Good Old Days Jan. 5

125 years ago

The Commoner

Jan. 1, 1892

The Agricultural College and School and Science will be opened on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 1892. A thorough course of preparation for the college will be given in the following branches: English Grammar, Arithmetic, Algebra, Physiology, Orthography, Penmanship, United States History, Elocution, Physical Geography and Book-keeping. Students will be received and classified in the college classes and instruction given to them.

Tuition is free in all the departments in the college.

Any person 14 years of age, and who understand Arithmetic through fractions, who can read and write with facility, spell well, and who is reasonably well-grounded in the geography of the United States, can enter the school.

Board and room in private families at reasonable rates can be had. Those desiring to attend the school should make application at once.

***

Freight No. 42 from Starbuck to Tekoa had a very bad smash-up on its arrival in this city yesterday morning.

The train, which was in charge of Conductor Harry Luckey and Engineer Hill, was on time, arriving at 7 o'clock in the morning.

It consisted of engine No. 1207, nine box cars and a caboose.

As is usual, the switch was set so as to send the train on the main line to Farmington.

This is always done as a precaution, because the train to Moscow is often making up at that time and is usually on the main line past the depot, about ready to leave.

The switch was set as usual apparently, and the engine and tender started on the main line.

But when the tender passed the switch, for some unaccountable reason the switch was thrown, being broken in the operation, and sending the cars along on the line to the depot.

The train, although under control, was very heavy, and was besides on a down grade at the place of the accident.

As the engine proceeded on one track with the train on the other, the tender was pulled off the track and also the first car of the train.

As the divergence grew greater, the strain became great enough to break the coupling between the tender and the first car.

The weight of the train pulled the engine from the rails and pushed it out of its way across the track and into the ditch on the other side smashing the tender to splinters in the meantime.

The engine was disabled in so far as to require that it be sent to the shops for repair, and laid square across the main track, effectually blocking the same.

Between the switch and the place where the engine was ditched 200 feet beyond, the track was torn to pieces and the ground ploughed up.

The train moved on a couple of hundred feet further, the first car the while bumping over the ties.

This car was badly mashed up.

100 years ago

The Colfax Commoner

Jan. 5, 1917

A bill which was presented by O. H. Stratton for sixty-five dollars for bridge plans was ordered laid on the table. The members of the council stated that this was not a bill which could properly be paid by the city and for this reason the bill was refused.

Mayor Rogers stated that if the city ever sought to use the Main street bridge plans, it would be right for the city to pay the balance on the engineer's plans.

Mr. Stratton aided by the county engineer was employed by a committee of the commercial club to draw up a set of bridge plans for the purpose of determining the cost of a concrete bridge over the Palouse river opposite the court house.

The plans cost $170 and through the efforts of the committee, seventy dollars of this amount was paid by the county commissioners and the city was asked to pay the balance.

“Doc” Ratliff told the members of the council that one of the commissioners told him that the seventy dollars would not have been paid by the county had the commissioner known what the bill was for.

75 years ago

Colfax Gazette Commoner

Jan. 2, 1942

Declaring the existence of a national emergency, the commissioners in special session Monday enacted into county law all state and federal regulations governing the extinguishment or showing of lights during periods of emergency, and ordering all residents to comply.

General instructions, which are covered in the resolution by which the commissioners enacted the law, came from the office of the governor at Olympia, and are as follows:

Headlights, tail lights and stop lights shall be covered by a dark oil cloth or rubber mask or hood securely attached. A horizontal slit one-half inch by three inches in the lower portion of the headlight lenses covered inside with blue cellophane will be used.

During blackouts clearance lights will not be used.

Light regulations effective only during blackouts of air raids and under all other conditions the legal lights required by law shall be used. Under no circumstances will blue or colored lights be used under normal driving conditions.

Police and fire equipment and ambulances may use legal lights during a blackout for emergency runs only. Under all other conditions they will proceed with a minimum amount of light.

Emergency vehicles will not use sirens in any manner to conflict with air raid warning signals.

During an air raid all vehicles shall stop clear of the traveled portion of the street or highway and shall remain stopped until the all clear signal is given.

If the blackout extends over a period of several hours only emergency traffic essential to national defense will be allowed to move on the streets and highways such as defense materials, supplies, food-stuffs, mail, inter-city busses, and defense workers. These vehicles shall be equipped with the recommended lights for blackouts.

Emergency traffic shall be kept to a minimum.

***

Unnaturalized Germans and Italians and Japanese nationals are required to deposit at the county sheriff's office all cameras, radio transmitting sets and radio sets built to receive broadcasts on any frequencies other than standard frequencies ranging from 540 to 1750 kilocycles, regarded as short wave sets. Cameras used in portrait work need not be deposited but possession should be reported.

These were the instructions received by Sheriff Carson Walker Monday afternoon from the office of the United States attorney through the Spokane office of the United States district attorney.

It is desirable, if not imperative, that there be neither cameras nor radio transmitting sets nor short wave receiving sets in households in which alien enemies reside, regardless of the fact that the legal title to such articles may rest in American born citizens.

50 years ago

Colfax Gazette

Jan. 5, 1967

Bids for construction of a pre-stressed concrete bridge across the Palouse river at Winona will be opened Monday by the county commissioners. The two-lane bridge will replace the present steel bridge and provide the last new link in the county road system which provides a paved highway from Colfax through to Ritzville and the central state area.

