100 YEARS AGO

Sept. 29, 1920

Winnemucca Jack, the Indian who was killed at Saturday’s Round-Up in the wild horse race, met his death from a broken neck and not from the kick of a horse, according to eye witnesses. Jack, who for the past 11 years has assisted in the arena, was leading out an outlaw horse for the race when the animal became tangled with the rope attached to the saddle on the Indian’s horse. The rope threw Jack’s horse upon him and the Indian died almost instantly. Jack was a Bannock Indian and 52 years of age. His wife, a Umatilla, survives him. She was the widow of the late Cash Cash. The tragedy is the first directly resulting from the Round-Up, as the death of Jenkins, which occurred two years ago, was caused by his setting fire to his clothes.

50 YEARS AGO

Sept. 29, 1970

Henry Molstrom of Pendleton attended his 58th Round-Up this year. The only one of the 59 Round-Ups there have been that he missed was in 1957 when his wife, Fannie, broke her foot. Molstrom also saw the first Happy Canyon performance, staged in a hole in the ground on Main Street. He recalls that Bertha Blancett rode a bull in that show. Mr. and Mrs. Molstrom don’t attend the Happy Canyon dances any more, but for 20 years “no one danced any more than we did,” says Mrs. Molstrom. Molstrom, who will be 80 in a few months, found it difficult to bring to mind immediately some Round-Up incidents that stood out. That’s understandable when you’ve seen the best in rodeo for so many years. He did recall the time in the Round-Up of 1918 or 1919 when a stunt man’s performance backfired and he was fatally burned.

25 YEARS AGO

Sept. 29, 1995

Plant workers escaped injury Sunday in a coal-dust explosion that caused $450,000 damage to Portland Electric’s coal-fired plant in Boardman. Fine coal dust exploded about 1:30 p.m in one of the plant’s four storage silos. It heavily damaged an overhead “conveyor gallery” that feeds coal to the silos. “It was a serious explosion,” plant manager Tom Kingston said. “It was lucky no one was in the vicinity.” The plant has been receiving some especially dusty coal, and workers will be taking precautions to insure the conditions aren’t repeated. This is the first coal-dust explosion at Boardman since the plant opened 18 years ago. The plant has been producing about 360 megawatts of electricity since Monday and will return to normal operating load of 540 megawatts probably on Wednesday.