50 YEARS AGO

from the Democrat-Herald

July 22, 1971

A plan to set up a winter range zone on the east slope of the Elkhorn Mountains in the Antelope-Bulger Hill district received favorable reception by the Baker County Livestock Association Tuesday. The Game Commission presented the plan to the Association after experiencing earlier opposition to the elk winter range plans in Union County around Shaw Mountain.

25 YEARS AGO

from the Baker City Herald

July 22, 1996

WEATHERBY — Two Union Pacific Railroad trains collided Friday afternoon on the banks of the Burnt River near Weatherby, breaching the fuel tank of one locomotive and causing an estimated 2,600 gallons of diesel to spill.

An unknown amount of the diesel entered an irrigation ditch and the river.

Two railroad employees suffered minor injuries. One, Robert Miller, 43, of La Grande, was treated and released Friday at St. Elizabeth Health Services.

A fish biologist from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife reported seeing fish downstream that were “stressed, but not dead.”

10 YEARS AGO

from the Baker City Herald

July 22, 2011

Bob Reedy puts on an archery contest at a ski area, but he figured the fourth weekend of July was safe enough, snow-wise.

He was right.

Until this July.

For the first time in the event’s 10-year history, Reedy had to call in a backhoe to break up lingering snowdrifts in time for the Elkhorn Archers’ Eastern Oregon Super Shoot this Saturday and Sunday at Anthony Lakes.

And even with heavy equipment it took 9 1/2 hours one day last week to clear the 25-foot-high snow berm blocking the service road that leads from the ski area’s resort to the top of the chairlift, said Reedy, who’s president of the Elkhorn Archers.

ONE YEAR AGO

from the Baker City Herald

July 18, 2020

Baker County didn’t report any new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, the third straight day with no positive tests.

The county’s total remains at 13, of which 12 have been reported since June 30.

The county’s initial case was announced on May 6.

No one has died in the county from the virus, and no one is hospitalized, Baker County Commissioner Mark Bennett said on Friday afternoon.

The Oregon Health Authority added Baker County to a “watch list” on Wednesday that includes eight other counties. Bennett said that designation, which doesn’t impose any additional restrictions, is based not only on the number of cases in the county, but rather their sporadic nature, which means it wasn’t clear where they were infected.

The exceptions to that are the five cases reported earlier this month, all being Forest Service employees.

Bennett said he spoke recently, not in person, to two county residents who were interviewed by contract tracers from the Baker County Health Department because they might have been in contact with a person who was infected.