This Week in Odessa History

Packard pays good dividend, craters need new identity, rest room plans

 

Last updated 7/29/2018 at 3:23pm

--Archival photo.

Scablands Steering Committee member Mildred Deife and scientific illustrator Mark Orson view crater #5, largest of the five in the cluster on BLM land.

100 years ago

The Odessa Record

July 12, 1918

Last hot wave shrivels wheat. Mercury ranges between 100 and 105 above. Strong east winds cut both quality and quantity. Best estimates, eight bushels. The hot wave this week, up to the time we go to press, has equaled if not exceeded any ever experienced in this section. Ever since last Saturday the thermometer has hovered between 100 and 105 above at midday and the government records kept by Hy. W. Rieke shows only one season that approaches this. That was 1911 when on one day, July 16, the mercury rose until the thermometer registered 105, the same as it did yesterday afternoon. Only four other times has this mark been approached, that was July 21, 1908, August 2, 1914, July 21, 1915 and July 16, 1917, when the records show a one day maximum of 103. Not one of these years has the hot wave been prolonged as it has been this week.


The strong east winds that accompanied the heat wave prematurely ripened the wheat in all sections and shrunk the berry so that in general there is no hope for a crop surpassing last year's in quality or yield, and the general opinion is that the man that gets seven to eight bushels with a number three grade will be doing well. A few people who have early Bart expect a better grade than three. John Hopp, Sr., brought in a sample of wheat yesterday which looked like No. 2, but it is generally conceded that there is not much wheat like that around Odessa. Not many people have started combines so nothing definite can be obtained as to yields. John Kuest Tuesday cut a swath across one of the fields and found a yield of about seven or eight bushels, but many say they do not anticipate over five bushels and others say they will be satisfied if they get feed. Another week will yield definite information as to yields, and it is hoped that they will exceed expectations.


Later, all records broken as we go to press, the government thermometer registering 107.

Mrs. D. Jasman knits 72 pair sox. In reviewing the work done by individual members of the Red Cross, the knitting record of Mrs. David Jasman probably equals that of any lady in this section. By actual count, Mrs. Jasman has knitted soldier boys 72 pairs of socks and every pair made strictly in accordance with the specifications laid down by the Red Cross headquarters. It takes some work to knit 72 pairs of socks and this knitting was done under all kinds of conditions. The best record was made while the kuitter had an attack of rheumatism that was so painful as to confine her to her bed or chair, One day during that illness, she completed a pair of socks and nearly equalled that record the entire period in which she had the use of only her hands. Mrs. Jasman has not only helped out the local Red Cross by her own work but has been instrumental in getting a bunch of her neighbors to take up the work.

75 years ago

The Odessa Record

July 15, 1943

Packard pays good dividend. Directors of the Packard Farmers Warehouse company declared a three cent per bushel patronage dividend at their annual meeting recently, states the Ritzville Journal-Times.

The patronage dividend will be paid on approximately 339,405 bushels which is the largest amount the warehouse ever received in one year.

New officers elected were John Lenhart, president; David Weber, vice president; Fred Lenhart, secretary-treasurer; J.G. Alder and Herman Heimbigner, directors.

Restroom plans are completed. The civic improvement committee of the commercial club announced the free womens's lounge room at the Hotel Odessa was assured, with merchants having pledged an amount necessary to keep up the monthly rentals of the room. Furnishings will be donated by the Odessa Union Warehouse company, it was announced at the Wednesday meeting of the commercial club.

W.C. Raugust, chairman of the club's road committee, announced that the state would definitely oil the Wilbur road this fall, from the city limits to a point 23 miles north. The work was given it's authority because the roadbed would not stand up unless oiled.

Ed Kiehn, Navy man, who since his enlistment has travelled about as extensively as any of the local service men, told club members of some of his experiences, including the time he was a guest of a native chief in the Fiji islands at a luncheon, touching briefley on other south sea points, South America and the Aleutians.

Larry Harman, with the state insecticide department, was present and told of his work, largely protecting the ultimate consumer by checking insecticides and other poisons to verify they were being mixed and sold according to the formulas claimed for them.

Present at the meeting were George Schiewe, G.A, Weber, C.A. Bragg, C.C. Heimbigner, H.H. Strate, Howard Moore, Ed Koth, J.C. Jantz, Sol Reiman, W.C. Raugust, Ed Kiehn, E.G. Gunderson, T.C. Anderson, H.C. Phillips, Larry Harman, A.W. Jessup, Rev. M.J. Galle.

50 years ago

The Odessa Record

July 18, 1968

Harvest brings two grain fires. With the advent of harvest comes the critical fire season of the year for the Odessa area.

Less than a quarter of an acre of Wanser burned Saturday afternoon at the Jake Homberg farm. Two hundred acres of standing grain were lost Tuesday north of Lamona.

The Homberg fire started in a corner of a field near the highway and not far from the house. Fortunately the wind blew the flames out of the field.

Control was gained by plowing a ring around the blazing grain, a feat accomplished by a neighbor before the three fire trucks from town could reach the scene, a Volunteer Fire department report indicates.

Cornelius Jantz lost 200 acres of his 40- to 50-bushel standing grain at his farm North of Lamona Tuesday afternoon. Though not definitely determined, cause of the mid-afternoon blaze was thought to be from a tractor. One front tire of the combine was destroyed by the flames.

