Good Old Days: Oct. 11, 2018

125 years ago

The Commoner, Sept. 29, 1893

Members of the Colfax Wheelmen's Club have in contemplation the holding a grand bicycle tournament during the Whitman County race meeting at Colfax Trotting Park about the middle of next month. The bicycle program will embrace contests for substantial prizes in races from one-half mile to 20 miles, and contestants will be from Whitman County alone.

100 years ago

The Colfax Commoner, Sept. 27, 1918

R.E. Prater, who has run a threshing machine in this county for the last ten years, stated that this is the poorest year of machine men that he has ever experienced. This year the grain was light and it took a good crew and a first-class machine to break even this season.

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Two cars of gasoline which were shipped some time ago from Seattle to Colfax failed to arrive on time and, as a result of this delay, every gasoline fountain in the city went dry Monday morning. Farmers who came into town Monday and Tuesday with a short supply of gasoline in their cars were forced to borrow enough gas from the merchants who drained their own cars to secure it or they were forced to leave their own cars in town until the shipment of gasoline arrived from the coast. Two cars of gasoline arrived from Spokane Wednesday afternoon and a portion of this supply was immediately delivered to the automobile men.

75 years ago

The Colfax Gazette-Commoner, Sept. 24, 1943

A resolution establishing 10 p.m. as a curfew hour for minors in all areas of the county outside incorporated towns was adopted Monday by the Commissioners.

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Before making it obligatory upon property owners to eradicate noxious weeds, the city should take the lead by caring for its own property, Paul Gimlin, county weed control supervisor, told the county Monday evening.

50 years ago

The Colfax Gazette, Sept. 26, 1968

Sale of the Great Northern depot and the block-long tract of land which it occupies on Main Street between Island and North to Dick Perkins and Joe Henderson was revealed this week. The consideration has not been announced.

Perkins and Henderson said that they are not ready to announce plans for the property, but that they intend to sell the depot building on the southeastern corner of the property.

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Mr. and Mrs. Art Stueckle, Colfax, have purchased the stock of ready-to-wear and fixtures of Brookhart's Style Center from Mr. and Mrs. Joe Brookhart and renamed the firm “Colfax Style Center,” they announced this week.

25 years ago

Whitman County Gazette, Sept. 30, 1993

In search of new housing, business and industry in rural Whitman County, Rosalia may have hit the big score. The Butters Group, an Everett based development company, has purchased 300 acres in Rosalia. It will begin developing the property in the next two to three years, according to John Butters, principal owner of the company.

10 years ago

Whitman County Gazette, Sept. 25, 2008

A fire Tuesday afternoon destroyed the Cochran barn on Crumbaker Road just off of State Route 195 north of Colfax. The fire destroyed the barn and another out-building, but volunteers were able keep it from spreading to a nearby house.

The fire broke out shortly after 1 p.m. and destroyed the barn in about half an hour. Embers from the fire were carried by the wind into a stubble field and started several fires in the field. Colfax Rural Fire Chief Jim Krouse said approximately one acre of stubble was burned. Cause of the fire was unknown.