Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
125 years ago
The Commoner
August 31, 1894
Receiver E. McNeill, of the O. R. & N. railway company, accompanied by his general freight agent, B. Campbell, arrived in Colfax by special train from Portland at 8 o’clock Wednesday evening, and held two hours’ consultation with members of the Chamber of Commerce in reference to a reduction of grain rates from the Palouse country to Portland. The local trade organization was represented by President Julius Lippitt, J. H. Bellinger, Aaron Kuhn, J. A. Perkins and C. H. Warner. The meeting was held in the office of J. H. Bellinger, and every member of the board strenuously labored for a reduction of 5 cents per bushel. The argument was plainly put that at the present exorbitant freight rates, and at the market figures now quoted, the shipper must absolutely lose several cents on a bushel if he shipped grain to the Portland market. The hardships to the farmer imposed by last year’s destruction of crops was explained, and it was declared to be to the railroad’s interests to be as lenient as possible to the producer at this time.
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On Saturday evening the county commissioners completed and closed their labors as a board of equalization. Among the actions taken as such board were the following:
St. Ignatius hospital, Colfax, improvements assessed at $20,000, equalized at $11,000.
William Codd, tract of land near millrace, assessed at $1700, reduced to $675.
Becker Bros., tract of land in Colton 104 ½ acres, assessed at $2505, equalized at $6 an acre.
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William Alberts is the name of an unfortunate Hungarian who is a victim of a piece of villainy that is not without an aspect of humor. On Sunday night, Alberts was wandering around town aimlessly at a late hour. He is a farm hand and intended to join a threshing crew on Monday morning. Alberts had fifteen dollars in his inside pockets, but he was loth to spend a few bits for a bed, and hence he sauntered about like a penniless man.
A stranger, who is familiarly known everywhere as John Doe, fell in with Alberts, and they became fast friends. Doe asked the Hungarian if he had money enough to get a bed with, and Alberts swore that he hadn’t a cent in the world.
100 years ago
The Colfax Commoner
August 22, 1919
This week marks the fifth week of the harvest season and many farmers claim that fifty per cent of the threshing has been completed in this county. Three weeks more of good weather will see the greater part of the 1919 wheat crop safely garnered.
The yield throughout the entire county had exceeded all the expectations of the grain growers and the present crop promises to be the equal of any wheat crop that has been harvested in this county since 1914. There is considerable smut in the fall wheat this year and the men who are running threshing rigs are exercising great caution in handling the smutty grain this year.
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Chas L. MacKenzie will put a force of men at work repairing the buildings and grounds within a short time and the work may be let by contract. A number of horsemen were in the city this week and inspected the barns and track and made recommendations for their improvements.
Some of the best horses in the Northwest will participate in the races this year and these men insist the track must be fast and the barns put in first class order.
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After the thirtieth of October this year, the daylight saving law will be scrapped and its memory will exist only in the minds of the people who have been forced the last two years to rise an hour earlier in the morning, under the impression they were saving an hour of time each day. The repeal was vigorously opposed by President Wilson, who twice vetoed the repeal bill only to have the measure to become a law by being passed by a two-thirds majority in each house.
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Prosecuting Attorney Weldon had dismissed the charges against six milling companies and has taken the cases direct to the superior court. The cases will be tried before Judge McCroskey Monday morning. The state inspector of weights and measures claimed that he discovered short weights in the flour which was being sold in this district and the filed charges against a number of milling companies.
The companies maintain that the flour is packed while it is still damp and the sacks contain the correct weight of flour at the time it is packed.
75 years ago
The Colfax Gazette-Commoner
August 25, 1944
Whether Whitman shall have a county rural library will be determined by voters living outside of incorporated town as an issue at the November election. A simple majority will decide the issue.
Petitions bearing three hundred signatures of taxpayers in a dozen areas of the county were filed with the county commissioners Monday, and, if a check shows as many as one-third of these signatures are authentically those of qualified rural taxpayers the question will go on the ballot.
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Fire alarms piled on top of each other Tuesday afternoon as the siren for a county fire screamed twice in a row, only minutes apart, both caused by a blaze along the South Palouse east of Colfax.
Ten acres of pasture land were burned on the J. W. Jones farm, the flames jumping to a field owned by George Willsey where an eight-ton haystack was liquidated. Closing damage, just before it was controlled, cost Albert Green two acres of uncut wheat.
50 years ago
The Colfax Gazette
August 28, 1969
A $30,000 grant for the development of a county park 10 miles south of Colfax was granted Monday in a meeting of the state Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation at Olympia, according to word received here by Jose Urcia, Whitman County regional planner.
The park board expects to use the funds toward a purchase of scenic land 10 miles south of Colfax which was owned by the late Tom Brannan and Mrs. Ada Brannan for the past 20 years.
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Work on the third large section of Camas Prairie railroad relocation in Whitman County, the 14 mile section running through Almota, is about 85 to 90 per cent complete, according to Al Corke, project superintended for Peter Kiewit Sons’, prime contractor on the project. The project started Sept. 1, 1968, and should wind up by the end of October, Corke said.
Involved in the project is excavation of two million cubic yards and construction of five million cubic yards of embankment along the 14-mile stretch. Cost of the project will be close to $5 million, Corke said.
25 years ago
Whitman County Gazette
Sept. 1, 1994
Northwest Architectural Company, Spokane, had been selected to design the new 8,000 square foot medical office building for Whitman Hospital and Medical Center. Hospital Commissioners received this recommendation from the hospital’s building committee at their meeting last Wednesday, Aug. 24.
The architectural firm will work up plans with the aim of starting construction next spring. The new building, which will be offices of doctors now serving in the hospital, is expected to be in operation about a year from now.
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No specific food, menu item or food handler has been pinpointed as a source in the recent outbreak of Salmonella in Colfax, according to the Whitman County Health Department. However, the outbreak was “clearly associated” with eating at Diana Lee’s Restaurant from July 25 to Aug. 4.
Several items were associated with the illness, but none were clearly linked. Food items collected Aug. 4 and sent to the State Public Health Laboratory were not contaminated with Salmonella.
10 years ago
Whitman County Gazette
August 27, 2009
Millions of bushels of wheat are now sitting in mountainous piles at Snake River ports, as low prices have held down sales of this year’s strong crop.
Yield reports from across the county are higher than average, with some farmers reporting to grain brokers yields as high as 130 bushels per acre.
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The next chapter in the saga of Whitman County’s proposed commercial wind ordinance will take place in Superior Court.
Roger Whitten of Oakesdale and Carolyn Kiesz of Thornton asked the court Friday to reverse County Planner Alan Thomson’s determination of non-significance for the proposed ordinance or require an environmental impact statement for the ordinance under the State Environmental Protection Act.
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