Schilling Road Fire Hall

Philip Haner

The High Prairie Fire Commissioners are continuing to work on the new Schilling Road Fire Hall project. As we reported in our December 2015 update, the one complete bid we received for construction of the building exceeded our budget by quite a bit. Since then, we’ve been busy gathering all the information and applying for a USDA loan to make up the difference between our budget and the projected actual cost.

However, part of the process has hit a snag.  We filed nearly all the paperwork for the USDA loan but discovered we were missing our last financial statements that we turn in to the State of Washington for auditing purposes – something the secretary and the commissioners overlooked (oops!) for both the State and the loan. Then, during the time we were working to finish the State audit (and subsequently have the necessary paperwork for the USDA loan) our Department secretary resigned, and we had a virus attack on the computer used by the secretary. Both the High Prairie and Lyle Fire Districts lost most of their electronic data. Paper was still filed but had to be re-entered electronically.

While it’s taken some time to both find and train a new secretary and rebuild the electronic database, we are back on track for getting the financial information needed to finish the application for the loan. By the time this goes to print the financial information should be complete. Once that’s done, we will go through the USDA loan, update anything that has changed, and resubmit the loan paperwork. Fortunately, most the 20 or so forms that we already filled out for the loan can be redone with just new signatures and dates. After that, we wait, again, to see if they will approve the loan. It’s unfortunate that this has taken a year off our timeline; but we are committed to continuing with the project, and we will be building a station out on Schilling Road as soon as we can.

Please contact me if there is any other information I can provide. (fishead1966@gmail.com)

Schilling Road Paving Project

Gwen Berry

The Schilling Road paving project has also hit a snag, which will delay it until at least next spring. According to Gene Zitterkopf, who spoke to Klickitat County Public Works Director, Gordon Kelsey, at least one landowner has balked at allowing the county to use a small piece of their property for the necessary straightening of curves on Schilling Road. The county is considering its options, but expects agreements to be reached without resorting to legal measures. The county is still actively working on the project and is currently fine-tuning the advertisement to be placed asking for construction bids. The work is planned for sometime next summer.

In the meantime, says Gene, the unpaved road has deteriorated without its normal maintenance, which wasn’t done because the paving was supposed to happen this past summer. He encourages anyone affected by the rough road to call the county and add their voice to the request that it be graded asap. The phone numbers for Public Works are 509-773-4616 or 800-583-8074.

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I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For Ice Cream

Gwen Berry

Despite the fact that no one stepped forward last spring to assume the office of President, the High Prairie Community Council Board of Directors has been keeping right on with the business of managing the Community Center, planning the annual budget, handling funds, researching improvements to the kitchen and the Center’s acoustics, and making plans for fun social events.

The first such event happens this coming Thursday evening, September 22, at 7 p.m., when HPCC is having an “ice cream social” to sweeten their regular September meeting. They’ll have a variety of flavors, regular and chocolate whipped-cream topping, and chopped nuts; and there’ll be plenty of time for reconnecting with friends and neighbors you’ve been too busy to see over the summer.

First, a speaker from the Klickitat County American Red Cross will talk about disaster preparedness, the support they provide, how our community can help and how our members can be better prepared. Then they’ll get into the meat of the HPCC meeting.

Think a *meeting* automatically means boring? Au contraire! You’ll find out what the HPCC is proposing to do with all the money you worked so hard to help earn at the Firehouse Sale. You’ll get to help put the official stamp of approval on the $5,000 promised to the High Prairie Fire District to buy new turnouts (see Fire Lines article for more info). You’ll also find out what might be done to improve the dishwashing situation in the kitchen, which may have a direct bearing on whether HPCC can offer their classy and delicious Christmas dinner this year, and hear what improvements to the room’s acoustics are in the offing. The Board has promised to keep everything succinct and efficient so the meeting doesn’t drag. And then you get ice cream!

Reaching Out To The Community

Audrey Bentz

There are many ways that volunteers for the HPCC reach out to the community or work to make the community a better place. Two longtime volunteers have decided to trade the jobs they’ve been doing; and they need all High Prairians to be their “eyes and ears” so they can do their jobs thoroughly.

Myrt McKercher (365-9576 or mandtmc@gmail.com) will be the new “Sunshine” person, sending remembrances to those who might be ill, losing a family member, or having a special celebration. So if you know of anyone that fits this description, please send that information to Myrt.

