Good Old Days April 14

125 years ago

The Commoner

April 10, 1891

Pursuant to call of the chairman, a meeting of the county committee on agricultural college location was held in Colfax Tuesday, the following members being present: Harry Cornwell, Colfax; William Goodyear, Palouse City; Green Holbrook, Garfield; A. T. Fariss, Pullman; D. F. Anderson, Rosalia; Lillis F. Smith, Endicott; D. M. Holt, Wawawai; Henry Esser, Uniontown; T. J. Smith, Penewawa, and J. H. Leiter, secretary.

The routine business being disposed of, Mr. Goodyear moved that the chair appoint a committee of three on finance to raise a county fund of $300. The motion prevailed, and the chair named as such committee Messrs. Goodyear, Fariss and Anderson.

On motion of Mr. Smith, a committee consisting of A. T. Fariss, Senator McCroskey and Harry Cornwell, with Lillis F. Smith, chairman of the board of county commissioners, as chairman, was appointed to meet the college commissioners at Spokane and conduct them through the county.

The following resolution was presented and adopted by unanimous vote:

Resolved, That we, the members of the county committee appointed to manage the campaign to secure the agricultural college of Whitman County, do pledge ourselves to work primarily for the interests of the whole county, and to make all local contests of secondary importance, adopting the motto of “Whitman first, last and all the time.”

The committee then adjourned to the call of the chair.

The same degree of enthusiasm apparent at former general meetings was displayed at this meeting of the committee, and if well directed effort will avail anything, Whitman County is not far from the lead in the race.

100 years ago

The Colfax Commoner

April 14, 1916

Wednesday night, one of the best pubic school exhibits that has ever been arranged in this county, was closed to the public and the judges have been busy Thursday in checking up the exhibits and awarding the prizes. More than four hundred dollars which has been subscribed by the business men of this city will be distributed as prize money to the many students who have aided in the working of bringing to this city one of the best school exhibits that has ever been shown in this state.

The big armory was too small to hold all the exhibits that were shown and the manual exhibits of the high schools were crowded together in the center aisle of the building.

The big room looked like a county fair. There were cans of jelly, bread and cakes from the domestic science departments of the schools as well as all kinds of frocks and dresses which had been made by the girls of the grade and high schools. These exhibits attracted the attention of the lady visitors while the men who visited the armory spent the most of their time inspecting the chairs, tables and furniture in the manual training department. The exhibit was larger than most of the exhibits found at the county fair and it was a complete surprise to the many visitors and especially to the committee who had this work in charge.

To Rosalia went the honor of carrying away the fifty dollar prize given for the best exhibit in the manual training department. The work submitted by this school, in construction and finish, was the equal of the highest class of furniture turned out by the best manufacturing company. Colfax secured the second prize of fifteen dollars with an exhibit twice as large as that submitted by the Rosalia school, but the work and finish of the articles turned out by the local school did not measure up with that of the Rosalia students.

To the Lone Pine school, district number 60, went the ten dollar prize that was offered for the best manual training exhibit from rural schools.

75 years ago

Colfax Gazette Commoner

April 11, 1941

At the time the county is repairing the Almota road where it crosses Rebel flat, an effort will be made to grade and gravel the road that connects that road with the Pullman paved highway at the Prune Orchard, the commissioners Monday told a large farmer delegation headed by J. C. Upshaw. The improvement will more than likely be made this year, Commissioner Ben H. Huntley said.

Completed improvement of a road connecting the George Auvil and Seltice roads was asked by a delegation headed by Mayor Galbreath of Farmington.

A delegation of about 20 from the Ewan community, headed by Mrs. W. R. Armstrong, asked that two miles of the road from the Dewey schoolhouse east be rocked. The commissioners were to inspect the road Thursday this week.

To be looked over in the near future is the 1.5-mile extension of the George Rae road, the improvement of which was asked by a delegation of five headed by Earl Whitmer, Elberton.

On more than one occasion during the commissioners' sessions Monday their room in the courthouse was filled to capacity.

The commissioners will open bids April 19 on a diesel powered motor grader, on which an obsolete grader must be considered on a trade-in.

50 years ago

Colfax Gazette

April 14, 1966

The future of ambulance service for Colfax – and most other Whitman County communities with the exception of Pullman and its satellites – appears more uncertain than ever this week following these developments.

Colfax firemen, at a general membership meeting Tuesday night, voted again to stick by their original threat to discontinue operation of the ambulance service June 1 unless $13,000 in donations has been amassed to buy a new ambulance.

A two-man Chamber of Commerce committee – Joe Henderson and John Ellis – said several suggestions they have made to firemen have apparently been rejected, and they have been unable to find any public or private group that will take on the responsibility.

Donations from both Colfax and surrounding communities have slowed to a trickle largely because no organization has been willing to carry the ball in a fund drive for the new ambulance. Fire Chief Don Maier told the Gazette Tuesday that the ambulance fund now has $5,200 and 70,000 food coupons worth approximately $350.

Firemen have repeatedly declined to solicit funds for a new ambulance, maintaining that the individual sacrifices of members in handling ambulance calls at all times of day and night and on holidays should be all that is asked of them.

During the past week, two or more volunteers were on the job most of the afternoon of Easter Sunday handling several emergency calls, and others were called out after midnight Monday to pick up two youths who were injured as the aftermath of a high speed auto crash east of Palouse.

