PIONEER PORTRAITS

Fifteen Years Ago

September 9, 2010

On Tuesday, September 14, the population of Waitsburg will triple in size, at least for a few days. Normally around 1,250, the addition of about 2,500 bicyclists and support personnel from Cycle Oregon means there will be almost 4,000 people in town. Waitsburg is used to having lots of visitors. The annual Lion's Rib Fest and Days of Real Sport horse racing event in May, and the Commercial Club's salmon barbeque and the Pioneer Fall Festival in September usually bring hundreds, sometimes more than 1,000 folks to town but never this many. Not even the spring Tour of Walla Walla cycling event, which brings more than 600 travelers here, doesn't come close. The cycle Oregon is a unique moment for Waitsburg. Although it's possible that its Portland-based organizers will choose this community for its route again some time in the future, there's no guarantee the visitors will come back as a group. The 2,200 cyclists who are expected here next week are from many different states and from Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Japan and Sweden.

Twenty-Five Years Ago

September 7, 2000

[Photo Caption] Familiar faces for Waitsburg people attending the Walla Walla Fair and Frontier Days were often seen on the Tumac Machinery-Waitsburg Lions ice wagon as members of the local service club served on shifts delivering ice to the many vendors plying their wares at the annual Labor Day extravaganza. The Times lens snapped a photo of Wayne Peterson, Jack Roberts and J.W. "Bill" Thompson.

Fifty Years Ago

September 11, 1975

"Please don't shoot the cables," said Pacific Northwest Bell manager Richard Tarver in an annual message to hunters. Tarver explained that around this time of year, as the hunting season gets underway, telephone wires are sometimes damaged by gunfire creating a hardship for telephone users in surrounding areas. "To a shut-in or to someone hurt in an accident, the telephone may be the crucial link to medical assistance," Tarver said. "When a line is hit by gunfire it can take up to six hours to locate the specific damage, dig out the pellets and splice the cable. That's six hours without a phone for the people served from that location."

Seventy-Five Years Ago

September 15, 1950

Mr. and Mrs. Erwin Ritter have leased Ritter's Variety store to Jess Johnson of Spokane effective October 15.

The FFA judging team was second at the SEW Fair out of twenty teams.

The State Game Department planted 5,000 three-inch black bass in the Touchet River this week between Waitsburg and Prescott.

One Hundred Years Ago

September 18, 1925

Hazel Buroker entertained a number of her friends at Preston Park Sunday afternoon in honor of her 11th birthday. The guests included Luella Segraves, Lula Fisher, Varmela Fisher, Bonnie Fisher, Fay Houtchens, Vivian Keiser, Loyd Fisher, Lois Crall, Freddy Buroker, Johnnie Buroker, Mrs. Mock, Mrs. H. D. Buroker and Mrs. M. B. Buroker.

C. A. Hales has just purchased 13,000 head of sheep from eastern Oregon to be Delivered thru the Hales Commission Co. of Pasco to Montana and Washington buyers.

One Hundred Twenty-Five Years Ago

September 21, 1900

Preston Avenue has nine well-to-do widows on it and only one widower.

L. H. Macomber and son Clyde arrived home last Friday from their trip through the Buffalo Hump Country. They thoroughly enjoyed their outing.

The enrollment in the public school has reached 288. There are 38 in the high school at the present time with a fair prospect for more.

J. M. Denney lost most of his straw by fire which swept over his field and entered some adjoining fields.