125 years ago
The Commoner
Feb. 20, 1891
An opium seizure was made in this city, Wednesday evening. The officers instrumental in making the capture were Custom Inspector F. W. Oliver of Colville, Deputy Sheriff Warren of Spokane Falls, Marshal Brooks Mackey and Deputy Sheriff Bill Spencer.
The officers started out about 7 p.m. and first visited the Japanese store kept by Lee Gong on Main street. After searching for a short time, they came across four five-tael boxes of prepared opium. Two of these were unstamped and the others had old revenue stamps on. After confiscating these they proceeded to an opium joint, located near the bridge, and there captured six more cans. They then made their way to another opium joint, but the inmates had obtained information of the raid, and a most careful search failed to reveal anything. The value of the opium captured is about $100.
100 years ago
The Colfax Commoner
Feb. 25, 1916
Reports from the western part of the county state that the Steve Cuttler bridge which spans the Palouse river was taken out during the recent high water. The bridge which is reported to be missing is the one which was located just above the old Matlock bridge. Thousands of dollars worth of roads and bridges have been destroyed in this county this spring by the ice and high water. The flood in the lower part of the county this spring is reported by the old settlers to have been even worse than the floods that occurred in the spring of 1910.
Road work will be started early this year in order that the roads can be placed in condition as quick as possible. J. C. Vanskike of Winona who was in the city Tuesday said that the roads were badly washed in his district and that a regular river flowed through the town during the high water period, caused by a lack of a culvert across the railroad track. This condition, he stated, would be corrected this spring and an effort made to confine the water to its natural course.
75 years ago
Feb. 21, 1941
Definite action in the city's plan to open North Mill street to connect with Morton was taken by the council Monday night when a petition was authorized addressed to the Union Pacific Railroad company asking for right-of-way over its property between Harrison and Tyler and across its track east of the passenger depot.
On file with City Clerk S. M. McCroskey, and read by him, were two resolutions from civic organizations asking that Mill be made a through street to relieve the traffic congestion on Main.
One resolution, was from the chamber of commerce, signed by its president and secretary, R. P. Benson and Fred Slate, respectively. It pointed out the advantage of relieving the present traffic situation and urged the council to make an effort to obtain the opening of the thoroughfare. The other was from the Kiwanis club, urging the city to take every fair means in obtaining right-of-way and to initiate the immediate development of the project. This resolution was signed by the club's president, Everett Taylor, and the secretary, H. A. Ellis.
50 years ago
Colfax Gazette
Feb. 24, 1966
Ground will be broken for the new hospital in early summer of this year and the first patients can move into the new building by late summer of 1967.
Those are the current “target dates” of the Whitman County Hospital Association, President Dan Scheideman said this week after a meeting Monday night at which final plans for submission to the state health department were shown by Arnold Barton of a Spokane architectural firm.
Scheideman, Barton and Sister Superior Amedee Marie and Sister Bernadette Dolores of St. Ignatius hospital will attend a pre-construction conference in Olympia March 8, at which time the plans will be turned over to the health department for final approval.
The hospital association has been assured that acceptance of the plans by the state will not require more than 30 to 45 days. A call for bids would be issued probably in May and the bids opened in early summer with the contractor to start immediately, Scheideman explained.
“We do not anticipate any major changes in plans submitted Monday night for acceptance by the trustees,” he said. “The architects have worked closely with people from the health department to design a hospital that will meet with all state and federal specifications and we expect approval in a minimum of time.”
Barton told the trustees that he thought the hospital job would attract bids from a number of the Inland Empire's largest contractors, and said that the architectural firm has already had a number of inquiries.
Copies of the plans shown Monday night are being made and will be shown around the county to interested groups by directors of the hospital association if requested.
Pledges are still coming in “as promised,” Scheideman said, but cautioned hospital supporters that at least $30,000 additional is needed to complete the project. “We're going to have to raise more money, and I hope people won't lose sight of that fact.”
25 years ago
Colfax Gazette
Feb. 21, 1991
Leroy and Paul Cocking, members of the Colfax Codger Bowl who are among the area's snowbird residents in Mesa, Ariz., have been recruited to haul a four-ton log north for the Codger Pole project, according to John Crawford of Studio City, Calif. He said the Cockings plan to pick up the 18-foot log, a Ponderosa Pine, at Mountain Center, Calif., and bring it north to the Codger pole site on Rock Street this spring.
The log, which has a four-foot diameter, was located by Jonathan A. LaBenne, wood sculptor who will arrive here in May to work on the Codger pole. The log will be carved to resemble the Codger replica and will be placed atop the cluster of Cedar poles that have been planted on Rock Street.
10 years ago
Whitman County Gazette
Feb. 23, 2006
Soon, shopping in Pullman will be a walk in the park. The city is nearing completion of its “Riverwalk,” a downtown pedestrian park and a pair of bridges that will connect to the city's existing pathways.
The project began last summer, and Dale Rogers, lead engineer, said it should wrap up in the next month or two, depending on the weather.
“We have some brick pavers that still need to be laid, and there is some landscape work to be done, but it's coming along,” said Rogers, adding donor plaques will be installed along the path.
The project shut down Pine Street between Ken Vogel clothing and Taco Del Mar for months as decorative bricks were laid, creating a downtown plaza.
Bricks were also laid on the trail near Pufferbelly Depot on Grand Avenue. Between the two sites, 800 square feet of ground was covered by the decorative pavers.
Also, two bridges have been built to span the South Fork of the Palouse River; one at the Pine Street Mall, and the other crossing the river to the east, near Taco Time.
The bridges will provide access from downtown to the city's walkway that extends north along the Missouri Flat Creek.
Rogers said the cost of the Riverwalk came in at just over a million dollars, including $350,000 from the State's interagency committee on outdoor recreation. The remaining funding was paid for with private donations, eliminating any need to tap the city's coffers.
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