Good Old Days

125 years ago

March 16, 1888

General T.R. Tannatt, general land agent of the O.R.&N. Co. at Farmington, has collected material for a 32 page pamphlet descriptive of the Palouse country. The matter is now in the hands of a Portland printing house and an edition of 8,000 will soon be printed, 2,000 of which will be distributed to California and the remainder in the east, the object being to induce immigration. The pamphlet will show that Whitman County has 105 school districts and 100 school houses, 12 of which were built and furnished last year at a cost of $28,000; number of teachers, 150, number of pupils, 3,500.

In Lower Union Flat news, the cars killed a valuable cow belonging to Mr. Boyer. Farmers are preparing to reseed the ground where winter wheat is frozen out. The late cold spell put the farmers back a little in seeding, but otherwise the snow and rain has greatly benefited this part of the country.

100 years ago

March 14, 1913

Between January 1 and March 8, there were presented to the county auditor under the law of 1909 the scalps of 102 coyotes and seven wildcats killed in Whitman County. The bounty on coyotes is $1 and on wildcats $5. The largest number of coyote scalps presented by one person, an even dozen, was turned in by F.O. Lamb of Ewan. M. Pollock whose post office address is Spokane, put $30 into his inside pocket when he turned in six wildcat scalps.

The assembly room at the high school was crowded, every seat being taken and standing room at a premium, when pupils from the seventh grade, with Miss Willie as instructor, presented “The Courtship of Miles Standish.” This old favorite was well given, the young folks showing thorough acquaintance with the spirit of the poem.

75 years ago

March 11, 1938

Incensed over what they alleged to be an attempt of a representative of an electrical workers’ union to organize men employed on the REA project at St. John, farmers of that community announced a mass meeting of farmers at the city hall here. The declared purpose was to take measures to resist what is alleged will be an effort to unionize Whitman County farms.

Bethel School District turned down the proposal to consolidate with the merged Colfax district at the election last Saturday, but it wasn’t because the residents had not heard of the advantages of such a union. Supt. L.R. Steig made his way over snow banks three to five feet high where roads were unopened to explain the situation. A photo taken February 20 in the Bethel district shows Paul Cocking, Colfax High School freshman, driving the tractor which pulled the sled carrying Supt. Steig, and Paul’s father, John E. Cocking, from home to home.

Several new pieces of equipment, including an oxygen tent, microscope, centrifuge, incubator and timer, have been added to the laboratory facilities at St. Ignatius Hospital, according to Sister John Chryscstome, head of the school of nursing.

50 years ago

March 14, 1963

About 30 employees have returned to work on the North Palouse Flood Control project but no further increase in employment is expected until the spring runoff has ended. Hauling of rock for riprapping the banks of the river was resumed Monday morning by six truckers with others stockpiling the rock at the quarry on the South Palouse.

Three trainmen were hurt, none seriously, when they leaped from a Milwaukee Road freight train seconds before it plowed into a rock slide 22 miles west of Malden at John’s Landing on Rock Lake. The three men leaped from the cab of the lead diesel unit after applying the emergency brakes when they saw a huge rock slide blocking the tracks ahead after rounding a curve. All three feared the engine would be derailed and might plunge off the embankment into Rock Lake 300 feet below the tracks.

25 years ago

March 17, 1988

Karen Heilsberg is pictured with one of her light curtain designs to add extra “glitz” to the upcoming production of “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.” With Karen are assistants Mike Zorb and Bobby Johnson (Black), one of the cast members. Heilsberg, an EWU graduate in industrial arts, has been wiring her creations in the IOOF hall. They will be mounted for the show which runs in the Elks club. Heilsberg has designed other sets for Colfax thespians in Johnson-Braun productions.

Endicott’s downtown will get a boost when a full time grocery and deli opens under the name Endicott Food Center.

Fate of the Palouse Empire Fair grandstand levy is a “cliff hanger” that will not be sorted out until all absentee ballots are in and the votes are certified, according to auditor Jim Repp. The $250,000 grandstand levy proposal failed by three votes at the polls Tuesday.

10 years ago

March 13, 2003

Garfield/Palouse fans qualified for the most strain and pain award in the big state B show after their Vikings took three of four games into the final minutes. Their last win came in double overtime and sent them home with the third place trophy.

Colfax sidewalk superintendents can expect to see rapid progress over the next three months on the Ackerman Motel project on North Main in Colfax. Scott Ackerman said they are targeting completion of the project in time to accommodate players and families who will be here for a baseball tournament at McDonald Park during the Fourth of July. Official launch of the project was marked Monday when the city issued a building permit for the Ackerman estate. Estimated cost of the 52-room motel project was $1 million.