Good Old Days Jan. 26

125 years ago

The Commoner

Jan. 22, 1892

Fires have been more frequent since the outset of the year than ever before in the history of the town. First the steam laundry went up in smoke; then the old city hall was consumed and on Tuesday morning last the Colfax brewery was burned, with plant and stock. The brewery was a single-story frame structure, owned by Alfred Coolidge, at the corner of Main and Brewery streets, and the building was valued at $2,000. The plant was owned by M. E. Bogardus & Co., and was worth from $1,000 to $1,500.

At about 4 o’clock Tuesday morning, flames were discovered issuing from the building by Nightwatchman Carter, and the fire department responded to the alarm in good order. The blaze had obtained such headway that the firemen found it advisable to use all their efforts to protect the adjacent structures. The brewery was destroyed in a short time. The building was insured for $1,400, and the stock and fixtures for $657. Mr. Coolidge is considering a bid of $1,435 to replace the burned portion of the brewery building. The fire is supposed to have caught from a stove in the brewery office.

***

In the event of the outbreak of a fire at a distance somewhat remote from the city hall it has become a custom to fire pistol shots in rapid succession to alarm the town marshal or his deputies and bring a response from the city hall bell.

A new mode of communication is imperative.

At the fire of last week Wednesday night, the volley of shots prostrated a lady with fright at the Collins Hotel and by the pistol alarm of Tuesday night from the courthouse vicinity, and from the very center of the city as well, many people were frightened, and in once case, at least, where the shots were fired alongside a sick lady’s window, the gravest consequences of the shock are feared.

The system is not only dangerous, it is barbarous.

Methods should be used for the suppression of the practice.

There is an ordinance on the city’s books making it a penalty to discharge firearms within the limits of the city.

Let it be enforced to the letter.

100 years ago

The Colfax Commoner

Jan. 26, 1917

It was stated on the street this week that a company of local men would be organized to take over an option on a piece of property which was held on Wall street. As soon as this property is secured, it is claimed that a petition will be circulated to locate the new government building on this property which lies almost in the center of the city.

Opposition has developed against locating the post office on the Liddle property which many claim is outside the business district. People living in the northern part of town state that they favor the Mill street property for the simple reason that it would mean that the building would be located more in the center of town.

The people who favor the Liddle location claim that the Mill street property is not worth the price which the government is required to pay for this property, and they also state that the building should not be placed off on some side street.

Spokane attorneys have been employed to secure the consent of the government agent to reconsider their decision and to approve of the Mill street location. It is claimed that the city council has been polled and that a majority of the members will oppose the closing of a portion of the alley back of the Liddle property which must be closed if the government accepts the site.

The people in favor of the Mill street property have been active for some time in securing facts for their side of the case which will be presented to the government. Those who favor the Liddle location are also working quietly with their congressional representative and maintain that the decision of the government in regard to the location has already been made.

***

The annual report of Director I. D. Cardiff, of the experiment station, shows 47 experimental projects under investigation, including such as the development of new varieties of wheat, the acclimatizing of varieties of corn to different Washington conditions, investigations looking to the control of wheat smut and separator explosions due to smut, fruit byproduct investigations, control of various insect pests of farm, garden and orchard, the extermination of rodent pests, control of weeds, seed examination, and so on, including a wide range of agricultural problems applicable to Washington conditions.

In the past year, nearly 44,000 pounds of improved seeds of different kinds have been distributed, 6,700 trees have been distributed, 630 newspapers and journals have been supplied with printable data, ten technical, 11 popular and 31 newspaper bulletins have been issued. Nearly 6,000,000 printed pages of information have been distributed and over 20,000 personal letters to inquirers have been written by members of the college and experiment staff.

***

A machine for the extermination of ground squirrels and other underground pests has been patented by Professor W. T. Shaw of the zoology department, and Professor I. D. Charlton of the department of agriculture engineering department of the Washington State College.

The machine discharges carbon disulphide fumes into the burrow of the animal, the operator merely turning a crank.

75 years ago

Colfax Gazette Commoner

Jan. 23, 1942

Another “ghost” town disappeared from the map of Whitman County Monday when the commissioners ordered the vacation of the platted site of Pampa, four miles west of Lacrosse. Petitioning for the vacation, which included nine blocks and six streets, were the trustees of the Ai Camp estate, who said that nearly all of the improvements on the site had been destroyed and roadways abandoned.

Pampa was laid out by D. S. Bowman, who owned the townsite, in April, 1889, according to the survey of F. P. Mesick. Bowman’s declaration of townsite, filed with the auditor, and now recorded in the county engineer’s office, was witnessed by T. H. Logsdon, father of Ted Logsdon, present county clerk, and a pioneer storekeeper of Pampa.

