Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
125 years ago
The Commoner
Sept. 2, 1892
It is understood in railroad circles that the Union Pacific has notified the Northern Pacific company that they will hereafter charge $1.50 per ton for switching car-load shipments of wheat arriving at Portland over the Northern Pacific to warehouses and docks located on the Union Pacific's tracks at Albina, says the Walla Walla Union-Journal.
This is doubtless done in order to prevent the Northern Pacific handling shipments of this kind, destined to Albina, via their lines, thereby giving the Union Pacific a monopoly of the business.
However, the Northern Pacific have headed them off, as the principal Portland exporters, such as J. R. Cameron & Co., (formerly C. Caesar & Co.), Balfour, Guthrie & Co., and others, have notified their buyers here that they will take care of all business received by them via the Northern Pacific on the proper side of the river, thereby doing away with the necessity for any switching to Albina.
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If there is any one thing of which broad Whitman County, with its many and wonderful resources and capacity for production of the plump grains of the field and luscious fruits of the orchard and tangled berry bushes, can be proud, that thing is the fruit display gathered for the world's fair by the industrious superintendent and his helpers.
In a room of the Fraternity block, in the rear of Harry Cornwell's office, subject to the inspection of the people, there was gathered Wednesday a display of various fruits grown in Whitman which will astonish the sight-seers at the great exposition––astonish them whether they come from the non-productive regions of the world or from the most famous fruit belts.
The display is an excellent one. It is one which the Commoner wishes every citizen of our great county could view before shipment.
Could they see with their own eyes the magnificent fruits which have been grown upon every side of them the value of the county would be even more firmly impressed upon them than it now is. Such an inspection would certainly lead to a greater cultivation of fruits, because all would be convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that one of the greatest fruit districts in the world lies within the boundary lines of Whitman County.
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Work has begun on the Hotel Colfax. Teams and men began yesterday morning grading the site. Construction will be actively pushed in order to complete the large building before bad weather comes.
The street between the hotel and the old Gazette building is to be filled to a level with Main Street.
100 years ago
The Colfax Commoner
Sept. 14, 1917
The city water superintendent acting under the instructions of the city council will turn off the water supply at all places where the rent is not paid for by Saturday evening. This is the instructions that he received from the city council at their last meeting.
Many of the citizens who have grown accustomed to paying their water rent during the month need express no surprise if they find that the city water supply has been turned off before the breakfast hour on Monday morning.
The city has decided that the water rent bills must be paid not later than the tenth of each month but to avoid being arbitrary in the matter, the council has decided that this service must not be cut off until after the 15th. Beginning with September this order is to be enforced to the letter and the city treasurer is instructed to furnish the water superintendent with a list of the names of all parties that have not complied with this order. The city water superintendent is working under a salary and has nothing to do in the way of waiving these instructions. His duty is to turn off the water, which he says will be done.
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The convention of county engineers and county commissioners which was held at Spokane went on record in favor of the county commissioners employing the engineers and the resolution recommended that this official be employed on merit and merit alone.
Thousands of miles of worthless roads in this state bear witness to the result secured by electing men to county positions whose chief merit for the position of county engineer was the merit of his popularity of being a good fellow. Politics and not ability have been the main highway over which the county engineers have secured office in this state.
Professor L. V. Edwards of Pullman discussed road types, developing the engineering side of the work.
“Many sins are committed by engineers in neglecting the examination of subgrades under modern highways,” he said. “The supporting power of subgrades varies with soil and moisture conditions on almost every mile of every route. When the bottom drops out, the surface follows. Proper attention to this examination and increase of the thickness of the surface will lead to more permanent results.”
A traffic estimate made to furnish an idea of what a good road will have to carry after construction, Professor Edwards said, was of great value. He added that traffic increased in proportion to the square of the increase in population tributary to a route, and that improvement of main line routes led to an additional flow, all of which should be taken into consideration in determining the type of roadway to lay down.
75 years ago
Sept. 4, 1942
Joining with all other theaters in the United States in the motion picture industry's sponsored “Salute to Our Heroes Month,” the Rose theater management here opened a war bond selling drive Tuesday evening with a special ceremony which was followed by the volunteer purchase of bonds of $6,925 maturity value.
At 9 o'clock, after the feature picture, there was an intermission, during which an American Legion color guard marched down the aisle and stood at attention facing the audience while J. S. Cooper explained the purpose of the campaign to bring September bond sales to the billion dollar mark.
Answering the call for volunteer buyers was the Colfax Savings & Loan association, which made the largest investment of the evening, $5000 in bonds. Simon Dreifus followed with a $500 purchase, and the following took bonds of $100 denomination:
L. E. Elliott, Mrs. E. A. Kinney, J. E. Moore, Mrs. J. E. Moore, Mark Moore, Max Gumerman, Mrs. Maymie Neil, Mrs. Walter Scholz and M. J. Grady.
Purchasers of the only $50 bond sold was LaVence Weskil, owner and operator of the Rose.
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Aggregate value of Whitman County's harvested crops should set an all-time record, according to A. F. Harms, county agent. Harvest is now two-thirds completed, and yields of all types of field crops are favorable.
