The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1920-06-03
.BOARDMAA OPENED THE
EYES Of 5000 VISITORS
Possibilities of Great John Day Pro-
jest Viewed BY Multitude-Barbe-
cue and Picnic was Successful AZ
fair.

Boardman-the Gateway to the
Great John Day" Thus read the
words on the arch of welcome which
greeted the three thousand people
who attended the barbecue and pic
mic at Boardman and the Broadview
farm of Chas. II. Dillabaugh and son
last Monday.
1t was a glorious day. Glorious
from any slant you might take at it.
The weather was ideal. The program
under the guiding hand of S. II.
Boardman, who was responsible
for getting the town OF Board
man on the map, and the man
who has worked harder perhaps, than
any other one person, in bringing the
Boardman project to a realization.
could not have been improved upon.
The location chosen for the holding
of the picnic, there where the great
ditch, running full of water, separates
the green and growing from the sage
brush and the desert, brought out the
striking contrast which the Boardman
boosters and the directors OF the great
John Day district wished to impress
upon their visitors. And the impress
sion went home with wallop.
Three years ago and Boardman a
desert. Such was the expression heard
on all sides. To those unfamiliar
with the history of the growth and
development of the West Extension
project, the idea would seem absurd.
Yet Boardman has evidence. Those
level fields of green alfalfa, the quail
ity of which is said to be unexcelled
anywhere in the world, those farm
homes, with the happy children, the
ideal surroundings, the magnificent
new school building, in fact the sub
stantial community life which shows
that progress is based upon a firm
foundation, all goes to prove that
something has happened there. That
something is WATER. And it is
water that those far-visioned men
who can see a family on every forty
acres, a farm home In the center OF
green alfalfa, are striving to get for
those three hundred thousand acres
that lay just beyond the present canal
of the West Extension.
The Dillabaugh farm had been pre-
pared for the reception of the visit
ors. Temporary buildings with roofs
of green alfalfa provided speaking
stands, rest rooms and cafeteria,
where the two barbecued beeves we're
served at noon.
Speaking began at l o'clock with
C. C. Clark, president of the John
Day Irrigation District, chairman.
The first speaker introduced was Col.
Emmett Callahan of Portland and
Boardman. He is very polished gen.
tleman and delivered an address
quite befitting Memorial Day. other
speakers were Farmer c. l.. Smith,
A. Buckley of the o. w. R. & N. Co.,
DR.. c. l.. Hawn of New York, l.. A.
Hunt. Morrow county agriculturist;
J. f. Raley, president of the Pendle-
ton Commercial Association and
James S. Stewart of Fossil and Cor
wallis, who made the only political
speech of the day.
Music was furnished in between
times by the Heppner and Hermiston
bands.
One Of the natives came off the des-
ert driving a broken down horse and
a small burro to the last sad remains
of once magnificent surrey. The
old mans appearance was like unto
the tail end of an extremely hard win
ter. He came in off the sage brush
and cactus to voice his protest to the
progress and development which
promises to eventually kill off all the
sage brush as we'll as his pet coyotes,
badgers. sand lizards, snakes and
jack rabbits.
But the old man was so kindly
received that he warmed up quite
friendly like, sang a few songs in
which he WAS Joined in the chorus by
some of Boardman's best voices and
was finally won over and gave his
consent for the development Of the
great John Day project The char
acter so ably represented, was taken
by Frank Partlow, one of the live
boosters of the project.
The celebration at the Dillabaugh
farm WAS unlike any other that we
have ever attended. Everything was
free, Everything was on the John
Day. The alfalfa nectar, brew that
had mountaineering kick, was
yours for the asking, no charge. Fol
lowing the program at the farm, the
crowd motored their way back to
Boardman to witness the ball game
between Arlington and Hermlston,
in which the railroaders won a to
l victory over the irrigationists.