Audrey Bentz (amsong@gorge.net) will be the new “Meeter and Greeter.” When you are aware of a new resident on High Prairie, please get that information to her so she can bring them a welcome basket and a warm welcome to our area.

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John Parr

1960’s – Eisenhower’s federal interstate highway program is in full swing! The two-lane Columbia Gorge Highway is completely torn apart from hell to breakfast (so to speak) with multiple construction contracts ongoing! Roy Houck Sr. has the contract section from The Dalles dam westward through The Dalles city.

The Oregon State Highway Dept. (OSHD, now the ODOT) performed their own engineering during that time frame. Our survey crew staked the main highway complete with the boat basin and all overpass interchanges.

General Construction Dredging was subcontracted to pump gravel fill out of the Columbia River, placing thousands of cubic yards into the area east and west of the boat basin. From out of the dredge pipes came hundreds of ancient Indian artifacts that included agate spearheads, arrowheads, beads, net anchors, stone knives, scrapers, and (1) paint pot. A sad issue here was that many baby sturgeon were sucked into the dredge and came flopping out onto the gravel fill! Many of the survey crew members stopped working just to pick up artifacts and to take some of the baby sturgeon home into their fish ponds. Nobody took the time to release them back into the river.

During construction it was common in the morning to see Indians loading U-Haul trailers with 8 and 9-foot sturgeon and then heading for Portland with their catch.

Roy Houck Construction also moved thousands of cubic yards of fill from a slide area south of The Dalles dam, utilizing twin engine TS-24 scrapers pulling belly dump trailers. Roadbed work was accomplished fast! The sub-grade became so tight, our survey crew had to jackhammer holes just to place grade stakes. The July temperature was 110° to 115° with no shade.

Construction is not without danger, and two people died on this project. To remove the old piling in the boat basin, a ring of cast iron sash weights with dynamite was dropped around the piling. The explosion cut the piling off at the mud line. One such piling came down and killed a worker. This was followed by another death where a heavy scraper tire snapped a rock sideways, hitting a worker just under his hard hat.

In those days construction workers were called “boomers.” They were everywhere in the Columbia Gorge. You could be hired and fired in the same day, move on up the gorge, and get hired again! Everybody worked. I shared a basement apartment in The Dalles with construction workers and others. We had a rather strange diet, with an Arden Dairy man bringing all the cottage cheese, ice cream and milk we could handle. Our game poacher brought in trout and venison from the Hood River area. Not to be left out of this equation was a drunk that supplied us with “Old Overholt,” a straight grain whiskey. Chess just happened to be the game of the evening.

Our survey crew worked from Rufus, Oregon, through The Dalles. Most of the time we ate our lunch inside the old government dock warehouse (remember it??) and our favorite card games were “Cribbage” and “Hearts.”

History is easily buried in the ashes of time.

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Ted McKercher

In 1966, almost ten years after graduating from high school where I had been on the track team, I decided to try getting in shape again. With thoughts of trying out for the local semi-pro football team, I started going to the track at my old high school, Gresham Union High School, after work to run in my old military brogans. I soon realized I really did not want to play football, but liked running; and with encouragement and companionship from my old friend, Gene, we began running after work.

We soon worked our way up to a mile, then two, and I was hooked! But, Gene wasn’t. Soon, two miles wasn’t enough! I theorized if I could run two miles, four should not be too much harder. Then six and eight fascinated me.

But this running story isn’t really about me. You see, I graduated from my old high school track to the Mt. Hood Community College track. I would go there, jog a few laps and then hit the road for some mileage. One evening in July in the early 1970’s, I was doing my usual routine when a short, slightly chubby guy stopped me and asked how often I ran and if he could run with me a little way. He told me where he lived and since it was on my route, he asked me to pick him up as I am running by. “Sure,” I said.

So, Wally and I started running together. Wally would run shirtless. With the sun on his back, he would curse his shadow that showed his “love handles” bouncing up and down! At 160-plus lbs., Wally was about 20 lbs. overweight for a normal person; even more so for a runner.

After running together for a couple of weeks at Wally’s pace, I decided to pick it up. From the College, we jogged about a mile to get warm and then picked up the pace. My thoughts were, “Okay, Wally, now we’re going to hit it.” We ran east on Stark Street near MHCC, the sun at our backs. I was not going to show any sympathy….I started striding out and my running companion started dropping back! Soon I couldn’t see his shadow. The pad, pad, pad sound of his footsteps was gone. Soon I could not hear his breathing. I did not look back.

