Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
125 years ago
The Commoner
Feb. 15, 1895
A patent from the general government to the Northern Pacific Railway company was yesterday filed in the auditor’s office. It conveys 2,773.32 acres of lieu land situated in this county. It is dated Dec. 13, 1894, and is the first patent of this kind to be filed in this county, but it is expected that others will follow rapidly.
It is understood that patents, of which this is one, will be issued to the Northern Pacific for all lieu lands upon which there has been no contest filed based on settlement previous to 1883, when such lands were withdrawn from settlement.
It therefore follows that all persons who are living upon lieu lands to which they claim title by virtue of settlement made prior to that date should see that their proofs are on file at the land office.
A number of settlers whose claims have been contested by the Northern Pacific have been confirmed in their possession, but until recently no one has tested the right of the railroad where settlement has been made after the date mentioned above. A case has, however, just been brought which will determine whether a settler who went onto lieu land prior to 1892 will not be able to get title.
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A. D. Rose, a brother of M. A. Rose, who has made a number of visits in Colfax, sailed on Feb. 6 from Seattle for Japan. Mr. Rose is an expert jeweler and has been selected to take charge of the escapement department of a watch factory at Osaka, Japan. Besides Mr. Rose there are 11 other American watchmakers either already on the way or about to go to the same place to take charge of the other departments of the factory. The Japanese have arrived at a point where they want watches and with what is now known to be their characteristic wisdom have erected a large factory and imported American workmen to teach the natives the art of watchmaking. Osaka, the city where the factory is located, is credited with about 500,000 inhabitants.
100 years ago
The Colfax Commoner
Feb. 13, 1920
The Colfax business district is to expand this year if new business firms which desire a location can prevail upon property owners to erect buildings upon their property. There are, at least, a dozen firms desiring business locations and many of the out-of-town companies are willing to pay a bonus to secure desirable locations.
There has been more new firms located in the city during the past six months than there has been during the last six years. Property owners in the downtown business district expect to see many lines of business opened between now and fall. The lack of business locations is all that prevents a rapid influx of new firms this spring. There is scarcely a day passes but what some one is inquiring for a business location and the automobile and good roads have made Colfax the business center of the entire county.
A number of new business blocks are to be erected this spring and the building operations have been delayed until it is now impossible for any one to secure a desirable location. There are a dozen applicants for every business location and the demand has become so great that these outside firms are willing to sign a lease for a term of years to anyone who will erect them a business block.
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The past ten days have been busy days for the Colfax doctors, many of them have been working from 12 to 18 hours to keep up with the numerous calls from flu patients. During the past ten days, there has been at least three hundred cases of flu in Colfax and the surrounding country. The disease this year has been light and very few deaths have occurred from this disease. Many of the doctors have a complete prescription for the disease and as soon as a case is reported the standard prescription is ordered from the druggist.
Dr. F. A. Bryant reported he had more than forty cases of flu at one time last week and he was kept going from morning until night visiting his different patients. Dr. Frank St. Sure also had a long list of patients and Dr. F. X. Emerson has an unusual large list of flu patients, many of them being located as far away as Elberton.
Dr. John Benson, city health officer, has kept the policemen busy this week tacking up flu notices and the disease seems to be running short for the lack of new victims.
75 years ago
The Colfax Gazette-Commoner
Feb. 16, 1945
There was some hope for the farmer with a January precipitation of 1.89 inches, but rainfall for the present crop year (which started last Sept. 1) still continues to set moisture records the wrong way. Total precipitation since last Sept. 1, reports Henry Smith, of the State college weather bureau, is still only 4.89 inches, the lowest for any similar five month period since the soils division began keeping records in the Palouse 53 years ago.
The next lowest mark for such a five months period is 5.25 inches established just last year near the beginning of the present day cycle. The first half of January in 1945, built up many hopes as 1.60 inches (or more than normal precipitation) came down up to Jan. 16, but from then on the rainy season eased off so that January fell considerably under the average mark of 2.75 inches for January.
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Colfax's contribution to the infantile paralysis fund was expected to be considerably increased Thursday night from two benefit basketball games featuring the LaCrosse town team against the Colfax Dog Trotters, made up of such one-time stars as Gene, Harlan and Bob Elliott, Pinky West, Earl Pierson, Bob Kennedy, Dick Felber, Wayne Rogers, Harold Heilsberg, Whitey Krom and Jim Repp. The other attraction was to be the Endicott and St. John high schools, playing off a tie to decide which would play Steptoe for eighth place in the county tournament next week.
The Dog Trotters played a benefit polio game at LaCrosse Wednesday night, the score being 40 to 38 in favor of Colfax.
Walter Schalow and Frank Stuart, checking for the junior chamber of commerce Tuesday afternoon, said that the Colfax polio fund at that time totaled $502, of which $330 was deposited in containers around town and otherwise donated, and $172 collected recently at the Rose theater.
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The annual Red Cross war fund drive will open in Colfax March 1, in anticipation that the city’s quota of $5,000 and that of the consolidated school district, $9,500, would be raised in the first week, although the campaign will continue officially until the end of March.
W.m. T. Smith has accepted the appointment of city chairman to succeed the Rev. Earl W. McAbee who conducted the drive here two years before moving to the coast.
The county quota is $32,000 announced Mrs. H. W. Pugh, executive secretary of the Whitman County chapter, in stating that the Colfax district and county quotas are the same as for the 1944 drive, in which the county gave $50,000.