Cash value of dry edible peas will be the largest of any crop. Reported yields average from eight to 20 sacks per acre, but it is expected that the county average on the 170,000 acres in crop should be from 12 to 14 sacks, which means a crop of approximately three hundred million pounds, or 150,000 tons.
This should return farmers more than 12 million dollars, as it is expected they will receive $4.50 per hundred for U.S. No. 1 peas under the government's purchase program after expenses for processing and bagging are deducted.
Wheat harvest in the Lacrosse, St. John and Lamont areas is 95 to 98 percent completed, with farmers reporting yields of 30 to 50 bushels per acre.
Barley yields were 25 percent above normal, with 120,000 acres producing approximately five million bushels. Two-hundred-ninety thousand acres of wheat in the county is yielding 20 percent above normal, and should produce more than 10 million bushels.
The heaviest yields are reported in the lighter soils of western Whitman County. Some of the lightest yields are experienced in the Athena silt loam soils which suffered exceedingly heavy erosion during the spring run-off. Some wheat has been damaged by rust.
Elevator and warehouse facilities will be adequate to get most of the wheat under cover. Most producers have increased their farm storage facilities by construction of elevators as well as the conversion of barns and machines sheds to handle bulk wheat on a temporary basis.
50 years ago
Colfax Gazette
Sept. 7, 1967
Grand re-opening of the Colfax Coffee Shop and Pheasant Room in their remodeled quarters on Main street will be held all day today (Thursday), owner Pete Eng announced yesterday.
The luxurious quarters, designed and remodeled by Robert E. Lloyd, Moscow contractor, provide the Palouse Empire with one of its finest new restaurants and cocktail lounges. The restaurant was re-opened last week after being closed more than a month, and the finishing touches are being put on the premises this week.
Eng said he will have flowers for the ladies and other memories for guests.
In addition to Lloyd, firms on the job included Hanson Electric, Waterman Floor Covering, both of Moscow; Burnett Plumbing, Standard Lumber Co., both Colfax; Brodie Hotel Supply, Spokane, and Neill Furniture, Colfax and Pullman.
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Surface measurements for the proposed new Colfax swim pool were trimmed 2500 square feet and cost estimates were cut $56,400 Monday night in a report by Councilman William R. Tempel, head of a city council committee to study the Colfax swim pool problem.
In presenting the case for a 60x83 foot pool, Tempel presented average figures which he and other committee members compiled from information of pool operations in Spokane, Cheney, Colville, Palouse and Endicott. Tempel's committee sent letters to eastern Washington towns seeking a “factual foundation to determine what size pool we should have in Colfax.”
Tempel's pool modifies a proposal made at the last council meeting by Dr. Dale Johnson, head of a Kiwanis study group which suggested construction of a 75x100 foot pool at a cost of $165,000.
Tempel's pool plan was estimated to cost $109,560. Both plans figure to use $30,000 which is expected to enter city coffers from a pending land sale. Using the $30,000, the city's pool plan would require $79,560 from the taxpayers while the Kiwanis plans would require $135,000.
Members of the council passed a resolution accepting the smaller plan and authorizing Tempel to contact John Aylor for “professional help” in drawing up the pool proposal.
A final decision on entering the issue on the November ballot is expected at the Sept. 18 council meeting, Tempel said.
25 years ago
Colfax Gazette
Sept. 3, 1992
The state Department of Transportation will hold “open houses” in Colfax and Pullman to discuss options for highway bypasses of those communities, according to DOT district engineer Ted Trepanier from Spokane.
The main objective of the open houses is to get feedback and present alternatives under investigation, according to a state Department of Transportation newsletter. They will include graphic displays and aerial photographs.
DOT will select two or three alternatives after the open houses, in addition to the “no build” option, and study those routes, Trepanier explained.
Alternatives will be evaluated on the basis of economic, environmental and engineering criteria, the newsletter said. An economic analysis will determine the effects of each alternative on the cities' businesses.
Once the chosen alternative goes to the legislature, it is up to the communities to lobby for the funding, Trepanier commented.
Six routes for the Colfax bypass were displayed at last week's meeting in no particular order.
The first would go by the airport, taking the route which WSU students often use.
The second option would follow Almota Road and connect up with Highway 195 west of town.
The third route also would go along Almota Road but come out closer to town.
The fourth option is a couplet, with Main Street one way one direction and Mill Street one way the other direction.
The fifth option would follow a route east of Colfax to connect up with Highway 195.
The sixth option would follow the above route then turn further east of town before connecting up again with Highway 195.
The two options were presented for the Pullman bypass.
The first option would turn east just north of the Highway 270 cutoff, cross Highway 27, cross Airport Road near the Farm Way Extension and link up with Highway 270 east of town.
The second option would follow Pullman-Wawawai Road, then veer northeast of Highway 195, across Highway 27, across Bishop Boulevard, and connect up with Highway 270 north of Professional Mall Boulevard.
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A sailboat captain from Argentina who has participated in this year's Columbus voyage has discovered a note in a bottle on the high seas. The note was cast into the Caribbean sea seven years ago by Greg Aune, then a fifth grader at Colfax and now a member of the senior class.
