Days gone by: Wednesday, June 13

June 13, 1912

Twelve hundred yards of earth and rock were displaced at 1:30 this afternoon at the cut which is being made on the Wild Horse road east of this city. So well had the explosives been placed and so great the precautions taken that absolutely no damage was done and the blast is considered by Engineer C.H. Martin as highly successful. Sixteen kegs of powder had been embedded and shortly after 1:30 it was exploded, the noise being deadened so that it was not heard in the city. The moving of this large quantity of earth will greatly facilitate the work of preparing the Wild Horse road for travel.

50 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

June 13, 1962

Between 40 and 50 acres of land, most of it pasture, was flooded this morning when the A Line broke. The A Line is a large irrigation canal that runs from the Cold Springs Reservoir to irrigate a valley in the Columbia District north of Hermiston. The break occurred between S. Edwards Road and Canal Road. The break, believed caused by a leak that erupted, was reported about 4 a.m. “It looked like the Umatilla River coming down a hillside,” said one observer. Most of the land in the flooded area is owned by Bill Cox and W.C. Jacque.

25 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

June 13, 1987

The new brine pond at Smith Frozen Foods has a plastic liner 80 mils thick. How thick? About 54 times thicker than the average garbage bag, said David Jensen, Smith’s vice president of finance and operations. The new pond was built after the State Department of Environmental Quality discovered that brine from Smith’s old pond was polluting Pine Creek. DEQ ordered the plant to clean up the brine pond or close down. Smith employs up to 2,000 workers during the busy pea and lima bean seasons. To prevent closure of the facility, the city of Weston, the East Central Oregon Association of Counties and Smith officials joined forces to apply for a state grant to help pay for needed improvements. The new pond has been tested as is leak-free, Jensen said.