, superintendent of the
The haystacks are significant of Dufur road, so that the total dis refuge.
the transition which is being made tance for the day's trip was only
A trip by automobile through the
in the district, once the proud cat 361 miles.
refuge showed us the extensive
tle empire of Pete French, founder
of the famous P ranch.
Quacking ducks and geese are
replacing the bellowing beeves and
men of the biological survey now
rule a new kind of range where
once French required a week's
travel by buckboard to cover his
almost feudal holdings.
Yet as we of the travel party, |
sponsored by The Oregonian and
the Oregon State Motor associa
tion, visited this huge r
ct it!
almost seemed that the original'
owner of the P ranch rode again
with his cowhands over the grassy
valleys of Harney. Everywhere we'
met with reminders of the man
who has become a near legendary
character in that district
The government is constructing
a series of dikes, and canals des
tined. it is hoped, to make of the
entire Blitzen valley a series of
pools, marshes, hummocks and
islands, ideal nesting places for the
millions of migratory birds to be
attracted to the region. The Mal
heur lake is also to be restored to1
its original state if the cycle of,
wet years, now expected, will only
do their part and deposit sufficient
moisture in the Blitzen water-bed.■
In carrying out this work a., at
tempt is being made largely to re
store conditions existing before
French invaded the district in 1873
and bought up ths "marsh’* land
of Blitzen valley at 11.25 an acre
for himself and his partner, Dr.
Hugh Glenn of Chico. Cal. Archie John C. Scharff, refuge superintendent, examinee a spoon
McGowan of Burns, who was born
bill dock’s nest.
program which the government Is
carrying out. Miles of dikes havs
been constructed. Acres of water
have been impounded. And tha
Blitzen river, fed by snow from tha
Steens mountains, is continually
pouring in more water to do its
part in giving the country back to
the waterfowl.
The project has been underway
for about a year and a half and
it is estimated that it will require
an additional five years to com
plete it Already eighteen ponds
have been created in the 40-mlle-
long Blitzen valley in addition to
the series of canals for the control
of the flow of water. A dam with
spillways and gates has been built
at the upper end of the valley,
thereby making It possible to di
rect the water into various chan
nels. The dam is equipped with a
fishway to provide easy passage of
trout up or down stream.
Ryegrass and grain to provido
natural food for the birds is being
planted in suitable places about ths
refuge. The entire project has also
been fenced. New fence totaling
178 miles was put around the lake
and the 190 miles of fence around
the old P ranch Is being rebuilt
and reinforced.
So far the government has made
no effort to take a census of the
bird population in the refuge. As
the work progresses on the project
this will be done.
It Is estimated, however, that
some 2000 Canada geese spent the
winter on the refuge and that the
number of ducks visiting the area
run into the tens of thousands.
Approximately 10,000 birds are
banded each year at the refuge and
some excellent data on migrations
have been -ecorded as a result of
this banding.
Shore birds nesting in the area
Include the long-billed curlew. Wil
son's snipe, avocets. western Wil
lets, Wilson’s phalaropes, kill deer,
and spotted sandpiper. Other in-*
teresting birds in the refuge, be
sides those already mentioned, in
clude black terns. Foresters' terns,
California and ring-billed gulls,
black-crowned and Treganza's blue
herons, white-faced glossy ibises
and various grebes.
Significant of the return of white
pelican to the district Scharff
said, was the fact that there is a
colony of about 200 of these inter
esting birds on Malheur lake at
the present time.