With the changing winds, the flames did spread across fences into other fields. Only minor losses occurred, however, as volunteer firemen with eight trucks on the scene gained control of the erratic blazes. Three trucks went out from Odessa, one from Lamona and three from Harrington.

Grocery plans August opening. Plans are that the new grocery, Brown's Thrift store, will be open here by the third week of August. George Brown, manager, stated Monday that he hoped to have equipment installations completed and merchandise in place in another month.

The building is rapidly reaching its final construction phase. The first of the equipment is scheduled for arrival next week. Unless there are unforeseen delays, Brown indicated, he said he hoped to be in operation sometime in the third week of August.

25 years ago

The Odessa Record

July 15, 1993

Adoption of wild horses, burros Saturday at ranch. Lakeview Ranch will be alive again this weekend as dozens if not hundreds of prospective owners of wild horses and burros and other interested onlookers come to the Bureau of Land Mangement's second adoption there this year.

Twelve horses and 10 burros will be available for adoption on Saturday, June 17, the BLM has announced. Applications from potential adopters will be reviewed for qualifications at 8 a.m. that day. A drawing for the horses and burros will take place a 10:30 a.m.

The event will be conducted with assistance of th American Mustang and Burro Association. The group volunteered time and labor last April to build new corrals at Lakeview to accommodate the first adoption, which was held there on April 30. AMBA members will also be on hand to give counsel and advice on care of the animals to the new horse and burro owners. Most of the members are owners of adopted animals.

Those interested in previewing are welcome to see the animals at Lakeview on Friday from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. A previewing time also will be available beginning at about 7 a.m. on the day of the adoption.

The horses being brought to Lakeview are from southeastern Oregon and the burros are from southern California. They have been examined, wormed and inoculated by the BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Center in Burns, Ore.

At the April adoption at Lakeview, which is now a part of the BLM's Lake Creek Canyon Recreation and Wildlife Area, about 300 persons came to participate in or observe the adoption.

Scabland craters need new identity. It's been known as Amy's Crater--locally. And it was a kind of in-house jest which generated the name in the first place.

Now the identity of this newfound tourist attraction seven miles north of Odessa is being questioned. It is believed by some that names more closely describing the physical and geological distinctiveness of this and four other nearby craters should be adopted.

The Scablands Steering Committee of the Odessa Economic Development Committee started calling the mysterious crater–which might not be a crater at all, but could be a basin, depression, dike or ring structure, if geologists so determine–Amy's for Amy Schroeder.

She is a member of the steering committee and as such had an important role with other Odessans in aiding the Bureau of Land Management, which has jurisdiction over the public land on which the crater is situated, to develop the unique features of the Channeled Scablands as attractions for tourists, students wishing to study and research the area's terrain and others in quest of recreation.

Her enthusiasm in this project was acknowledged by fellow steering committee members when they unofficially dubbed the site Amy's Crater, a term which immediately caught on.

The name had particular appeal for Mark Orson, who now is producing a four color brochure, Craters of the Channeled Scablands, which will be ready for release later this year by the BLM.

Orson is a scientific illustrator, as well as a graphic artist for Boeing. He has a special love for the Channeled Scablands and comes to the Odessa area to explore them as often as time permits.

Orson feels the crater has been appropriately named. In the brochure, he identifies by name Amy's Crater, the smallest but most spectacular and also the most accessible for tourists of the cluster of five of the similarly formed unique geological features

He uses the locally coined idioms for two other craters in the area but not among the cluster of the five which include Amy's. These others are Lakeview Ranch Crater, and Cinnamon Roll, which also received their names from steering committee and BLM staff members.

It has been suggested that these homespun names, particularly in the case of Amy's Crater, may not adequately project the identity desired to appeal to tourists. It is perceived by some that these geological features should have more descriptive names to attract tourists, scientists, students and other visitors.

The geologic community has yet to define the origin and cause of the Scabland Craters, found nowhere else in the world. No particular attention until now has ever been given them. It is supposed that when they are studied and researched they will be given appropriate names. Scientific terms are frequently borrowed from the vernacular. For instance, the granite based Steptoe Butte in Whitman County, named for Colonel Steptoe, who in the late 1800's befriended Native Americans of the Inland Northwest, lent its name to all similar formations subsequently researched by geologists. Buttes of this type in scientific nomenclature are steptoes.

Locally it is thought and hoped that the Odessa-area craters might also provide the generic name for formations of that type once geologists identify their origin and cause.

"The Odessa craters really shouldn't be named after persons or families," said Amy Schroeder this week, adding that she is happy to cede the honor on a namesake crater if it will bring greater recognition to the community as a destination for tourists.

She said her own choice as a name would be Pacific Lake Crater.

Schroeder also had some thoughts about the Odessa's relationship with BLM.

"We must get the community on a better relationship with the BLM," she said. "Too many people don't understand what the agency is trying to do.

"The Lake Creek project belongs to the community. The craters, Lakeview Ranch, all of this belongs to us, and the BLM is making something out of it for the people to utilize and enjoy."

She said the community should be behind the BLM because its many developments at the Lake Creek Canyon Recreation and Wildlife Area are attracting increasing numbers of visitors.

"Anytime you get people out there, you get people coming to town and when they're in town they are spending money for food and lodging and in Odessa's stores," she said.

 

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