Aune Friday received a letter from the captain who discovered the bottle Aug. 12 on the west side of the Azore Islands which are 800 miles off the coast of Portugal. He estimated the bottle had traveled 2,400 nautical miles across the mid Atlantic Ocean in the Gulf Stream currents.
The captain's letter revived a memory of a vacation episode which had long been forgotten.
John and Jane Aune and their children, Lisa and Greg, were invited in 1985 to join Drs. George and Karen Vigeland of Vancouver, Wash., on a trip to the Caribbean. The Vigelands became friends of John Aune during their college days at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma.
In 1985, the Vancouver couple kept a 43-foot sailboat at Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, and the Aunes flew down there to join them on the cruise.
Greg and the Vigeland's son, Kurt, then nine years old, one day decided to attempt the old sea practice of placing notes in sealed bottles. Each worked up a note and placed it in a bottle.
“I dug out this picture of these two little kids with their bottles,” Jane Aune noted.
Dr. Vigeland advised the two youngsters to wait until they were out of the bay at Tortola so the bottles could pick up an ocean current. The bottles were cast overboard April 5, 1985.
Friday, Greg Aune greeted his parents with a “you'll never guess what I got in the mail.”
Chances are they would have never guessed.
Capt. Hernan Alvarez Forn from San Isidro, Argentina, sent a letter advising Greg he had found his note. The letter was sent from Horta, Azores, the islands about 800 miles west of the coast of Portugal.
Capt. Forn, who wrote in excellent English, advised his 20-ton ketch Nautico intercepted the bottle Aug. 12 at 37.44 North latitude and 44.46 West longitude.
Capt. Forn's ketch left Argentina in January for Spain and the Columbus 500-year sail. The ketch crossed the Atlantic to the Caribbean with stops at the Canary Island and Puerto Rico. The cruise also went to New York and Boston before they started back across the Atlantic. Capt. Forn advised they were returning to Argentina and asked Aune to write him there.
The captain is in line for one more surprise. One thing Aune forgot to do when he wrote the note was to date it; Capt. Forn estimated its course across the Atlantic in the Gulf Stream currents up the east coast probably took about two years.
10 years ago
Whitman County Gazette
Sept. 6, 2007
A passport application service stop has been slated at St. John and LaCrosse post offices for Sept. 12. Passport applications will be processed at St. John in the morning and at LaCrosse in the afternoon.
This will be the third time the service has been extended to the post offices to help meet the demand for passports in the face of stricter regulations for international travel.
As of January, residents returning from a foreign country by air are required to have a passport. By 2008 passports will be needed to return by land or air.
The passport stops are slated when the two post offices can generate at least 40 potential applicants for a passport, according to LaCrosse Postmaster Charlotte Honn.
St. John Postmaster Bill Corder said so far this time around he had received 32 residents reserve space for the coming visit.
Residents have until Friday, Sept. 7, to register to make an application. Appointment times will be designated.
The service will be done by a representative who works at the Moscow post office. Applications will be processed and mailed out to one of the processing centers for the passport service.
To apply for a passport residents need to have a current application form which is provided, a certified birth certificate (long form, not hospital birth certificate) or Certificate of Naturalization, picture ID such as a drivers license, and proof of Social Security number such as card or pay stub.
Former passports which have expired within the last five years can also be used to establish identification.
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Ambitious Colfax residents are taking steps to step-up downtown Colfax and have formed the Colfax Downtown Association. The group will concentrate on their efforts on the downtown area between Upton Street on the north to Stevens Street on the south.
“That's our focus zone,” said Kim DeHart, one of the association's board members. “The main idea is to make that our downtown and make it more pedestrian friendly so people see the success of downtown.”
Colfax Downtown Association currently consists of six board members with Tammy Lewis from Palouse Economic Development Council as a consultant. The idea for the association came about through the Vision meetings hosted by the City last year. The Vision meetings were put together so citizens could form a “road map” for the city's future,” Lewis said.
The group that now makes up the association board decided they wanted to rebuild downtown Colfax and took steps to form the association. They filed with the IRS for 501c3 non-profit status and received approval two weeks ago. With the 501c3 status, the Colfax Downtown Association can accept non-taxable donations up to $133,000 a year and apply for grants and low-interest loans.
One of the areas the group is targeting is the US Bank parking lot. They are launching applications for funds to beautify the lot.
The board had a retreat last Wednesday at the Public Service building to better organize and plot a course.
Sheri Stuart from the Washington State Main Street Program was the facilitator.
“What that did is get us in the right to form our committees,” DeHart said.
The Main Street Program is a state effort since 1984 to revitalize the economy, appearance and image of downtowns.
“The Main Street Program is what this is all about,” DeHart noted.
Through the retreat process the board identified goals and objectives to further the overall goal of revitalizing downtown Colfax. DeHart pointed out that one of the first issues several people in the group brought up was the dog poop on city sidewalks.
Stuart had the board create four committees and outline goals and objectives that would go under either organization, promotion, design or economic restructuring. The six board members ranked the goals and objectives to determine relevance.
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