Good Old Days 11/10/11

125 years ago

November 12, 1886

Last Sunday, a man by the name of Burns, who lives on Rock Creek, was relieved of $150 at Palouse while intoxicated. After he had recovered from his drunken stupor he made a futile effort to discover the thief. No trace of the rascal was found.

When the new offices are installed, the Whitman County government will be more completely in the hands of the Republicans than ever before.

The city dads are considering the question of building a calaboose in the rear of the new engine house.

Ten or a dozen flakes of snow, the first of the season, fell in the city Monday forenoon.

Colton stores are carrying a war on “rates” on coal, oil, brooms, sugar and other truck.

Carpenters raised the frame on the Garfield depot yesterday. About fifteen men are at work on it.

100 years ago

November 10, 1911

Within a week or two the Armory will be opened as a skating rink. A new band organ has been installed and new skates will soon be here. Since the building was remodeled and the floor enlarged it is an ideal place for skating.

Burglars in Tekoa are showing a fondness for typewriters. Two machines were stolen from the office of the Jay-Irwin Company and one from the office of the O.W.R.&N.

Some time during last Friday forenoon a burglar ransacked the home of Attorney Charles R. Hill from top to bottom, escaping with the contents of two childrens’ banks containing $6 or $8.

The name of the Malden orchestra has been changed to the Harris-Weidner orchestra.

75 years ago

November 6, 1936

Whitman County is divided on the question of the sale of liquor. Rural precincts went decidedly in favor of rejecting the present legalized sale of intoxicants within their confines and 12 incorporated towns voted to retain sale within their limits during the local option election Tuesday. Three towns voted dry. Elberton, where two absentee ballots could reverse the decision; Lamont and Albion.

On Wednesday evening last, a group of farmers from the western portion of Whitman County met at the courthouse to set up a temporary organization for the formation of a rural electric power cooperative association. The organization will purchase electric power at a wholesale rate and distribute to association members over their own lines. Application is being made for a loan from the Rural Electrification Administration in Washington D.C.

50 years ago

November 9, 1961

Retirement of Milt Crawford and the closing of the Colfax Railway Express office last week brought an end to an era that began just about the time Crawford took his first job with the agency 42 years and seven months ago. On April 1, 1919, Crawford first took the reigns of the agency’s horse-and-buggy wagon and began delivering packages around the city. Now that trucks have taken the place of railroads in delivering heavy freight to Colfax, Crawford can retire, and the Express will close down.

County employees will have a medical health insurance program, paid for by taxpayers, if a satisfactory bid is received by commissioners Nov. 20. A few departments have insured employees in the past. The new arrangement would cover everyone who works for the county without direct cost to the employees.

River Grain Terminal, Inc., a five-million-bushel barge loading and grain storage facility at Burbank, founded by Whitman County men, has been sold to Cargill, Inc.

25 years ago

November 6, 1986

Earl Russell Construction requested a county rezoning of the former Big Sky Drive-In theater site at Pullman from agricultural to heavy commercial. Russell proposes to put a construction company office and storage on the 10-acre site, which is one-quarter mile from the Pullman city limits on Wawawai Road. It was used as a drive-in until about five years ago.

Richard Olson of the Colfax Golf Club has won the title of “Ugliest Bartender” for the Pullman/Moscow edition of the Multiple Sclerosis Ugliest Bartender contest. Second place honors went to Vicki Burnham of the Wooden Nickel in Palouse.

10 years ago

November 8, 2001

Intruders broke into the Empire Foods store at Tekoa last week, apparently entering through an 18-inch ventilation opening in the roof and dropping into the store where they triggered the security system that called in police. Chief Terry Snead said nothing was missing from the store.

Greg Matsumoto of Spokane hauled in a 17 pound 9 ounce fish to win the 13th annual Colton Knights of Columbus Steelhead Derby.