Terray Harmon, Jimsnjos and Cheryl Zarins all contributed to this report.
Last week’s History Mystery photo, above, was scanned from a black and white print found in the archives of the Reminder.
It was published Jan. 6, 1983. The caption reads, “Switch sweepers. Union Pacific employees were out in a cold wind Monday morning, sweeping the morning snow from the train switches. The forecast for the Mid-Columbia is dry Friday with rain or snow Saturday or Sunday.” The photographer was Wil Phinney.
Terray Harmon noted that the picture was taken in the 1980s, judging from the train car designs, which were introduced at that time.
“Jimsnjos,” via email, said “In the latest photo it shows a couple of railroad yard employees sweeping rail switch points clear of ice and snow so that the switch points would close tightly and not be obstructed with chunks of ice preventing a derailment.”
Zarins and others suggested that the crews were perhaps clearing ash from the tracks following the violent eruption of Mt. St. Helens on May 18, 1980, which deposited ash throughout the region.
20 years ago – 1998
They left almost no possibility unconsidered. And on the first day of work by a committee to find emergency education solutions for middle school students, an everything-goes brainstorming session yielded a plethora of possibilities. The committee has been charged with figuring out the best way to house middle schoolers when the current middle school closes most of its doors in June.
“As a veteran, I expect to be treated no different from no one else,” says Jim Meisner of The Dalles. “But it’s nice to be recognized for what you’ve done,” he adds. Meisner, a member of the Sicongu Lakota tribe, is equally proud of an honor from the Lakota nation: an eagle-feathered war bonnet created for him by Florentine Blue Thunder.
If The Dalles wants to get any tougher on the look of new homes in existing neighborhoods, it would require a change in state law. Short of that, the city plans to start checking up on progress as new homes are built or placed, to ensure they are following the conditions the homeowner agreed to. The city council heard a report Monday on the quietly contentious issue of neighborhood compatibility.
WASHINGTON — President Clinton said today the U.S. military is prepared to act against Iraq if Saddam Hussein does not resume cooperating with United Nations weapons inspectors.
40 years ago – 1978
Man on the Street this week learned that people are noticing the fact that former president Richard Nixon is coming out of seclusion more, but most don’t seem to want him back in public office.
Back in 1956 when groundwork began for an aluminum reduction plant in The Dalles, Martin Marietta had not emerged on the local scene. Some of the employees who were here then are still with the company, which will honor 94 of them tonight on their 20 years of service with the company in the 20th year of aluminum operations here.
Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Explorers total more than 400 members in 19 packs, troops and posts in Wasco County, according to the Mid-Columbia District of the Boy Scouts.
MAUPIN—An 88-foot pedestrian bridge with a 50-foot main span now arches across Bakeoven Creek near Maupin City Park, thanks to the industriousness of two city residents and to donated materials.
SEATTLE (UPI) — Persons wishing to see the King Tut exhibit at the Seattle Center before it leaves here next Wednesday formed a line more than a mile long early Friday as they waited for tickets. Some persons, most of them from Oregon, had been standing in line since 11:30 p.m. Thursday. Phillip Rulh, Portland, and his wife, Ruth, took shifts throughout the night while their 10-year-old daughter, Naudolla, stayed in their motor home.
60 years ago – 1958
Sam Purdy, an expert in fuel gas from Northwest Natural Gas CO., gave a demonstrative talk on safety principles applying to natural gas to 56 firemen and 36 guests at city hall Monday night.
The State Board of Health has decided to hold chest X-ray surveys in Wasco and Sherman counties next March, it was announced at a meeting held at The Dalles High School yesterday.
Special awards, pins and completion certificates went to a large number of The Dalles 4-H club members during the achievement program held Wednesday evening in the high school auditorium.
PHILADEPLHIA (UPI) — The high cost of football living was bothering Commissioner Bert Bell today as the National Football League attendance mark kept zooming toward three million for 1958. The saturation point may be looming, and costs are going up.
TAIPEI (UPI) — A local Communist threat to resume daily bombardment of Nationalist China’s Quemoy outpost islands deepened confusion today about Red intentions in the Formosa Strait.
GENEVA (UPI) — Russia’s new tough line with the West brought a quick second deadlock in East-West cold war talks in Geneva today. Experts of the Western and Communist camps met for an hour in the first working session of a conference on prevention of surprise attacks. T.
80 years ago – 1938
The 14th annual Old Fort Dalles Frolics will swing into high tonight, following today’s Armistice day parade and football game, with the presentation of Old Fort Dalles vaudeville at the civic auditorium, followed by the annual Armistice day ball.
With cases of diphtheria reported last week in Gilliam and Wheeler counties, the Wasco county health unit today announced that a program of immunization will be carried on in Wasco county public schools during the next few weeks.
With the PWA’s deadline for starting construction on the city natatorium tomorrow, city officials today were prepared not to let the $20,500 grant from the federal agency lapse—even if the requested time extension is not forthcoming.
One of the most severe earthquakes ever recorded was traced today to an epicenter in or near the Aleutian islands, west of Alaska.
PORTLAND, Nov. 11. (UP)—Tell-tale tattoo marks resulted in the arrest of two suspects in Portland today in connection with the slaying of John D. Moore, Yakima automobile salesman.
PORT TOWNSEND, Wash., Nov. 11. (UP)—A cold wind whistled through the cracks of a one-room frame auto cabin where fifth district election workers were counting ballots. “Let’s have a little more fire,” suggested Precinct Board Member John D. Hoskins. He picked up 146 ballots which had been pushed to one side and tossed them into a stove. The blaze was merry, the results extensive. For Hoskins, it developed today, had tossed away uncounted ballots in the city primary.
100 years ago – 1918
WAR IS OVER—WASHINGTON, Nov. 11.—At six o’clock this morning (United States eastern time) the greatest war in history came to an end. The state department officially announced early today that German plenipotentiaries signed the United States-allied armistice terms at Foch’s headquarters at 5 o’clock this morning and that hostilities ceased at 11 o’clock (both French time.)
LONDON, Nov. 11.—Germany today is kaiserless and kingless. All reports tended to show that in addition to the emperor, all the kings, princes, grand dukes and other royalty of the empire had renounced their “divine right” to rule over a people which had already abrogated that right by revolution.
A new baby survives Mrs. Isabelle Palmer, wife of Willie Palmer, an Indian fisherman, who died yesterday at the home of Mrs. A. Gulick at Seufert station. She was 22 years old and her death was pronounced due to hemorrhage.
Women in journalism were not as numerous 20 years ago as they are today but The Dalles was given a woman’s edition of The Dalles Times-Mountaineer, May 17, 1898 which was published by the ladies of The Dalles public library. It was a 22 page number with an editorial page, children’s page, political page, women’s societies and flower culture departments. A copy of the edition has been presented to The Chronicle by Ella Dawson.
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