100 years ago

Monday is Labor Day, a national holiday, and to pay respect to labor practically all places of business will be suspended in Pendleton during the day. A decision to this effect has been reached by the merchants’ committee of the Pendleton Commercial associations, according to a statement this morning of Charles Bond, chairman.

Organized labor of Pendleton will go to Walla Walla in a body for the day where they will be guests of the city in a celebration that is being arranged there.

The program calls for an old fashioned celebration, according to information received by H.O. Worthington. The city park east of the city will be the place. Two prominent speakers have been secured, but there will be no parade. A big picnic dinner at the noon hour is one feature of the program. The Pendleton band will accompany the local delegation.

Organized labor of Walla Walla, Pendleton and other smaller towns will co-operate in the day’s celebration.

50 years ago

A range fire which blackened at least 1,300 acres near Vale in Eastern Oregon was extinguished Thursday, said Bureau of Land Management officials.

The blaze began Wednesday when a 300-acra controlled burn got out of hand. Officials said a resident was burning sagebrush and cheat grass in preparation for planting crested wheat grass.

Most of the charred area was private land, but 300 acres are administered by the BLM, which estimates firefighting costs at $16,000.

Cool, cloudy conditions and some showers helped ease fire danger over most of the state, but the State Department of Forestry said northeast Oregon forests would remain closed for the Labor Day weekend.

Recreational closures have been in effect for two weeks on most federal and state forest lands in Umatilla, Baker, Union and Wallowa counties. Exceptions are the Eagle Cap Wilderness and some federal lands in southern Baker County.

25 years ago

Come next week, if smoke gets in your eyes it will be county-regulated smoke.

Umatilla County Commissioners will hold the final public hearing of a countywide smoke management ordinance at 9:30 a.m. Sept. 9, in Room 114 of the county courthouse.

The commissioners began public hearings last spring to gather public input on the proposed ordinance. The first hearing was continued and held at three locations — Milton-Freewater, Pendleton and Hermiston. The second hearing was in the county courthouse.

At the third hearing, the commissioners received new information they felt should be incorporated into the ordinance, according to Commissioner Bill Hansell, so to revise the draft of the ordinance they formed a task force made up of three wheat growers, two fire chiefs, one grass seed grower and one orchardist. The task force submitted its final draft of the ordinance to the commissioners July 1.