Good Old Days: March 21, 2019

125 years ago

The Commoner, March 16, 1894

The investigating committee appointed by the popular mass-meeting of March 3, met in the jury chamber of the courthouse at 1 o’clock Monday afternoon, all members being present except Frank Brown, who came in a few moments later.

Chairman J.R. Wicks opened the meeting by saying that the investigation proposed was not a partisan affair, but was projected in the interest of the tax payers.

C.H. Warner said that the committee was not a partisan affair; its object was to examine into a few charges that have been made, and to see if our county expenditures could not be cut down in the interest of economy. It would be an utter impossibility to go over all the books of the county, and all the committee could expect to do would be to find whether those rumors were groundless or well-founded. The object was to render the greatest good to the greatest number.

***

The state agricultural college will distribute a large amount of sugar beet seed on the 20th of this month, with which further experiments in the culture of this product in the state of Washington will be made. The experiment station is in the charge of Prof. Elton Fulmer, an experienced chemist, and is fitted out with appliances for making analysis of beets as to their value as sugar producers. Mr. Fulmer has issued a valuable treatise on the industry, its history, present conditions and prospects, in which he shows that though the experiments thus far made have all been very successful, it will still be necessary to do more work in the same line before it can be demonstrated to a certainty that sufficient profits will accrue to both manufacturer and grower to warrant the establishing of factories. The many failures in other states in the past have caused capitalists to be chary about putting capital into such an enterprise.

***

H.L. Dennison, James Roberts, and Andrew Olson, were on Monday brought to the county jail from Tekoa on a charge of grand larceny, in having stolen two sets of work harness and four halter straps from A. Cohen, harness maker at Tekoa, on the 10th. Monday evening, Justice of the Peace Dillon committed the men to the county jail in default of $1000 bonds each.

100 years ago

The Colfax Commoner, March 14, 1919

Bert F. Perry, aged 27, and who had spent two years in the airoplane service, has been selected by the military authorities to make the first overseas flight. The young man was raised in this county and is a brother of the Perry Brothers, who have business interests in this city.

Bert F. Perry is said to be one of the most skillful fliers that had been developed in the service and he is one of the most dependable and safest men in the service. He was selected to make the first effort to demonstrate that the ocean can be crossed with a flying machine. The task is dangerous and a risky one, but if any one can perform the feat, that man is said to be Bert F. Perry.

***

The Whitman County auto dealers’ association held an interesting business meeting at Rosalia Monday. A banquet was served to the association members at the Hotel Martin at noon. The afternoon was devoted to discussing closing hours on Sundays. Interesting addresses were given by President T.A. Gallaugher of Colfax, Secretary F.E. Stokes, F. J. Wilmer of Pullman and several others.

***

The farmers living north of Pullman entered a complaint against the telephone service which they have been getting for some time. They asked the Pullman chamber of commerce to investigate in order that they might get better night service and have their phones connected with the Pullman exchange.

***

The farmers are to make a united drive this spring in an effort to eliminate the squirrel pest in Whitman County. The amount of damage done to the crops by the Columbia ground squirrel can never be computed in dollars and cents. This squirrel is known only to the Pacific coast state and he has been destructive to crops since the date of the first settlement.

Individual farmers have fought the squirrels for years, and living just opposite might be a man who has never bothered himself in regard to the squirrels and through this shiftless method, there are just about as many squirrels in the county today as there were at the time it was first settled.

This year, a united effort will be made by the farmers to kill off the squirrels. This project alone is about all that should be attempted by the farmers this spring. If the farm bureau accomplishes nothing else except to center attention on the squirrel question, it will justify its organization and existence.

75 years ago

The Colfax Gazette-Commoner, March 17, 1944

That schools can be of tremendous help in the rehabilitation of the armed forces in this community was the opinion of the Colfax school district planning council which held its first meeting Friday evening at the high school.

Scholastic records accumulated by the schools can be used in guiding demobilized men and women into advanced school and work opportunities, it was agreed.

The school might also be of help, it was suggested, in providing part-time courses in vocational training in evening classes.

***

Whitman County farmers will received nearly $425,000 in 1944 for participation in the Triple-A’s streamlined program of wartime production and soil conservation.

This estimate, based on past records of participation and reports from community committeemen in the field, was released this week by the county AAA office.

Since favorable market prices eliminate the necessity for commodity payments, AAA payments this year are being made exclusively for soil building practices, but farmers participating in this year’s program will be able to earn more money than at any time in the past, according to Anson Patterson, county AAA chairman.

***

Topping his nearest competitor by $46,000, Orville C. Cunningham, 13, Belmont, won first place in the state Liberty Ship bond selling contest for Four-H club members, Troy Lindley, county agent, announced this week.