“Serving as a volunteer fireman doesn't require near the time or the sacrifice that answering the ambulance calls takes,” one fire department spokesman said. “For instance, these men who had to take care of the calls on Easter Sunday missed their Easter dinners and had to be away from their families about half of the day; and it's no fun to be called out of bed after midnight to spend the next two or three hours handling an emergency call – and then have to get to work on time the next morning.”

Fire Chief Maier and Harold Herman, a volunteer, said the majority of the volunteers made it clear both in discussion and by their vote Tuesday night that they are not interested in continuing operation of the ambulance service unless the community will provide a new vehicle with “no strings attached.”

“No one can predict with any accuracy how many ambulance calls the fire department would be called upon to answer within a year's time, so we could hardly tie ourselves down to any kind of an agreement to lay aside a certain amount of money every year,” the two men said. “The volunteers are willing to continue making the sacrifice of time from their jobs and families if the fire department is to have complete control of the ambulance service; otherwise, the firemen would just as soon let someone else have the responsibility.”

The fire department heads pointed out again that ambulance drivers and crews do not receive a cent from the funds collected for the ambulance service. Volunteer firemen do receive a small remuneration from tax funds of the City of Colfax on a point basis determined by the number of fire calls and ambulance calls made during the year – and by the amount of money appropriated by the city council – but none of this money comes from the pockets of those who pay for use of the ambulance or from donors to the ambulance fund.

25 years ago

Colfax Gazette

April 11, 1991

The county has received $12,000 for preliminary engineering on the Rye Bridge, according to county engineer Brandon Cole.

Preliminary engineering is the first of three phases in road and bridge construction. When money is received for the first phase, money for the other two phases almost always follows, Cole said.

Two 12-foot culverts are needed to replace the bridge up to the capacity for a 100 year flood standard required to receive federal funding. The county hopes to start the project in June.

The Green Hollow Road can't be listed as a “major collector” because the county used up its 317 miles of major collectors with the Dry Creek Road, according to public works director Lon Pederson.

Green Hollow residents asked the commissioners last month about getting the road listed as a major collector so it could get funding for a reconstruction project similar to Dry Creek.

A road listed as a major collector is eligible for federal funding of up to 83 percent in addition to state funding. Only a certain percentage of roads in the county may be listed as major collectors, based upon a state formula.

Pederson also reported that barricades and flashing lights posted on the ailing Rye Bridge have been stolen.

The public should be aware that the warning devices may not be there, particularly at night, due to the vandalism, he said.

Two barricades and three lights, worth $60 each, were stolen last week. Seven barricades and nine lights have disappeared since the bridge was damaged by high water in early March.

The bridge opened in mid-March to one-way traffic with a weight restriction of 20,000 pounds at five miles an hour.

10 years ago

Whitman County Gazette

April 13, 2006

With the possible arrival of an oilseed crushing plant at Wilma, local farmers are looking into the prospects of farming canola in the area's fertile soil.

Wi Biofuels of Arizona announced in January the company will build a biodiesel plant at the Whitman County port on the Snake River.

Since then, Bruce Nave, principal of the firm, has been shopping contracts around the area for farmers to grow canola at a rate of 15 cents per pound for the first 1,000 pounds per acre yielded and 10 cents per pound thereafter, with possible fuel credits.

Oakesdale farmer Gail Parsons is one of those to take Nave up on his offer.

Parsons is planning on planting 45 acres of spring canola this year for Nave and said his contract calls for his yield to come in at around 1,800 to 2,000 pounds per acre.

“I felt that somebody needed to try it in our area,” said Parsons. “And if I can get in on the ground floor of this, that would be great.”

The influx of a new market has excited other farmers in the area, according to Alan Yirak with Cooperative Agricultural Producers in Rosalia.

“There's a lot of curious farmers,” he said. “If this all takes place, there will be even more incentive for the farmers to look into it.”

Yirak said most of the farmers who have contacted Co-Ag about planting oilseed are looking at small test plots of 20 to 80 acres.

Co-Ag is part of Palouse Bio, a consortium of seed companies from the area, including Whitman County Growers, Uniontown Co-Op, Genessee Union and Palouse Grain Growers.

“A lot of them are also waiting to see what it will do to their machinery,” said Yirak.

Parsons wasn't too concerned about that, though.

“I planted some rapeseed a few years ago, and I didn't have any problems with my equipment,” he said.

Dave Moore of McGregor's Craigmont office said there are a number of seed varieties that should work well as a rotation crop.

“It can be very beneficial, as far as creating four or five year rotation cycles,” explained Moore. He said that adding canola into a rotation of wheat, barley, peas and lentils could help control diseases and increase soil fertility.

A study in the late '90s done for the University of Idaho by Jack Brown stated that the increased soil fertility was because of the long tap root of rapeseed plants.

Brown's study found that rapeseed plants emit glucosinolates, toxic sulfurs that increase the soil's ability to ward off insects, fungi and nematodes.

Another U of I study planted different varieties of canola and mustard crops in several areas of the Palouse to see which seed would fare best. Interstate's Hyola 357 returned the highest overall yield in the study for 2005, returning 1,969 pounds per acre. The study also used 16 other seed types from five other manufacturers.

Moore said Hyola's seeds will need less attention than other varieties, because they have been bred to be “Roundup-ready.”

He said although rapeseed plants generally need more moisture than cereal grains, they could still succeed in areas that receive less rain.

“If successfully implemented, it will give growers in your area another option,” he suggested.