Roundabout Sisters: Remember when?

With so many of us newbies, me included, I'm always delighted when I learn a tidbit of Sisters history. Of course, The Nugget is chock full of much of what you might be curious about. You may not know how much of a historical library The Nugget is.

Heck, many of you may not even know that The Nugget has an online edition - nuggetnews.com - where in addition to getting the latest news about Sisters Country you can go to that amazing little magnifying glass icon to the right, near the top of the page and hunt to your heart's delight.

For instance: Want to know what happened to Bronco Billy's Ranch Grill and Saloon (now Sisters Saloon)? Go to the magnifying glass and type in Bronco Billy's and among other results will be the edition of April 8, 2014, that gives you the whole story, chapter and verse.

Trying to remember when the tree fell on the Ski Inn and destroyed it? December 1, 2013, as reported by The Nugget with a photo of the collapse.

Given my curious nature I love listening to the "old timers" - those here more than 30 years (my definition, nothing official). They surprise me with factoids. I just learned for example that the Habitat Restore was once a bowling alley.

That got me thinking what other morsels I could scrounge up. So, I asked around. Sue Stafford said, "Remember when you could ski at Mt. Bachelor for $4.25?" Gary Tewalt informed me that going west from Sisters, Highway 126/20 was once paved red, and the limbs from the pines spanned the road.

Robin Holm remembers coming in from Camp Tamarack for the mail and seeing horses tied up at the Sisters Hotel. Wait. What Sisters Hotel? What it was before it was Bronco Billy's.

Charlene Cash remembered when 12 houses off Camp Polk Road burned to the ground in 1990.

Darren Lane and a whole lot of other folks remember taking the school bus to Redmond as Sisters had no high school between 1969 and 2003.

Angela Gardinier said: "Remember when there were llamas at the Patterson Ranch, and they dyed them different colors at Easter?" And speaking of ranches,

Chris Kennedy said: "Remember when the elk ranch had elk?"

How many of you, like me, are guilty of not visiting the Three Sisters Historical Society? I intend to cure that this weekend. The Sisters Museum located at 151 N. Spruce is open Fridays and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays. The Museum is housed in the historic Maida Bailey Old Library Building. It's compact, but said to be bursting with history.

Photo by Bill Bartlett

The Three Sisters Historical Society is located in the historic Maida Bailey Old Library Building.

There's "remember when," which has plenty of firsthand experiences like Sno Cap opening in 1954 and there's "way back when," like when the Candy Corral was the Palace Hotel. When The Belfry was Sisters first church in 1914. Or when Sisters Bakery was Leithauser Grocery in 1925.

Wouldn't you have loved to have seen the lookout tree, a 110-foot pine tree on Cascade and Larch with a platform on top pierced with iron rungs made by Hardy Allen's blacksmith shop?A State Forester climbed to the top each morning between 1915 and 1926 to scan the area.

Despite the lookout, Sisters had two major fires in 1923 and 1924, destroying much of Cascade Street due to a lack of fire equipment.

It would have been fun to know George and Virginia Wakefield, whose house still stands at Cascade and Larch. This home features a full basement lined with lava-rock. As owner of Wakefield's Garage, George kept his many vehicles in the carriage house behind it. He started Sisters Airport in 1936, served as Mayor, and President of the Sisters Rodeo Association for a time.

Every day I get a new one. Claudia Williams told me yesterday: "Remember when Bi-Mart was Ray's and Ray's was an RV site?" I didn't know that. Did you?

So, for us newbies, maybe we should pay more attention to Sisters when it wasn't what it is today, and then we can have more occasions to ask, "remember when?"