Good old days

125 years ago

July 8, 1887

Hardly had the smoke cleared away from the wreck of his big hot air balloon on the Fourth before Prof.

Stinson had sent east an order for a gas balloon, which he expects to have here in time to make an ascension during the progress of the county fair.

On 11:30 in the evening of the 3rd, Prof.

Stinson proceeded to inflate the balloon on a test run.

This was done carefully by sending hot air through a pipe in which was placed a screen to prevent sparks from entering the balloon.

The great pouch of canvas filled and tugged and pulled at the strong ropes which bound it to the earth.

When Prof.

Stinson decided to make a trial trip, a cloud of flame and smoke burst through the canvas and in a moment the great structure crashed to the ground in a heap of ruins.

The announcement that the balloon had burned created a feeling of profound regret on the part of the committee and citizens generally, who would not have had the main feature of the celebration thus destroyed for ten times the cost. Prof. Stinson feels very badly over the matter, and has the sympathy and good will of our citizens.

Whitman County has the smallest woman living. She resides three miles from Pine City. She is 27 years old, 29 inches high and weighs 33 lbs.

There is a small-change famine in Colfax and vicinity and business men find the greatest difficulty in getting possession of sufficient silver to carry on their business. There is money enough, but it is mostly in gold and greenbacks. When Wells Fargo & Co.’s Express was in operation they carried silver into the country free of charge and we never were for want of small change. The N.P. Express company is less accomodating, and it costs so much for our banks to import, they cannot afford to send for it.

A lady who purchased a chicken at one of our local markets Monday was astonished to find, on opening the bird’s craw, a gold nugget worth 75 cents.

Two white men and a Chinaman have gone up Snake river in search of a clue to the murderers of the Chinese miners. The party will proceed to the camp, which is about 150 miles above Lewiston.

100 years ago

July 5, 1912

The “New Commercial” is the name chosen by Proprietor O.B. Hill for the modern hotel which he is opening in the building formerly known as the Whitman Hotel. Thousands of dollars have been spent remodeling and refitting the building. Leather back oak furniture has been procured for the lobby. Full leather upholstered furniture of $350 and a new piano have been purchased for the parlor. Beautiful electric chandeliers will light the lobby and parlor. An automobile will be kept at the hotel and will be used in making the midnight train.

While automobiling in the country Tuesday Dr. Mitchell had an experience with a horse grazing beside the road that resulted in the loss of his headlights. The horse jumped in front of his machine and ran ahead. The doctor applied the brake, but he was almost on the animal’s heels when the horse let fly with both feet, kocking off a lamp with one hoof and jamming the front of the radiator with the other. The horse escaped without injury.

A straight-away track has been completed on the flat south of Ewan for the accommodation of those desiring to engage in racing and other outdoor sport.

75 years ago

July 2, 1937

At the Chamber of Commerce meeting Wednesday, J.D. Lewis of Pullman told of the movement to conserve timber in the Moscow mountains, which forms the Palouse watershed, not only for the natural advantages but more directly to save the now-threatened water supply of Moscow, Palouse, Pullman and Colfax. Mr. Lewis asserted stripping the timber would have a result of a greater volume of run-off and that conservation would create the underground pressure of water needed to supply artesian wells.

An innovation and the irony of fate were elements in the experience of Ralph Bangert, 19, who ended an eventful Saturday afternoon in St. Ignatius. With his own innovative method, Bangert was capturing squirrels while standing on the running board of his car as his sister Elsiee drove and he attempted to catch the rodents with his hand. Ironically, he fell and struck a highway “safety” signpost, breaking two bones in his left arm. His face was abrased and bruised.

Within an hour of returning from Grangeville, Mr. and Mrs. James Ryan had their car stolen from its parking place in front of The Boys shop. The car was found abandoned near the end of A street, with the Ryans’ luggage stolen, the radio damaged and the loud speaker removed along with $15 in cash.

50 years ago

July 5, 1962

Dedication services were held last week at the Selbu Lutheran church of LaCrosse. The 2:30 p.m. ceremony was for the recently redecorated and refurbished chancel and church interior. Opening prayer was given by Rev. John J. Kyllo, who had been ordained in that church as a minister of the American Lutheran Church that morning.

Minimum price-support rate for 1962-crop wheat will be $1.96 per bhusel, the county ASC announced. That is up from the county support rate of $1.77 a bushel on the 1961 crop.

Jim Henderson, Colfax business man and civic leader, announced today that he has submitted his resignation as manager of the Colfax JC Penney store. His future plans are indefinite, but he plans to enter business elsewhere and has “several propositions in mind.”

25 years ago

July 2, 1987

A grass fire started by a Burlington Northern train on a soon-to-be abandoned part of the rail system brought out the Lamont Rural fire department Sunday afternoon. The fire in the Paxton vicinity burned grass on either side of the track for approximately one mile.

A new “grandstand committee” has been appointed for the Palouse Empire Fair. The committee will be faced with replacing a grandstand which was razed after voters last year twice rejected a proposal to fund a new grandstand at $440,000.

10 years ago

July 4, 2002

A new motel for Main Street Colfax, an addition which has been considered one of the needed factors for economic develompent in Colfax, is moving closer to reality. Scott Ackerman told the city council he has been working on a project for a 47-unit motel with an indoor swimming pool. Ackerman anticipates the motel will be operated as a Best Western. Mayor Norma Becker urged a round of applause in support of the project.

Colfax’s President of Columbia Ag Fibers, Gary Young, confirmed they are in the process of purchasing 175 acres adjoining LaCrosse for a strawboard facility.

Dave Moore of Palouse found a 10-pound puff ball mushroom on Union Flat Creek near Gilchrist Pond. The mushroom is a Calvatia booniana named for Dr. Boon who was a professor at Albertson College of Idaho in Cladwall. Dr. Edmund Tylutki, University of Idaho professor emeritus, said the giant puffball is fine to eat but cautions to leave it alone if its flesh has turned greenish.