Good old days - April 22, 2010

125 years ago, April 24, 1885

Aided by a breeze hailing from the balmy south, a couple of tons of Main street, in the shape of dust, meandered northward this week. Another zephyr or two and the promised street sprinkler can work on bedrock.

“Huckleberry Finn,” Mark Twain’s latest production, is now on draught at Sutherland’s drug store.

It now transpires that no white woman was murdered near Lapwai, as reported last week, and the Indian scare and moving of U.S. troops was the result of a Simon Pure joke, perpetrated on a half-witted miner named Kentuck by a couple of Indians who told him “Spokane Meg,” the woman in question had gone to Pierce City without his knowledge and had been murdered.

Island Street leading to the depot is the personification of a horrible affair, owing to the great depth of dust on the thoroughfare, which is kicked up by passing vehicles and carried by the wind into the residences which line it. It needs gravel, lots of it.

100 years ago, April 22, 1910

Whitman County commissioners Tuesday let the contract for the building of the new poor farm home, which will be erected on the land adjoining the city limits on the south. The home will cost $9,311 and is to be completed Aug. 1.

Mennis and Stark have bought the Oregon Noodle Café and will thoroughly renovate and remodel the place and put in an up-to-date restaurant with tables to accommodate their patrons.

T.A. Ireland has installed a cigar and tobacco store in connection with his shooting gallery on Main Street.

This is the spring when the minds of politicians and tax payers are turning to thoughts of candidates for election next fall. The Democrats enter the fray with renewed confidence because of the general dissatisfaction existing among tax payers with the extravagance of the state administration.

75 years ago, April 26, 1935

Fred Marler, city water superintendent, said results of a test made last month by the state Health department showed water in Colfax is “as near perfect as water can be had.”

Judge E.V. Kuykendall of Pomeroy heard the suit of Mrs. Ethel Ross against the Oakesdale Cemetery Association in Superior court Wednesday. Mrs. Ross is asking a restraining order to prevent the association from removing a spirea bush which she planted years ago over the grave of her son. The board determined the bush was noxious.

Twenty-six teachers were re-elected to positions in the Colfax public school system and one more chosen to fill a vacancy by the school board Friday.

Alven Evanson, Endicott, was arrested on a justice warrant for petit larceny by Sheriff Carson Walker Tuesday. Evanson had given a worthless check.

50 years ago, April 21, 1960

Whitman County rural residents will have a dump ground starting May 1, following the signing of a five-year lease by the Whitman County commissioners Monday. The site is located near the Lee Schultz ranch on the old Diamond cutoff road. Commissioners agreed to pay Frank Miller $100 a month for use of the property.

Earl Alley, son of Mr. and Mrs. E.B. Alley of Hooper, received word that he is a winner in the National Science Foundation’s test and will be paid $1,600 to study chemistry at Mississippi State College during the next year to obtain his master’s degree in chemistry.

Mrs. Harold Ambuehl, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ivor Wilson of Colfax, and her family, have left Cuba, where they have been superintendent of a pulp plant owned by Cuban interests, and will arrive in Colfax late this week. They had lived in Cuba since 1958.

The rapids of the Palouse, some five to six inches deep in places, were “conquered” by George Alexieve, Spokane racing boat driver, in a jet-propelled boat.

25 years ago, April 25, 1985

Records on Medicare patients at Whitman Community hospital show length of stays have been reduced over the past year. the shorter hospital stays reflect a change in the Medicare payment system which was introduced a the start of 1984.

Mr. And Mrs. Mike Wallace, Jason and Michelle will be at Country Bible Church in Dusty Sunday where they will show slides and speak of their work with Arctic Missions among the Indians in Canada.

Judy Bodey, Malden postal clerk, has received the “Image Maker” pin and certificate as part of the ongoing courtesy image effort.

10 years ago, April 20, 2000

Bargain hunters can still land some good deals on the merchandise remaining in the Fonk’s Variety Store, which has served county residents for the past 72 years but is closing its doors for good at the end of this week.

Uniontown resident Gerald Druffel has donated $150 to the Whitman County Courthouse’s “fix the clock fund” in hopes of encouraging others to do the same. The clock, installed in 1955, quit working about three years ago.

Long-time county Treasurer Mary Crawford will retire May 1 because of health problems.