Good Old Days 9/8/11

125 years ago

September 10, 1886

Completion of the railroad to Farmington was made the occasion for a social hop at that place Friday evening last.

Colfax buyers are paying 45 cents per bushel for sacked wheat.

Talbott & Bragg have decided to remove their Lincoln flouring mill to Elberton, the new town at the mouth of Silver creek. The removal will take place next season, the mill being run to its fullest capacity during the coming winter.

Osbon the artist is taking a number of views of the surrounding country and a number of fine views of Garfield. Mr. Osbon has wisely invested a lot there and will likely put up a gallery.

The contents of E.R. Smith’s fruit wagon were scattered to the winds Saturday, the result of a runaway.

The band boys are rehearsing for a concert which will be given about three weeks hence. Our citizens should see to it they have a full house.

Mary Leitch of Uniontown has gastric fever.

100 years ago

September 8, 1911

Ten men working out their fines on the chain gang refused to go to work Monday morning because it was Labor Day. The 10 others were willing, but the sheriff decided to send none of them out.

Passengers on the Inland train No. 3 Tuesday morning received a shaking up at Manning, five miles north of Colfax, when the train ran into a large bull which came through a gate and tried to cross the track directly in front of the train. There was no time to stop and the bull was ground to pieces. The last car of the train was derailed.

A map has been issued showing a proposed branch of the Milwaukee from Ewan, a new town near Rock Lake, through Pleasant Valley to Colfax. It is reported the new branch is to go out Spring Flat to Palouse to connect with the Washington, Idaho & Montana.

75 years ago

September 4, 1936

As the biggest side attraction to the rodeo, King Carnival will reign supreme in Colfax during the three days of the upcoming round-up. Seven rides and five shows, along with 20 concessions, a novelty stand and a lunch counter will be set up in the pleasure zone on Upton street.

A local option petition to bring the liquor question to a vote in Colfax, bearing 395 signatures, was filed with the county auditor, bringing the number of towns in Whitman County that will decide on intoxicants to 13.

A plane circling three times over Colfax Monday night, flashing its landing lights in distress, caused local flyer Bill Genero to gather friends in cars and head for the airport to light the field with headlights. Genero and his group waited a half an hour at the field, but the flyer circled away, presumably to Spokane.

Felts Field advised Genero the plane was one of the National Guard practicing night flying maneuvers around this vicinity.

50 years ago

September 7, 1961

The last of Whitman County’s one-room schoolhouses didn’t open its doors Tuesday morning. An agreement reached by directors of the one-room Riparia School and the Hay District has resulted in Riparia’s nine pupils attending school at Hay for the 1961-62 term.

The move came because no qualified teacher was found to handle the Riparia unit. Elsie McFarland, who ran the school last year, left to take a position at Thornton.

Riparia has agreed to pay Hay $4,500 for the education and transportation of their school children, plus some $950 alloted to Riparia from county and state funds. The agreement is for one year.

25 years ago

September 4, 1986

Sharon Hall and Carla Mock of Colfax last week processed 600 pounds of red bell peppers for this year’s batch of their “Palouse Red” pepper sauce, half the peppers they will use by the time they finish this year and double what they made last year.

A 22.5 mile bicycle race “Tour du Palouse” sponsored by the Palouse Chamber of Commerce will take place in conjunction with the annual Palouse Days next weekend.

Toll free telephone lines between Pullman and the county courthouse in Colfax will be disconnected if telephone companies are not willing to negotiate rates. The county was notified by General Telephone last week that rates for the county’s four “foreign exchange” lines will be hiked from about $1,100 a month to $4,400 a month.

10 years ago

September 6, 2001

A brush and timber fire Monday on a steep hill below Lookout Park in Colfax threatened homes in the Valleyview area. The fire is believed to have started off a camp fire along the Palouse & Coulee City Railroad at the bottom of the hill. About 50 firefighters were engaged in the afternoon battle to douse the fire Monday.

An estimated 3,000 gallons of liquid asphalt leaked out of wreck tanks from a truck accident Thursday morning on Highway 195 about three miles north of Colfax. The spill was allowed to harden before being removed.

Tekoa’s city council meeting will be broadcast for the first time on television this week. It will be shown on cable channel 10 at 7 p.m.