According to John McInerny, county engineer, the new bridge cost has been estimated at $103,000.

The two-lane structure will be approximately 250 feet long and 26 feet wide for the two lanes. Two piers will be built in the river bed to support the three links of the bridge.

A 100-foot span will link the two piers in the center and two 77-foot spans will run from each bank to the center span, McInerny explained. Each of the three sections will be made up of seven beams placed side-by-side.

The bridge was designed to allow the contractor to complete construction 65 days after the present bridge is removed, McInerny said. While the present bridge is out of action, area residents will have to use the Kackman bridge which is located about five miles north.

McInerny said a temporary span might be built over the Palouse at Winona during the construction period if water conditions are favorable.

The present three span bridge of steel was built in 1910. Two 42-foot steel sections of the old bridge are for sale, McInerny commented.

25 years ago

Colfax Gazette

Jan. 2, 1992

The county has received a $40,616 state grant to upgrade Wawawai Park, parks director Mike Werner told the county commissioners last week.

“It is a well-designed project which will significantly improve public access to our aquatic lands,” said commissioner of public lands Brian Boyle in a letter announcing the award.

The project ranked fourth out of 53 statewide. Only $1,122,875 of the requested $2,598,200 was awarded.

The county will use $1,500-$1,800 from the dedicated Paths and Trails Fund and the rest of the county's share will be “in kind contributions and donations,” Werner emphasized. Tommer Construction has donated 60 yards of gravel.

The goal is to use as little from the Paths and Trails Fund as possible, he said. No money will come from the county's current expense fund.

The project will upgrade the facilities to reduce maintenance costs, Werner explained.

The project includes 15 interpretative signs, and information sign, two trail head signs, and planning, according to Tim Myers, operations coordinator.

It also includes 1,000 feet of paved handicapped interpretive trail, two acres of irrigation, a viewing platform, 100 feet of canoe/sailboard access and clearing, Myers said.

***

A move by the Environmental Protection Agency to back off on part of its new rules for fuel tanks has left some former Colfax service station operators shaking their heads. The move, which allowed a two-year extension on liability insurance coverage, generated responses in the “thanks a lot Harry” genre.

At the end of last year, two long-time Colfax service stations went out of business. Fuel pumps were shut down, tanks were exhumed, and the service stations converted to maintenance and repair shops.

“You could say it definitely had an impact,” said Clyde Boyle of Colfax, one of the former fuel vendors who had to change his operation.

Insurance was required of service station operators in the event their storage tanks leaked. The requirement was part of new regulations which also require operators to have tanks tested and monitored for leaks. Deadline for other parts of the regulations were last December.

The Dec. 24 announcement by the EPA came two months after the actual Oct. 26 deadline for owners to meet financial responsibility requirements which usually means insurance coverage. The announcement was made by Joan Cabreza at Seattle, who was in charge of enforcing the EPA tank program here.

“It shows you how people get frustrated with regulatory agencies,” commented Larry Bailey of Pullman, a WSU staff member who offers a consulting service which checks out former tank sites for contamination. So far he has checked out about 40 sites, all locations where fuel tanks were removed because of the EPA regulations.

Boyle's shop in Colfax is located at the former site of Bill's service, a full service station which was operated by Bill Durham.

10 years ago

Whitman County Gazette

Jan. 4, 2007

With the drop in temperature, everyone is seeking warmer spots to hang out – including bugs. These unwanted guests come in wherever there's a crack big enough for them.

“It's just like trying to keep out water,” said Ken Hathaway, extension program coordinator. He suggested caulking to keep them out. Door jams, baseboards, under the sink where the pipes come in – insects can come in anywhere.

One of the new bugs to move into the Palouse is the weed seed bug or lygaeid bug. They were first reported in Washington state by a woman living in Orting in 2001.

Hathaway's first encounter with them came from a home in Pine City three or four years ago. In the past few months, he's received word from a woman in Palouse who said her home was infested. Then came reports from Pullman and Colfax.

With the weed seed bugs moving where it's warm, more and more people are noticing them and asking questions.

The weed seed bug is described as being a small dark bug with brown or gray markings on the back. They are often speedy runners, capable of flying, and many times are mistaken for small beetles.

Fortunately, they have no odor and don't leave traces like box elder bugs – a species they resemble. A major difference is these bugs eat weed seeds. Any weed seed, although Hathaway guesses mostly pastoral weeds.

Hathaway said once it warms up, the bugs will move back outside. But no one wants little black bug bodies in their home.

Hathaway offers the most economical means of getting rid of them.

“Suck them up with a vacuum cleaner.”

Bug bombing and pesticides will work, but the bugs can always move outside until the fumes pass, and they'll be back.

As part of the Master Gardener program, Hathaway only offers solutions that can be applied with pets and children around, so the vacuum is the weed seed bug fighter's best friend.

It's not likely that this newest species pest is going away.

According to Hathaway, the bug population is just going to keep growing unless the area experiences a stretch of below-zero temperatures during the winter to kill them off.

Their natural predators are the same as most bugs: birds, spiders and other insects.

“Go down, get a pet spider, and turn 'em loose,” joked Hathaway, who kills all spiders he sees on sight without remorse.