Orville sold $149,606 (cost price) in series E bonds during January and February to exceed even the county’s quota of $146,000 and to compare with his closest rival, a Yakima youth who sold approximately $103,000 in E bonds to win second in the state.

50 years ago

The Colfax Gazette, March 13, 1969

A bill to make horse racing “financially possible” for small tracks at Colfax, Dayton, Waitsburg and possibly some other communities, probably won’t see the “light of day” during the regular session of this legislature, Senator Hubert Donahue from Dayton told the Colfax Gazette last weekend.

The bill was buried in committee. Senator Elmer C. Huntley of Thornton said that the bill embodied provisions that would solve the financial problems of the small tracks and that much of it was suggested by Urgel Bell of LaCrosse.

***

The turbulent waters of the mighty Snake river have been transformed into tiny waves lapping gently at the sandy wastes along half a dozen miles of Whitman county’s southern boundary within the past two weeks―but little use of the county;s newest asset is expected for some time.

With the closing of gates to Lower Monumental dam near Kahlotus, water began filling the 29-mile long pool during the third week in February and by Washington’s birthday the new lake was completely established. Slackwater above Lower Monumental extends―as planned―virtually to the base of Little Goose dam, now under construction about three miles upstream from Riparia.

For the first time, a water transportation route from Whitman County to tidewater below Portland is available to carry the county’s grain seaward―but little use of it is likely until the third dam on the Snake (Little Goose) is completed to provide slackwater to Central Ferry and beyond.

***

Wrecking of the vintage Great Northern Railway depot in Colfax brought back memories of many Colfax oldtimers last week. A bundle of yellowed receipts, found among the ruins and dated Dec. 22, 1921, provides an account of the depot when it was a key supply point for Colfax, providing an outlet for such items as a box of horseshoes, sacks of walnuts, bundles of rubber tires, boxes of toe calks, horse nails, postum, popcorn, and even a dressed hog.

The printed receipts, bundled together and tagged Feb. 23, 1921, carried the line “Received in Good Order from the INLAND EMPIRE RAILROAD COMPANY.” The Inland preceded the Great Northern at the depot.

25 years ago

Whitman County Gazette, March 17, 1994

The county commissioners announced a two percent raise for all bargaining, non-bargaining county employees and elected officials, except themselves.

In addition, four courthouse supervisors who have taken on additional responsibilities received larger individual raises.

According to Commissioner Nora Mae Keifer, all four had previously accepted more responsibilities and duties without additional compensation.

***

The Bank of Whitman, based at Colfax, was one of the 10 banks featured in a “Community Banking Leaders” section of American Banker Feb. 22. The section cited “top 10” banks for different categories with Bank of Whitman leading the “lenders” category.

The article by Terrence O’Hara, noted the bank’s 99.56 percent loan-to-deposit ration. Number two on the top 10 lenders list was heritage Bank of Holstein, Ind., with a 96.67 ratio.

***

Fifty eight students entered projects in the Colfax Science Fair last week. Awards were presented Thursday night to winners in seven different divisions.

Thirty-six of the Colfax entrants opted to enter the science fair this week at the Nez Perce county fairground in Lewiston.

10 years ago

Whitman County Gazette, March 12, 2009

The Port of Whitman is seeking $11 million in federal stimulus package funding for three projects it has planned in Whitman County.

Debbie Snell, port properties and development manager, informed port commissioners at their regular meeting last Thursday, March 5, that the agency is putting together applications to forward to various state agencies in charge of allotting the state’s share of funding made available by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The port is applying for funds to help build a unit train loader at Oakesdale, to purchase a large crane at Wilma and to extend fiber optic lines from Pullman to Spokane.

***

Just as thoughts of spring were popping up like crocuses and daffodils, Mother Nature served a reminder to Palouse residents that winter still rules for at least another week.

A freak late-winter storm front moved into the Inland Empire from Canada Monday night, bringing with it frigid temperatures and snowstorms that produced as much as two inches of the white stuff per hour.

Spotters for the National Weather Service’s Spokane office reported large amounts of snow gathered in Whitman County over Monday night.

***

Five cars on a northbound grain train were spilled during the night of March 3 south of Rosalia. The cars derailed just south of the C.W. Hughes road crossing on the P & L line which is owned by the state and operated by the Washington & Idaho Railroad.

The five grain hopper cars went off on the east side of the rails and grain spilled out of the top onto a field. Three engines and the first cars in the train continued north a short distance before coming to a halt. A coupling broke and fell between the rails north of where the five cars went off. Momentum carried the back cars of the train past the spilled cars for about half the length of the wreck.

The engineer said the train was rolling about 21 miles per hour at the time of the accident.