Possibly a mile or so later, I heard him breathing: PUFF, PUFF, PUFF! Then came the soft pad, pad, pad; soon his shadow started creeping up along side of me! We were running TOGETHER!

Wally and I ran a lot the next couple of months, taking turns laying out courses and leading the runs. We pushed each other hard at times. We ran some grueling hills, the worst being from the main street in Troutdale up to Stark Street via Troutdale Road. Wally never lagged behind again. He continued to curse his dwindling love handled shadow. While grinding up the courses we had chosen, he often said “Bowerman says short runners run up hill better.” Wally did!

Wally went to the U. of O. that Fall, curtailing our partnership running. I kept up with him for awhile, but I’m not a very good “keeper-upper” so we eventually lost track of one another. I did see him once though. He was wearing some very baggy, worn clothes, sort of what one would expect a married, “starving” college student to wear. Even though he was determined to succeed as a student, he also kept running.

In October of that year, at 130 lbs. and no “love handles,” Wally posted a three hour marathon – 26.2 miles in three hours! That is a shade less than nine miles per hour!

Another aging friend says, “All we have at our age is memories.” Maybe, but some of them are of amazing people. I often think of Wally and miss him.

I’d like to go for a run.

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Cindy Henchell, Gwen Berry

The High Prairie Community Directory is a useful little book with the names, addresses and phone numbers of many of your neighbors and friends on High Prairie. It also contains a (reasonably current) road map of High Prairie showing the county roads and some of the private roads. Being in the directory is completely voluntary, and it is not available to the general public. The finished directory is  sent only to the people who are listed in it. If you choose to join in, the amount of information that you list is up to you (although the listings are not intended to advertise businesses).

The directory listings typically include:

Name(s) of household members
Physical address on High Prairie
Mailing address (if different)
Phone numbers (landline and cell)
Email addresses
Special interests

Why be listed? With your name and information in the directory, people can extend invitations, let you know about activities, notify you when something urgent is going on, or check on you in an emergency. Since you get all the others’ information, too, you’ll be able to reach that person you just met last night at yoga class, contact someone you’ve known for years but suddenly have a reason to call, or call around to get news of what’s happening.

The directory has not been updated since October 2014, and work is underway on a 2016 edition. Now is the time to review and update your information (if you’re already listed in the community directory), or to put in a new listing. You have until October 31, 2016, to submit information.

There are 3 easy ways to update your information or add your listing:

Complete the form on the High Prairie website (https://www.highprairie.us/general-information/community-directory/)

Send the information by email to editor@highprairie.us

Send it by snail-mail to HP Directory, c/o 950 High Prairie Road, Lyle.

When the updated directory is completed, those who submitted information will be notified. If you provided an email address (even if you don’t wish to have it published) you will get an email with a PDF version of the directory. Print several and keep one in your home and others in your vehicles. No worries if you don’t have email. We will gladly send one to you in the mail.

For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together.  For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad.

—Edwin Way Teale

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Row 1 (l–r): A good year for apples (Photo: Gwen Berry), A leafy mosaic (Photo: Gwen Berry), Cinnamon teal resting at Summer Lake OR (Photo: Gwen Berry), Double rainbow (Photo: Peg Caliendo).

Row 2: Fields of gold (Photo: Peg Caliendo), Fishing splendor (Photo: Gwen Berry), Great horned owlet (Photo: Gwen Berry), High lights (Photo: Gwen Berry).

Row 3: Industrial-size hummingbird feeder (Photo: Gwen Berry), Is is safe to come out? (Photo: Peg Caliendo), Moonrise over the prairie (Photo: Peg Caliendo), Porcupine (Photo: Peg Caliendo).

Row 4: Red-winged Blackbird announcing its territory (Photo: Gwen Berry), Row of turtles at Steigerwald Refuge (Photo: Gwen Berry), Sliver of moon (Photo: Peg Caliendo), Storm clouds (B&W) (Photo: Peg Caliendo).

Row 5: Storm clouds over Swale Canyon (Photo: Peg Caliendo), Sunset (Photo: Peg Caliendo), Wildlife viewing area (Photo: Gwen Berry).

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