Because of increased rehabilitation service, the need for funds is greater than every before, said Mrs. Pugh and Mr. Smith.
50 years ago
The Colfax Gazette
Feb. 12, 1970
Collection of nearly $7 million in property taxes – an all-time record amount for Whitman County – will begin Monday morning by Treasurer Melvin B. Colvin.
The 1970 tax totals $6,830,216 – an increase of $443,165 over the total levies for 1969 of $6,387,051 – and more than a million dollars are above the 1968 levy of $5,678,401.
The increase is accounted for principally by higher millage for school districts, most of which resulted from approval of special levies. More money will also be collected for public welfare, cities and towns and operation of county offices.
Taxes for the county road fund, port district, library district and fire and cemetery district will be slightly lower than last year.
More than 10,000 tax statements will be mailed this week, covering over 30,000 “parcels” of property. First half payments are due by April 30 and become delinquent May 1. Second half payments are due by Nov. 30 and become delinquent and subject to interest thereafter.
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Tightening of state welfare spending to cover a $32 million budget deficit will be felt in Whitman County, but the problems here will be minor compared to other parts of the state. Most of the cutbacks by the department involve few people in the county, according to Carroll Clifton, county welfare administrator.
“While the situation in Eastern Washington has remained relatively stable and the bulk of unemployment and rising caseloads are in the western part of the state, the welfare program is statewide and all rules must be applied evenly throughout the state,” Clifton explained.
A freeze on payment rates for nursing home and foster care will be one of the results felt in the county, Clifton explained. These two expenses are part of what the department calls vendor rates, payments made by the state to persons supplying medical and foster care. Nursing homes and foster parents had beens scheduled for increased payments but they “will not be as quick in receiving them,” Clifton explained.
“They are justified in seeking them because their costs are going up,” Clifton commented.
25 years ago
Whitman County Gazette
Feb. 16, 1995
After about two years of discussion, Feb. 16 is the final date to submit public comments to the Environmental Protection Agency regarding the possible designation of a sole source aquifer in the Columbia Basin Plateau.
And Whitman County officials are divided on the issue.
A letter from the Whitman County Department of Public Health supporting the sole source designation was released last week to the Board of Health, which is also the county commissioners.
However, the commissioners released a formal opinion last April opposing the sole source designation. When Les Wigen joined the commissioners in January, he too opposed the designation.
The letter was released to inform the commissioners of the department’s opinion before the deadline, said John Skyles, director of environmental health.
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Administrators, faculty and students at Endicott School are preserving portions of the past.
Aspects of the 1911 school building are being incorporated into the new structure.
Large plaster sculptures, called bas-reliefs, depicting historical scenes were removed from the old school building and placed in the new one. Three of these large sculptures grace the walls of the new school building.
These were added to “do a little blending of the old and new school” said Principal Suzanne Schmick.
Administrator Dick Scheuerman said it is important to preserve these portions of history.
“Several of us were insistent that such fine works of art be enjoyed by future school children not just past,” Scheuerman said.
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Whitman County Sheriff’s Department has proposed a $5 fee for medication for all inmates who are not indigent.
The proposal will be sent to Whitman County Board of Commissioners for future approval. Sheriff Steve Tomson said the details and wording of the proposal still need to be determined.
This proposal will help inmates gain responsibility as well as cutting into the financial burden on the county, Tomson said.
“Part of the goal of incarceration is rehabilitation. A key step in rehabilitation is the acceptance of personal responsibility,” Tomson said. The fee reinforces that responsibility.
Tomson does not anticipate any opposition to the proposal. “The commissioners have indicated they will support that,” he said.
10 years ago
Whitman County Gazette
Feb. 18, 2010
Home sales in Whitman County, compared to the prior year, tripled during the fourth quarter of 2009 and increased by far at the most rapid rate among Washington counties, according to a report issued last week by the Washington Center for Real Estate Research.
The report noted 620 homes were sold in Whitman County during the last three months of last year, a 148 percent swing over fourth quarter 2008 and a 72 percent increase from third quarter 2009.
Those numbers compared to a 46 percent statewide increase in home purchases over the end of 2008 and a 21 percent upswing from the third quarter 2009.
Glenn Crellin, director of the center at Washington State University, attributed the upswing to two factors: extension of the federal first-time homebuyer tax credit and mild winter weather.
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Whitman County public works last Friday reopened all county roads to heavy traffic, signaling spring’s impending arrival.
Roads have been shutdown since late fall to heavy loads to prevent damage to roads that have been softened by moisture in roadbeds.
Such traffic has been allowed at certain times of the day under permits, but Public Works Director Mark Storey said the number of heavy loads required to be transported during spring planting season makes the permit process too cumbersome.
Some roads, primarily in the north and east sections of the county, remain soft and may be shut down on an individual basis to prevent damage, Storey added.
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State plans to build an aquatic corridor in Rock Creek to connect Rock Lake, Bonnie Lake and Chapman Lake were given a nod of approval by the Whitman County parks board Feb. 12.
The park board backed the state Fish and Wildlife proposal with a letter to the county commissioners.
Fish and Wildlife is interested in turning that corridor into a park to create more public access in and to protect the diverse range of species living there.
Mule deer, elk, bobcat, diverse waterfowl, golden eagles and cougars are a few of the species the department listed as living on that land, making it a rarity in the state for the concentration of species.
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