Good old days - Aug. 6, 2009

125 years ago, August 8, 1884

The other day, a twelve or fourteen year old boy named Chandler, who is working for Mr. Bridge Farmer, east of town, was riding one of the horses hitched to a harvesting machine, when a small pistol fell from his pocket and striking the ground was discharged. The ball struck the horse upon which the boy sat, inflicting a wound from which the animal soon after died.

100 years ago, August 6, 1909

Flathead Lake, filling a large extent of Flathead Valley, is said to be the largest body of fresh water in the U.S. outside the Great Lakes. It covers 360 square miles. Nineteen islands, large and small, sit like gems in a sea of the deepest green.

The largest, Wild Horse Island, is said to contain two sections of land subject to entry. The south side has rather a barren appearance. Many homes and acres of land are for sale here.

75 years ago, August 3, 1934

Washington’s 1934 wheat crop is estimated at 35,163,000 bushels in the July report of the U.S. bureau of agricultural economics crop reporting board, according to R. M Turner, state college extension economist. This indicates a decrease of approximately 23 percent compared to the 46,249,000 bushel crop of last year, and the five-year acreage of 45,345,000 bushels.

Permanent home life is about to take root at the Grand Coulee dam. Bids for construction of 30 residences, which will house Bureau of Reclamation engineers and members of their families, was opened recently at the civic building in Spokane.

When Roy Halverson went to bed at the Granite Hotel Thursday night of last week he put $25 in his sock. When he awoke in the morning his money was gone and so was his roommate, A.B. Cox. Officers overtook Cox as he was hitch-hiking from town. He pleaded guilty of petit larceny before Justice G.A. Weldon and was fined $50, in lieu of which he went to jail. Halverson recovered his money.

50 years ago, August 6, 1959

An old safe with “State Bank of Steptoe” still stenciled on the front will close out its service in the treasurer’s office around Oct. 1. The sad state of affairs for the old “money holder” was brought on Monday when the county commissioners approved the purchase of a new $3,000 safe from Spokane Safe and Lock Co. The new safe will have three compartments and stand five and one-half feet high.

“Social security credit” cannot be given to farm workers without their correct name and social security number, said Ray Orso of the Spokane Social Security office.

It is the responsibility of the farm employer to obtain current names and account numbers from employees when they start.

25 years ago, August 9, 1984

Two newcomers to the county political scene, Craig H. VanTine of Garfield and Margaret E. McNew of Pullman, filed Friday to run for county commissioner.

VanTine filed Friday at 1:45 p.m. for district one.

Jason Basket, 14, Albion, was taken to Memorial Hospital in Pullman by the Colfax ambulance Saturday morning for treatment of injuries sustained when he fell from a horse on the Old Albion road northwest of Albion. The youth sustained abrasions to his back and elbows.

Weekend fires destroyed the Washington State University rowing crew shell house near Wawawai park. Susan Riley, a resident of Wawawai park, got up with her baby early Saturday morning and saw the shell house ablaze.

10 years ago, August 5, 1999

The county July 21 received payment for $74 in claims submitted by Whitman County Counseling Services which were flagged by Auditor Dave Repp in June as an inappropriate use of funds.

The claims, one involving a gas barbeque grill purchased as a graduation gift for an intern who worked for the counseling center, and another involving $4.60 of tobacco products purchased for a client under one of the center’s programs, were flagged during a routine check. County commissioners agreed to deny payments for the bills.