100 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

March 4, 1921

Urging the county court to favor construction of a good road from the Milton-Freewater valley across the Blue mountains to Elgin a delegation of prominent east end men is here today. Those in the party are Hugh Murray, mayor of Freewater, F.K. Noordhoff, Harvey Van Slyke, F.E. Cockburn, George Miller and C.S. Cheshire. At the present time traffic over the mountain is obliged to rely upon the tollgate road which is considered so inadequate as to be a disgrace. The east end men want a survey made and some forestry money secured if possible.

50 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

March 4, 1971

More than 21 years ago Henry Campbell, a Helix businessman, told Orvil “Red” Cowan, “someone has to take the job.” Campbell was speaking of the city marshal post. Cowan had migrated to the Helix area from Wyoming. He started from Texas, and worked in construction and on ranches. Cowan is now a fixture in Helix, and the marshal’s job has been expanded to include other chores. He is the fire chief, drives a school bus, works at city maintenance jobs and is the fellow Helix calls on for help on numerous occasions. A stranger in Helix would never guess — as Cowan shuffles into Campbell’s Corner, wearing a big 10-gallon hat, and accompanied by his dog, “Smoky” — that he is the town marshal. Cowan says the police work in Helix is “not too much. We have a good bunch of kids that cause very little trouble.” Sometimes his friends address the marshal as “Sheriff.” He says some call his dog “Chester,” for a former western television personality.

25 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

March 4, 1996

Jerry and Cindy Schultz did not have to call their travel agent to arrange their trip to Habitat for Humanity’s 20th anniversary celebration in Atlanta. The “temporarily retired” Olympia, Wash., couple decided to walk. The Schultzes are making the 3,000-mile trip, “Habitrek ’96,” in an effort to raise awareness and money for the international home-building organization. They hope to raise $200,000 for Habitat for Humanity’s Revolving Fund for Humanity and inspire the development of new local chapters along their path. They crossed the Columbia at Umatilla this week and made it as far as Power City that night. After staying overnight at a Hermiston home, the Schultzes walked down Highway 395 to a gathering at McKenzie Park. The couple became active in the organization in 1987 and it wasn’t long before they were donating shoe leather as well as time and labor.