100 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

Jan. 16, 1921

Complaints from many citizens were registered last night and today regarding the state of darkness into which Pendleton has been plunged. While they are willing to believe the statement of Dr. F. W. Vincent, manager of the Pacific Lights & Power Co., that he cannot get globes from the General Electric Co., at Portland, they argue that some substitute could be used until the regular globes are available. Earlier this week it was reported that a new outdoor switch to control the 23,000 volt main lead into the city was cut in by the Pacific Power & Light Co. It is equipped with a patent grounding device which is intended to be complete protection for workmen about the plant when the switch is turned, Dr. Vincent said at the time. The switch was expected to do away with trouble which has been in the past from lights going out all over Pendleton at the slightest wind storm.

50 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

Jan. 16, 1971

Barbara Wilcox joined the Pendleton League of Women Voters the other day, and members of the local League were gratified. They’d been wanting Barbara for more than a year. She brings to the organization a knowledge of government unique in the Pendleton League, for Barbara was the first woman ever to be elected as county commissioner in Oregon. She served Washington County from 1959 to 1966. During her years as county commissioner she was appointed to the President’s Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations — one of only three county officials in the United States to be named to this prestigious body. In August 1969 Barbara Wilcox came to Pendleton to work as program director in the Umatilla-Morrow Community Action Program. She has a son and a daughter, and four grandchildren. She grinned. “My son-in-law is chairman of the King County Democratic Central Committee in Seattle. And I’m a Republican.”

25 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

Jan. 16, 1996

For most of the 20th century, Three-Mile Dam blocked passage of adult fish upstream to spawning grounds, killing off salmon and steelhead runs in the Umatilla Basin. It once made an environmental group’s list of the Top 10 Northwest dams that should be destroyed because of its harm to fish. But a series of projects over the past decade have aimed to change that. Now, the dam’s decade-long makeover is nearly ready for its latest improvement. Thompson-McDougall of Portland is putting the last touches on the $3.3 million Three-Mile Dam Adult Holding and Spawning Facility. Funded by the Bonneville Power Administration, the complex will be managed by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in cooperation with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. The complex will collect, sort and handle adult fall chinook and coho salmons. Each fall, a portion of the runs will be held for spawning. Eggs will be fertilized and sent down the road to the nearby Umatilla Hatchery in Irrigon.