Oscar Camp, one of the trustees, states that at one time Pampa boasted at least six private dwellings, a general store, blacksmith shop, church and school. The town was an early trading post on the Connell (Palouse Junction) Hooper-Farmington branch of the Union Pacific before the town of Lacrosse came into existence. It failed to develop further after the building of the Lacrosse-Riparia line.

Other “ghost” towns which are believed to have been vacated all or in part within recent years include Rock Lake, Kenova near Pine City; Plainville on Rebel flat; Aurora and Seltice, near Farmington; Chambers, near Pullman, and Revere, near Rock Lake.

***

Asserting that the spiritual defense of the country rests in the churches, the Colfax Ministerial association, meeting Monday at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Lew Brown, protested Sunday drilling by Whitman county’s home guard unit of the state militia, at that time in the process of organization.

Prospective guardsmen assembled in Pullman last Sunday morning from 9 to 11 o’clock, and are scheduled to gather each Sunday hereafter from 10 o’clock to noon.

The resolution adopted by the war ministers was broadly worded, urging officials and the general public to recognize the Christian church as the spiritual defense of the county and that it be given its proper place in the defense program.

The resolution asked that other matters, “whether of defense or otherwise, be so arranged as not to interfere with the worship and spiritual life of the nation as represented by the Christian churches, so that this important part of our national life may take, unhindered, its proper place in the general plan or the building of a better world.”

In an interview following the meeting, the Rev. Mr. Brown expressed the personal opinion that the United States would not gain a single airplane by operating industrial defense plants seven days of the week – a mistake that would slow up rather than speed the defense program. The seven-day week, he believed, would break down the moral standards of the nation and leave its people lacking in spirituality as an aftermath of the war.

He distinguished between the civilian who puts in his Sunday at defense work and those of the armed forces who are rightfully expected to wage aggressive or defensive warfare on the Sabbath as the circumstances require.

50 years ago

Colfax Gazette

Jan. 26, 1967

Nearly $60 million for Lower Granite and Little Goose dams on the Snake river along Whitman county’s southern border is requested in the budget sent to Congress Tuesday by President Johnson.

The requests, which are all for programs of the army engineers, include $44 million for Little Goose, three miles upstream from Riparia, which is already partially completed. First concrete for this structure, which will create a lake stretching to a point above Almota, was poured in the spring of 1966.

Expenditure of $13,315,000 on Lower Granite dam, three miles upstream from Almota, is also requested in the 1968 budget. The railroad alongside the Snake river was relocated and a coffer dam completed last year in a $7-million contract on Lower Granite. The river has been diverted to a new channel at the damsite and the only element needed to go ahead with construction of the big project is “money.”

Just when construction could start will depend on whether or not Congress approves these items in the president’s budget. More detailed information is expected in Whitman County next Monday night when Col. Frank D. McElwee of the army engineers speaks at a meeting at the fairgrounds.

***

New support for the Steptoe Canyon route from the Pullman-Colton area to the twin cities on the Snake river came from two new sources this week and Manager Neal Klemgard of the Port of Whitman left yesterday for Olympia to plead the route’s case before members of the legislature.

The Whitman County planning commission went on record at its last meeting urging a feasibility study of the route and the Pullman Chamber of Commerce this week went on record favoring the study which is being sought from the lawmakers.

The Pullman group passed a resolution and sent copies to Rep. Vaughn Hubbard of Waitsburg, who represents Asotin, Garfield and Columbia and part of Walla Walla counties, and to Rep. Robert Goldsworthy of Whitman County.

***

Warren Taufen became sole owner of Texaco distributorship for the Colfax area Jan. 1 when he acquired the half interest of his partner, G. E. Penrod, he announced this week.

Taufen and Penrod have been partners since July 1962. Penrod acquired the distributorship in 1960 from Gordon Ebbert and Taufen was distributor for Tidewater for six years before joining Penrod.

25 years ago

Colfax Gazette

Jan. 23, 1992

The state will trade Steptoe Canyon Road to the county April 2 for a route to the Snake River from Pullman to Almota, according to public works director Lon Pedersen.

The swap is part of the result of the state’s road jurisdiction study.

One of the key elements in the change will be the transfer of the Almota grade road to the state. The road, which sustains heavy truck traffic for the river terminal, requires a maintenance level which has proven to be beyond the county’s ability level, Pedersen noted.

The route which the state will take over covers 20.15 miles from Pullman to the Snake River, downstream to Boyer Park.

