100 YEARS AGOFeb. 27, 1908

To propagate sugar beet culture in Wallowa County is the practical plan formulated, and which will be attempted by the Amalgamated Sugar company during the coming year or two. The time when beet culture is to be established on a paying and practical basis varies with the time required by the O.R. & N. to complete the railroad into the interior of the county

C.H. Zurcher has completed arrangements and ordered stock for opening a gents’ furnishing store in Enterprise next month. Mr. Zurcher spent several days in Enterprise last week buying goods, and states that he has a most complete line of men’s shoes, hats, shirts and general furnishings on the road, which he expects to arrive about March 1.

Plans for the dedication and housewarming of the Enterprise Fraternal Building tomorrow night are about completed and everything is in readiness for the reception of the guests, who we expected from all parts of the county. Personal invitations have been mailed to about 600 members of the I.O.O.F. and K. of P.

Mrs. J.M. Mitchell, the well-known landlady of the Hotel Mitchell of Joseph was visiting friends in this city Tuesday. Mrs. Mitchell enjoys an enviable reputation as a hostess, having conducted the leading hotel in Joseph for a number of a year.

70 YEARS AGOMarch 3, 1938

All physicians in the county have become members of the staff of the Enterprise hospital and have agreed to take their patients that institution. At the same time, the Enterprise hospital has bought and tak n over the equipment of Dr. J.B. Gregory’s hospital at Wallowa, which has closed.

As an airport, the Enterprise golf course is a decided flop. That is the opinion of aviators who used the field last summer when carrying supplies to the Summit Creek forest fire.

After two weeks of quiet, all public activities were resumed Monday in the three upper towns of the valley. The two patients with meningitis continued to improve and no new cases of the disease appeared.

JOSEPH – March made a pass of coming in like a lion, the event being heralded with a few blasts of what seemed to be a Chinook. It died down before morning. The snow that came recently has been melting ever since, but melting without wind makes bad roads and worse walking.

50 YEARS AGOFeb. 27, 1958

The legal status of three Joseph councilmen and the legality of actions taken by the city council were questioned at a mass meeting attended by around 90 citizens. Alfred Zollman was the principal spokesman for the objectors.

Channel dredging operations were underway last week on Prairie Creek near the Warner Motel east of River Street. The creek has caused considerable damage to adjacent property during spring floods.

Members of the Joseph FFA chapter plans to hold a parent-son banquet in conjunction with National FFA Week this week. The Joseph chapter has 26 members. Officers are: Dave Hockett, president; Dave Turner, secretary; Kenn Evans, vice president; Dave Gibson, treasurer; Bob Talbott, reporter; and Doug Marks, sentinel.

TROY – The fine spring weather continues at Troy. People are still steelhead fishing in the Wenaha. The road crews have finished widening the road around the rims across from the Willard Mallory home. A number of people gathered to watch the crew blow the big rim off Tuesday.

25 YEARS AGOMarch 3, 1983

A new birthing room at Wallowa Memorial Hospital was approved at the regular monthly meeting of the board of directors on Feb. 24. The birthing room will be offered for a flat rate of $460 for a normal delivery, with a 24-hour stay for mother and infant.

David E. Gilbert, 43, has been named president of Eastern Oregon State College in La Grande. He has been the college’s academic affairs dean since 1968, and becomes the eighth president of Eastern, founded in 1929.

“The Dark Crystal,” a fantasy-adventure film created by Jim Henson, will be the featured film during OK Theater’s first- anniversary celebration the weekend of March 11. A year ago March 13, Russell Ford, a young Imnaha area rancher, took over operation of the historic theater and has succeeded in regularly bringing in recent film releases.