Business owners Carol Hanks and Ken Schulberg are upgrading the historic downtown Pendleton building that houses The Great Pacific, and are working with the fire department to make the building viable for the future. This photo appeared in the Oct. 25, 1997, issue of the East Oregonian.

100 YEARS AGO

Fire, the exact cause unknown, rumored possibly incendiary, gutted the Washington high school early this morning, with a property loss of approximately $500,000. O.B. Gabriel, a fireman, was killed when a stone wall fell and several other firemen were injured. A slight drizzle probably saved an East Side configuration as a high wind carried the fire brands for miles and flames shot from the roof. It is believed that an explosion in the chemistry department was the cause. Seventeen hundred pupils are out of school. The school board will place them in other buildings tomorrow. The building was covered fully with insurance. It was constructed in 1907. Thousands gathered to see the blaze. Telephone service was demoralized and residents were unable to summon the fire department for 20 minutes, when a general alarm was sounded.

50 YEARS AGO

A Pendleton club has come up with the answer to the problem of roadside litter – pick it up.

That’s exactly what the Four-to-Go club, a Pendleton four-wheel-drive vehicle organization, has done this month. In two one-day outings the club members have delittered 40 miles of roadside.

During the earlier part of October the club members cleared litter from 28 miles of roads in the Umatilla Forest. Sunday the club’s members took on a county road for the first time in their litter clean-up program and cleared 12 miles of road from the Highway 30-Cayuse Junction east towards Cayuse. That stretch of road produces as much litter, about 12 cubic yards, as did the earlier clean-up of more than twice as much forest road.

25 YEARS AGO

Blame it on the snow, or lack of it.

Sprout Springs owners Chris and Brinna Andrus announced this week that the Tollgate ski resort will not open this winter season. The couple cited financial hardships caused by the last two poor ski seasons as the reason for the closure.

The Andruses have had the ski area up for sale. Their announcement, however, says that “hope for opening this year under new ownership have faded. Plans for further operation are undetermined at this time.”

The couple has reportedly moved to Florida.