It begins at the intersection of Highway 195 and Wawawai-Pullman Road. Then it follows Wawawai-Pullman Road down to Wilbur Gulch Road (county road numbers 8440 and 8420), then to Goose Creek Road. The route includes five bridges.

The county will own the roads along the route and the state will help maintain them, Pedersen explained.

The state route will end at Almota, and the county will still own the road which continues upriver past Boyer Marina to Lower Granite Dam. Pedersen said the county will probably work out a maintenance agreement with the state on the four-mile segment of river road because it will now become an isolated segment from the rest of the county system.

***

The county has tentatively received a full Farmers Home Administration grant of up to $75,000 to fix the Ewan water system, public works director Lon Pedersen told the county commissioners Tuesday.

An FHA spokesman said the money “has been set aside for Whitman County,” Pedersen related.

The Ewan water system’s reservoir was knocked out in an Oct. 17 windstorm.

The FHA will issue precise guidelines on how the system is to be repaired, according to county engineer Brandon Cole.

Some of those guidelines may be a little extensive for size of the system, but it is a full grant, not a loan, noted commissioner Maggie McGreevy of Pullman.

The county must develop bid specifications and publish bid notices for the project, Cole noted.

The county also has applied for a 75 percent grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency which would be irrelevant if the FHA grant is approved.

Just in case, the commissioners last month approved spending up to $40,000 to fix the system, with the FEMA grant and Ewan residents reimbursing the money. The FHA grant would make that money unnecessary.

The Ewan water system is owned by resident Dave Johnstone, who inherited it when he bought his house and land.

Town residents have water for basic needs from Muriel Albertson’s well but water pressure and volume are minimal. The water capacity is not enough for fire fighting.

The system is connected to 14 services serving 21 people. A couple of people decided to drill their own wells after options were explained, according to one Ewan resident.

10 years ago

Whitman County Gazette

Jan. 25, 2007

The fate of a direct Colfax-Pullman rail link looks to be dead as the price for replacing the trestle that burned in last summer’s fire escalates.

“Drive-by estimates were in the $1.2 to $1.5 million dollar range,” said State Rep. David Buri. “But actual costs turned out to be upwards of $4 or $5 million.”

For now, WATCO, the company operating the line, is storing approximately four miles of flat cars on the line for the Union Pacific. Since the status of the line is up in the air, WATCO officials said the flat cars would remain until the UP wants them back.

“We haven’t heard anything from the state as to what’s going to happen there, so we’re kind of in a holding pattern,” said an official from WATCO’s Lewiston office.

That would leave rebuilding of a link between Thornton and Oakesdale as the most likely scenario for shortening service to Pullman.

“With the cost of that trestle being what it is, it makes the Oakesdale line that much more attractive,” said Buri.

Others have pointed out replacing the trestle would be a band-aid on the line.

“There’s 14 more of those trestles just waiting to go on that line,” said Cooperative Agriculture Producers Inc. General Manager Mike Conklin.

“Rebuilding that would reconnect, but how long before the others go?” asked Conklin.

The trestles on the Colfax-Pullman link are required because the railroad runs along the S. Fork of the Palouse River through Parvin, Shawnee and Albion.

The Thornton-Oakesdale link would follow the former UP branch which looped across the north part of Whitman County to Tekoa and points north.

Instead of going through Colfax, shipments to Pullman from the UP connection at Hooper would go north at Winona through Lancaster and St. John to Thornton and then Oakesdale.

***

Palouse Mayor Michael Echanove is putting together a proposal to obtain grant funds for the purchase of the small trailer park on Almota in Palouse. The aim would be to convert the property into a green area which adjoins the Lions Park along the North Fork of the Palouse River.

The Lions Park is located on the opposite side of the river from the Palouse city park.

The Highway 27 entrance into Palouse from the south becomes Almota Street and the trailer park is located just before the highway turns north and crosses the river.

“It’s really a fun little project,” said Echanove.

The proposal would use funds from Department of Ecology’s Flood Control Assistance Account Program (FCAAP).

Echanove said he is still in the process of writing the proposal to develop a complete package. He’s looking at getting funding from the DOE that would cover the cost of purchasing the park property and relocating current residents in the trailer park.

The people currently living there would receive the fair market value for their homes and be helped with relocation costs.

The object would be to make the trailer park into a green area where people could sit at picnic tables and watch the river.

The property could become an extension of the Shady Lane trail.

A survey from the late ‘90s showed the overwhelming population felt that extending green area was a good use of public energy and funds. Echanove wants to capitalize on the city’s natural aesthetics.

“The river is truly an asset,” he said. “Most folks are very supportive of exploring the option. We have to work long term in Palouse and work on projects that will help in the long term.”