Inside this week’s edition of the Blue Mountain Eagle you’ll find our annual special section on local history, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you. Reporter Neil Nisperos has produced fascinating portraits of three larger-than-life figures out of Grant County’s past: George Hazeltine, a miner who turned his hand to a variety of enterprises, including photography; F.C. Sels, another man drawn to Grant County by gold who later opened a brewery and served as postmaster, justice of the peace, county treasurer and state senator; and Cy Bingham, a bear of a man who was the first supervisor of the Malheur National Forest and a four-term Grant County sheriff.

Special thanks are due to Kitman Kienzle, curator of the Grant County Historical Museum, for providing us with historic newspaper articles and other source material for the section, including a wonderful assortment of archival photographs, such as the portrait of Sheriff Bingham at the top of this note.

We also offer special thanks to the many loyal advertisers who purchased space in this year’s history section. We couldn’t produce the section without their support, and we hope you’ll join us in supporting them with your business.

Turning back to the present, this week’s paper will feature stories on the Monument Buckaroo, an investigation of John Day’s former interim city manager, the Grantville Theater, the regional teacher of the year (up now on our website) and a volleyball showdown between Grant Union and Prairie City.

In case you missed last week’s paper, you can click on the flowing links to see stories about the John Day City Council, the antitrust lawsuit against Iron Triangle and Malheur Lumber, and the Grant Union football team’s win over Nyssa.

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As always, if you have comments or questions about the Eagle, or want to pass along a story idea, send me an email at this address: editor@bmeagle.com.

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— Bennett Hall, Editor