100 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

Dec. 3, 1920

Captors of Neil Hart and Jim Owens who reside in Union county are getting nervous over the failure of the officials of Umatilla county and the City of Pendleton to provide the $6000 reward promised to those who brought in the men whose jail breakout took the life of Sheriff Til Taylor, according to a story in the La Grande Observer last evening. After preliminary hearings, the city and county decided to do the matter up properly by having a hearing before the circuit court. Most of the rewards are contested and in order to prevent against possible lawsuits and other trouble, the officials decided to leave the matter in the hands of the district and city attorneys. Officials here today when questioned about the trial for the reward division were unable to say at what time final disposition will be made.

50 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

Dec. 3, 1970

Windy! Believe it or not, that is the forecast through Friday. Wind which belted the area today from the south at 20-30 miles an hour, with gusts up to 50 miles an hour, and created blizzard conditions in the mountains, is expected to continue. A Kennewick, Wash., man got out of his truck before it and the attached empty cattle trailer were blown over at 5:20 a.m. today nine miles east of Pendleton on Highway 30. James Roy Sharp, 30, said he was able to stop the truck before the wind tipped the trailer. The accident smashed 30 feet of guard rail. Power lines were down in Pilot Rock, Mission and Weston, and the roof was blown off a trailer house at Rieth. Trees were toppled, including on SW 6th at the top of Pendleton’s South Hill. Don Gilliam, federal weather observer, estimated winds reached more than 40 m.p.h. in Morrow and Gilliam counties, where several power lines were blown down in rural areas.

25 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

Dec. 3, 1995

The wintry breeze that whips off the Columbia River brings an extra chill to the floating freezer known as the “Esther L.” The Esther L. is the first barge on the Columbia built specifically to haul refrigerated containers. Leased to the J.R. Simplot Co., it holds 80 40-foot containers, each holding 24 tons of product. Each week, the 288-foot-long barge arrives at the Port of Umatilla above McNary Dam for its load of refrigerated goods for shipment to Asian markets, Taipei, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Osaka, Inchon. To port manager Kim Puzey, it’s a measure of the power of “value added” agriculture. “We expect to ship nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars in agricultural products from the dock this year,” Puzey said. “Value added” agriculture means keeping bulk farm products at home for processing, keeping jobs and money circulating in the community.