By Bob Spiwak
It’s a sunny Monday, and that time of year when driving to the east from Mazama to West Boesel can be hazardous. The sun blasting into the windshield all but obliterates forward vision, even with the shades down. But it will pass, depending on the time of day, in a week or so.
The traffic over this weekend may well have exceeded that of Labor Day. There was a lot going on in town and the gorgeous weather brought the out- of-towners here in droves. The White Buck auction certainly provided a goodly share of people; the re-scheduled Cutthroat run had the Mazama parking lot and beyond plumb full of cars; and two school buses were headed toward Winthrop as we drove toward Mazama. I think they were empty.
All week, and several weeks prior to that, the Mazama Store was inundated by rock climbers. They were part of a group that were in training to become guides, along with some who were just there for the climbing. What was unusual was that they began to appear from several directions even before the store opened at 7 a.m., when Rudy Peterson turns the sign to “open.”
Crews are back at work on the salmon rehabilitation project at the old Fender Mill site.
There was a small fire at the Yellow Jacket area off Goat Creek Road near the snow park. We’re told it only involved a couple of acres and was quickly quashed by a pair of water-dropping helicopters. With the river as far down as it is, the question arose of where there was adequate water to dip from. We were told by a local resident that it came from near the Lost River bridge.
Special thanks to Don and Dana Davidson for helping extricate our car last week. I pulled off the highway at the boat put in/take out near the Methodist church and immediately bogged down into very loose sand and gravel. With their help shoveling and pushing, we got out. That surface has for many years been solid, but sure isn’t now. If you are going to turn off, stay on the paved area next to the river.
We did a survey of the salmon rehab project being conducted by the Yakama Nation at the old Fender Mill site. The endeavor had been shut down because of fire danger for almost two weeks because of the danger of sparks, not only from the motorized equipment, but more so from sparks emitted during the digging. The job re-commenced last week, and there is now a continuous wide ditch from about where part of the old mill once stood, which runs approximately due east and then curves southward to meet another ditch that leads to the river. In short, it appears the culvert-like pipes will soon be placed, 40-foot logs will be at the sides, and where open areas are planned for spawning there are already tree root systems lying in the ditch. These are to create a natural habitat in which the salmon prefer to make love.
