Good old days

125 years ago

The Commoner

April 12, 1889

South end residents are asking that the practice of dragging dead horses up Spring Flat, just outside the city, and leaving them uncovered, be discontinued, the odor from which is not exactly pleasing to the sensitive olfactory organs of South enders when the wind is fair, nor beneficial to health. Dead animals should for the sake of decency and healthfulness be given Christian burial even though outside city limits.

Jailer Walters has been exercising the seven prisoners under his care for a few days past in cleaning up the large amount of filth and rubbish which has been allowed to accumulate in the jail yard. They worked willingly and cheerfully and were so fond of it after close confinement that they even begged the jailer to find some street work for them to perform. Even the four tramps among them are as industrious as bees.

H.H. Spaulding of Almota has obtained control of the Colfax and Pomeroy stage line. The schedule time has been changed, the stage arriving in this city on the regular days, laying overnight in Almota.

100 years ago

The Colfax Commoner

April 16, 1914

C.I. Signer, engineer with the state highway commission, is here from Olympia. He will begin location work on the state highway between here and Walla Walla in a few days.

For the price of a cigar you can have one hour and 15 minutes of refined entertainment at the Bungalow.

A man giving his name as James Jenkins, who has been pedaling automobile accessories, such as robes, coats, gloves, etc., also watches and other goods, aroused suspicion by selling at very low prices, and on Tuesday was taken into custody by Sheriff Cole.

75 years ago

Colfax Gazette Commoner

April 14, 1939

Capture of Dewitt C. Ball, 25, in the Olympia Hotel about 1 o’clock Friday morning thwarted an attempt to rob the state liquor store here by removal of the steel safe and seven cases of whiskey. Ball, now in jail in Spokane, confessed his part in the plot to Sheriff Carson Walker before he was taken to Spokane.

The back porch and wall of the Jim Roberts’ home on Wawawai Street were scorched Friday afternoon when a discarded fuel oil tank caught fire and blew up. Youngsters had been playing with matches nearby and flames from one lying on the ground reached the tank lying on the porch.

50 years ago

Colfax Gazette

April 9, 1964

“The shoulder straps and crash helmet saved my hide!” That’s the way Frank A. Bergeson, 41-year-old Lewiston pilot, described his lucky escape when a plane owned by Les Mills Aircraft crashed on the Ralph Cocking ranch four miles east of Colfax about 11:15 a.m. Bergeson was released from St. Ignatius Hospital yesterday. The Stearman biplane, damaged an estimated $8,000, had just taken off from a field loaded with about a half ton of fertilizer and a tank full of gas when the engine failed at low altitude. The fuselage broke in to two pieces and Bergeson crawled from the wreckage and was brought to Colfax. His injuries included severe bruises but no broken bones.

A “postage stamp” saddle proved the undoing of Miss Spokane, Rosemary Harness, daughter of Mrs. W.R. Splater, Hay.

Miss Harness was horseback riding by herself, using an English saddle, which has a minimum of handholds for emergencies, when her horse started bucking and dumped the Whitworth college coed.

She was admitted to the hospital in Colfax the following day when the spill “caught up” with her.

The ailment was diagnosed as a cracked spleen.

The accident occurred near the Splater home in Hay, and no one knew about it until she mentioned it the following day, Mrs. Splater said.

The horse, which was a bit skittish from lack of riding, stopped after spilling Miss Harness, who picked herself up and continued her ride.

25 years ago

Colfax Gazette

April 13, 1989

Don and Bonnie Knox of Colfax were among spectators Tuesday night when volunteer firemen burned their former home on Prune Orchard Road. The Knox family lived in the house for more than 27 years and raised their family there before they moved into Colfax almost 10 years ago. Louis Chestnut was born in the house which was constructed in 1902. He recently sold the property to Melvin Ensley who gave volunteers permission to conduct the drills.

Fire destroyed a barn and 600 pigs owned by Jack Silzel of Oakesdale Sunday night. The fire was discovered by Donald Tilson, ranch employee, when he arrived at the scene at about 7 a.m. The fire must have started in the electrical wiring in the barn. The Oakesdale fire department was called to the fire three miles southeast of Oakesdale.

10 years ago

Whitman County Gazette

April 8, 2004

A piece of history could have run out of time if the town of Rosalia hadn’t come to the rescue. A nearly four foot square wind-up clock has stood on the corner of Sixth and Whitman streets since the mid-1960s when it was moved there and donated by the late Cliff Harthill, a local clock maker and repairman.

A blaze consumed the roof and attic of a Tekoa home as a mother and two of her children escaped safely. They watched as Tekoa and Oakesdale firefighters contained the fire.

Colfax school board members approved a $6.2 million construction bid which will upgrade the district’s buildings and add a new gymnasium and exercise building behind the present JES gym.