100 Years Ago

Sept. 2, 1921

Sam Oliver, a member of this year’s graduating class of the Pendleton High School, and former U.S. Navy man, has invented a device for the saving of grain ordinarily wasted through the sack dump during harvest operations. The device, for which Mr. Oliver has applied for a patent, can be made for $4 or $5 and is fastened to the sack dump. It was used on the O. Vlassenroot farm and on 1000 acres 15 sacks were saved. The appliance consists of a box beneath the sack dump, and extending beyond it. Any grain which goes beyond the sack dump is caught in the box. Mr. Oliver, who will enter University of Oregon this fall, will either manufacture the invention or sell the patent right to a combine company. Pictures and a working model will be shown here at the Northwest Grain and Hay Show, September 22, 23 and 24.

50 Years Ago

Sept. 2, 1971

Rain Wednesday and this morning sent Heppner residents scurrying to high ground, closed a road, led to a car accident and, in Pendleton in less than 24 hours, exceeded the month’s average rainfall. At Heppner, nearly two inches fell in less than 15 minutes. Weatherman Don Gilliam said the amount equaled that which fell on May 25, when Shobe Creek flooded Heppner. A lower portion the South Cold Spring Road north of Pendleton was closed by a mud slide at 3:30 a.m. today. It was reopened by 10 a.m. No one was injured in the accident caused by the mud shortly before the road was closed.

25 Years Ago

Sept. 2, 1996

Cooler weather over the Labor Day weekend allowed firefighters to make progress on three fires that have burned through more than 89,000 acres of timber in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon. “The freezing level on Tuesday or Wednesday should come down to 6,000 feet, so that would really help. We might get some precipitation,” Dolly Davis, spokeswoman for the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center in Portland, said today. The largest of the three fires, the Tower Fire, has burned 47,800 acres, and was 84 percent contained. Estimated containment for the Bull blaze is Thursday. The Summit Fire has burned 37,000 acres and was 65 percent contained.