Good Old Days

125 years ago

April 29, 1887

It is rumored that the Farmington branch of the O.R. & N. will be extended to Spokane Falls immediately. If present plans are carried out, the Palouse country will soon be covered with a network of railways.

A post office has been opened at Oaksdale, with Sol. Kaminsky as postmaster.

Election of the justice of the peace in precinct No. 9, north Colfax, resulted in favor of C.P. Edmonds, who received 44 of the 52 votes cast.

Dr. Butler has rented the Sensinger building at Uniontown and put in a stock of drugs.

This week, Mrs. Burt Smith, who lives in the mountainous region of upper Hangman Creek rode a horse some forty miles to Palouse City in less than a day and carried her little girl.

100 years ago

April 26, 1912

Whitman county’s first fatal automobile accident occurred at 5 o’clock Sunday afternoon when the machine in which they were riding slipped over a bank and overturned, pinning Mr. and Mrs. J.M. Seagle underneath.

The top of the seat caught Mrs. Seagle on the shoulders and her neck was broken.

Mr. Seagle received a dislocated shoulder and lacerations from a wire fence into which the machine had turned on their way from church in Elberton to their home on the Palouse road about eight miles east of Colfax.

Mr. Seagle had owned the car only two months but was always a careful driver and was driving slow at the time of the accident.

In going around a mud hole the machine went too near an embankment and the dirt gave way letting the two outside wheels slide over.

The machine followed, sliding down a ten-foot embankment and overturning in a wire fence at the bottom.

A gun club was organized in Malden last week. Officers are Wayne P. O’Day, E.K. Steadman, W.W. Cowell. The club has purchased traps and blue rocks and will hold a shoot in the near future.

75 years ago

April 23, 1937

Three more districts are planning to close their schoolhouse next school year and transport their pupils to Colfax. Closure of the McNeilly district, No. 68; the Wilcox district, No. 11; and the South Palouse district, No. 40, will bring 24 more students to the Colfax school.

A Kiwanis club fund drive has subscribed $1,175 toward the expense of surfacing with concrete the three double tennis courts at Schmuck Park.

Dana H. McCroskey, owner of Cloverleaf dairy, left for Chicago and disposed of his milk route to W.J. Stewart, operator of the Meadowbrook Dairy. McCroskey was in business here eight years and has accepted a position with the International Harvester company.

Qualifying rounds for ladder position in tournament play was again interrupted at the local golf course Sunday, this time due to water flooding the links when the northern dike failed to hold back the high waters of the North Palouse.

50 years ago

April 19, 1962

Colfax’s mushrooming trailer population, though it has not yet posed serious problems experienced in other cities, is not bound by any ordinance for preventing congestion and unsanitary conditions in trailer parks. A trailer plaza ordinance being drawn up was discussed by the city fathers, though definite action was tabled until the next meeting.

Though there are no definite plans for introducing Direct Distance Dial service to Colfax residents, Pacific Northwest Bell Telephone Co. hopes all communities they serve will have DDD by 1965.

County School Supt. James E. Sturm announced he has accepted a position as superintendent at Oakville, a town of about 300 population in Grays Harbor County.

25 years ago

April 23, 1987

Colfax mini-park on west Spring Street, a topic which has been bounced around city council chambers in years past, re-surfaced when Norma Becker, president of the Chamber of Commerce, and a 10-member chamber delegation presented the proposal to the city. The proposal includes conversion of the section of Spring Street between the Whitman County Library building and the Old National Bank.

A proposal for a privately owned plant that would convert solid waste into fuel pellets was presented to county commissioners Monday. Proposed Fuels Inc. has been studying the feasibility of building a plant that could process solid waste from both Latah and Whitman counties.

WSU student Dean Paglialunga of Seattle ran through Colfax as part of a cross-state Domino’s Pizza delivery. Members of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity relayed the pizza across the state to benefit the Arthritits Foundation.

Lamont Community Women’s Club will have a benefit spaghetti feed at the community center next week with proceeds going for equipment for Whitman Community Hospital.

10 years ago

April 25, 2002

After 101 years, the First Baptist Church in Hay has a new owner. Hay resident Jeannine Larkin purchased the church for $100 plus closing costs from the Washington Baptist Association. The church is one of the last standing town landmarks.

Gary Young of Colfax, president of Columbia Ag Fibers, could be in the process of watching his seven-year dream come true to own and operate a straw board plant. An update on the project proposal was covered with county commissioners Tuesday afternoon. A visit from potential financiers included visitation of site locations, a meeting with the planning commission and investigating funding sources.

Pullman Chamber of Commerce committee heads met with county commissioners Monday to urge them to consider a change to the county’s Rural Residential zoning ordinance. Specifically, they asked commissioners to eliminate the clause that forbids home construction on farm ground until agricultural practices have been stopped for three years.