Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Two men watch as a third works a Heidelberg printing press, circa 1953. One of the men watching is wearing a shirt that reads "Original Heidelberg." From the Hutchison Studio Photographs of WSU and Pullman, Wash. Collection. Reprinted with permission.
125 year ago
The Commoner
April 28, 1893
Samuel T. Riggs was examined Monday afternoon before Justice of the Peace Zimmerman on a charge of exhibiting a pistol in a crowd. The evidence was very plain against Riggs. The court knew nothing and took no cognizance of any lieu-land dispute and bound the defendant over in the sum of $500 to appear in superior court.
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Frank Clifton, a gambler who rooms in a lodging house over Saxon's saloon at the corner of Main and Upton streets, laid his purse, containing a diamond shirt stud worth $500 and $25 in cash, underneath his pillow for safe keeping when he retired Sunday night. Wednesday morning he went out and forgot his valuables. Returning a few hours later he failed to find them, and his suspicions were directed against the Chinese servant of the house who was the only person with a key to fit the room. The celestial was arrested Monday, but all efforts to obtain any admissions from him in the matter were futile.
May 5, 1893
The Catholic Sisters of Charity have opened their hospital in this city in the place formerly known as the Batt residence and will receive patients there until the completion of their big building. They have accommodations for fifteen patients, and the county commissioners have already assigned to them the care of the county's indigent work. Heretofore all such cases were shipped to St. Mary's Hospital in Walla Walla, and the cost of transportation will thus be saved, while at the same time lower rates will probably be made here.
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The new and handsome residence of Mr. John Graham, in the northern part of the city of Oakesdale, was totally destroyed by fire early Tuesday morning. The flames seemed to have originated in a chimney flue and were not discovered in time to save any of the contents of the house. Mr. Graham and his wife and children barely escaped with their lives, only clad in their night clothes.
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Jacob Urecht, whose tailoring establishment was consumed in the fire of a week ago, has leased a front room over D. H. Shaw & Son's stationary store, and is ready for business again this week. An elegant new line of spring and summer patterns ordered immediately after the fire has arrived, and Mr. Urecht is now prepared to serve his many patrons in the latest and most fashionable styles.
100 years ago
The Colfax Commoner
April 26, 1918
Work of grading the Steptoe-Ewan road is well under way and there are four grading crews at work on the road at the present time. Portions of the road have been sub-contracted and every man who can be secured by the contractors is being employed.
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A warrant was issued Thursday morning charging Chas. Coryell with selling intoxicating liquor. The hearing on this charge will be held before Judge Doolittle Monday morning. Mr Coryell said he had nothing to say in regard to the matter, and he had not been engaged in the business.
May 3, 1918
The new ice plant started up this week, and from present indications the plant will be obliged to run to its full capacity to furnish enough ice to supply the demands of the public.
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Justice Doolittle is perhaps the most unpopular justice in the county. Case after case that is taken before this justice by county officials is taken from this justice court on affidavits from one of the parties to the suit and sent to Justice Larue's court for trial.
75 years ago
The Colfax Gazette-Commoner
April 23, 1943
Meeting at the courthouse here Monday evening, the advisory board of the Whitman County Fair Association decided against holding a general county fair this year because of war conditions. In its place, a small one-day fair in Colfax for exhibits by 4H boys and girls, Future Farmers and other young people engaged in livestock, garden, home economics and other projects was recommended by the 21 board members in attendance at the meeting.
April 30, 1943
H. O. Clark, 48, truck driver for the county road department, suffered two fractures of the pelvic bone Monday morning when the 15-foot telephone pole, to which we was strapped with a safety belt, fell after he cut the wires. He struck on his back in a depression, preventing more serious injuries or perhaps death. The accident occurred between Thera and Endicott, where the county is relocating the road and the line of the Diamond Telephone Company. Rotted at the base, the pole fell when the severed wires no longer gave it support.
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Featuring the band, orchestra and dramatic students, the high school's annual spring show will be held this Friday evening in the gymnasium, beginning at 8 o'clock.
50 years ago
The Colfax Gazette
April 25, 1968
The Rose Theater, operated for the last eight years by Jim McClelland, Colfax elementary school teacher, will close permanently April 30 unless some unforeseen “savior” appears on the scene.
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Glen Click, LaCrosse High School principal, is recovering at St. Ignatius Hospital from painful injuries sustained when he fell from a ladder while trimming a tree in his yard Saturday morning.
May 2, 1968
The steam tractor pictured on last week's front page was donated to the Palouse Empire Fair for permanent display on the fairgrounds and not to the Colfax chapter of Future Farmers of America, as stated in the Gazette. The tractor will be cleaned up and painted by the boys of the Colfax FFA chapter for exhibition at the fair.
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For the first time since during World War II, the Colfax post office has a female employee. She is Elizabeth Lee Bird of Clarkston, who started April 25 as a “distributor and window clerk,” according to Postmaster Kenneth McNeilly.
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A veteran of World War II and more than 30 years of high school faculty service will be the new principle at Colfax High School next year. Lynn W. Easton, 59, will come to Colfax from Eastmont High School in East Wenatchee.
25 years ago
Whitman County Gazette
April 29, 1993
Keith Graham remains hospitalized and in serious condition at Deaconess Medical Center in Spokane after his spray plane collided with a Navy A-6E Aircraft.
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Two boys were arrested last Wednesday on car prowl charges in the Garfield-Palouse area. The duo was suspected of thefts from at least 15 vehicles, according to Sheriff Steve Thomson.
May 6, 1993
Darrell Fender, owner of the spray plane involved in the April 14 mid-air collision with a Navy A-6E jet, is trying to put his business back together and help his injured pilot, Keith Graham, who remains hospitalized in Spokane.
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Kamiak Park will undergo repairs and renovations this year. The staff plans to expand and improve some of the facilities while maintaining the park's wilderness appeal.
10 years ago
Whitman County Gazette
April 24, 2008
Birth and death certificates are being converted by the Whitman County Public Health Vital Statistics Department from paper to laser-fische scanner.
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A 17 year old LaCrosse High School student was taken into custody Wednesday morning after a rifle and ammunition were found in a pickup truck which he had parked in a LaCrosse school parking lot. The youth was initially stopped on an alleged charge of driving with a suspended license.
May 1, 2008
The new neon lights on Tekoa's Empire Theatre glowed Saturday night while western music fans showed up to hear Wild Horses, a cowgirl trio from Winthrop, make a return appearance.
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Emphasizing how farming practices may have been the most effective unintentional tool in conserving pockets of the natural Palouse Prairie, two University of Idaho students suggested that farming practices may also be the best way to save the unique habitat and its native species for the future.
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