100 Years Ago

March 16, 1921

Members of the Moosejaw, Canada, baseball team were today invited to make Pendleton their headquarters for spring training, the invitation being sent by wire by the Pendleton Commercial Association through the president, James H. Sturgis. Carl Waters, formerly of Pendleton and who has played here in Western Tri State League games, now first baseman for the Canadian team, is in the city and declares that the manager and owner of the Moosejaw club is favorable to Pendleton as the location for a training camp. The team has been offered the free use of the Round-Up grounds and local fans promise co-operation in securing games for the Canadians. Should they accept the offer, they would come to Pendleton April 10 and remain for three weeks, playing a game each Sunday.

50 Years Ago

March 16, 1971

Wind, plus the breaking up of new farmland and the lack of wind erosion programs on farms, has many of the residents of Umatilla, northern Morrow and Gilliam counties upset. Some of them, it was rumored at the wind erosion meeting at Boardman Friday afternoon, are seriously considering taking their problem to the courts. This could pit neighbor against neighbor. Most of the discussion was aimed at large operators, most of them absentee owners who buy raw land and in the winter start tearing it up with plans to install an irrigation system and produce a potato crop the same year. The ideal setup for deterring wind erosion in new development is to plant a cover crop in the summer or fall, when the ground is broken, and then plant the potato crop the next spring. As a rule this timetable is not likely because of the economics of the situation. Wind erosion is of the greatest concern to the farmer when it blows out his own crop, or if his neighbor’s soil is wrecking his alfalfa crop and making his wife unhappy with additional housekeeping chores.

25 Years Ago

March 16, 1996

Downtown Pendleton has something other towns want: old-fashioned architecture and charm. It’s the need to make the most of these natural assets that has spurred the formation of the Pendleton Downtown Revitalization Committee. The committee, not yet out of its infancy, has yet to outline firm goals. But its chairman, Jim MacKenzie, is already talking about the direction the months-old committee will take in the months to come. A minister at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, MacKenzie draws his experience from well beyond church walls. Before donning the collar five years ago, he spent 16 years as a Seattle banker, helping with the development of Seattle’s Pioneer Square. When MacKenzie looks out on Pendleton’s main street he views a future that pays home to the past. “We don’t want a Western theme park,” said MacKenzie, who pooh-poohs such projects as artificial. “We want to bring out the historic uniqueness of downtown Pendleton” and spur a vibrant marketplace.