100 years ago — 1922

That lovers of the heather and Scotch abound in Umatilla county was made plainly evident Saturday night when individuals of Scotch extraction to the number of about 200 gathered at the Eagle-Woodman hall for a banquet, a program of songs and readings, and a dance, in the honor of the Burns anniversary. The crowd that attended was gathered from practically every selection of the county, Helix and Adams being particularly well represented. At the banquet, which was preceded by the rendition of Burns’ “Address to Haggis,” given by Mr. Southland, the dishes were those that have made Scotch cooks famous. Will M. Peterson read an essay on “Our National Bard.” In the course of his remarks he suggested that the Caledonian picnics which before the war were held annually at Athena be revived. “I never knew what Scotch whiskey was like until I attended the first Caledonian picnic,” Peterson said in his address. The suggestion was warmly received by the banqueters.

50 years ago — 1972

Look in your garbage can. Is it filled with glass bottles, tin cans, newspapers and envelopes with stamps? Then your trash can be recycled. Young women in Elnor Alkio’s last period Home Economics class at Pendleton High School are learning how to recycle trash this week. Helping Mrs. Alkio are women from the Youngs’ Study Group, part of the Umatilla County Home Extension unit. “During January the Youngs’ Study Group had ecology for a topic. It was on what a homemaker can do for ecology,” said Mrs. Alkio. “The women wanted to do something to make other people more aware, so I suggested they work with one of my home ec classes.” The students learned to wrap used newspapers together to form fireplace logs, and stamps to be recycled were given to the county extension office to be sent to a factory which removes the dye. The dye is used again.

25 years ago — 1997

Imagine the city ran out of cash. No more Abes. No more Georges. How would employees be paid? And how would they, in turn, pay the local grocer, gas station attendant or plumber? That was the scenario in Pendleton in 1933, when the city was reeling from the Great Depression. The problem of paying employees became so desperate that the City Council voted to print its own money — scrip — to remedy the situation. Today some of that scrip belongs to local collector Gene Walts, who has 25-cent and 50-cent pieces and $1 bills. He still needs the final $5 denomination to complete his set. The city of Pendleton began issuing its scrip notes sometime after March 1933. The scrip was used around town for goods and services, and later in the year the merchants could bring the scrip to the city treasurer’s office to redeem the notes for regular U.S. currency. A total of 10,230 pieces of scrip were issued at a value of $13,450. If the same amount was issued today, it would be worth $163,030.