125 years ago
July 20, 1894
ASTORIA, Ore. — Cannery men are pretty well satisfied with the way salmon have been coming in during the past few days, and nearly all are confident that the pack will not be much more than 50,000 cases below last year’s figures. The traps have been securing large quantities of bluebacks and steeelheads in spite of the fact that the water is still muddy. Usually the gill nets alone are successful until the freshet season has passed, and for this reason it is believed these varieties of fish are running in a manner which is phenomenal. Few if any of the fishermen use nets with meshes sufficiently small to capture a fish weighing less than 15 pounds. It is therefore to be expected that the seines and wheels will make large hauls from this time on. An agitation is on foot among the fishermen here, having for its object the removal of all the whisky scows from the river. The reason for this lies in the fact that many of the fatalities that have occurred on the river for years past have been the result of drunkenness.The scow owners in carrying on their business anchor their floating saloons near the most popular fishing grounds and reap a rich harvest by exchanging cheap whisky for salmon.
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The Satsop Mercantile and Creamery sent overland, by wagon, 7,000 pounds of butter and cheese to Olympia for the Sound markets Monday. It required three teams, all of which returned laden with merchandise for the same concern.
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A very absent-minded Rebekah, in her hurry to get to the lodge, took from a closet a pair of her husband’s trousers for her new cloak, threw them over her arm and did not discover her mistake until she had thrown them over the back of a chair in front of her.
100 years ago
July 18, 1919
V.O. Grant has filled his 12×30-foot, inside measurement, silo within two feet of the top with the fall sown hay and vetch from a single five-acre field.
The Grant & Reese ranch is about 12 miles up the Wynooche Valley. It is estimated by County Agent McWhorter that the crop yielded about 18 to 19 tons to the acre of splendid feed. Accurate measurements are to be made later. With feed at present prices, feed crops are of great interest to the dairymen of the county. This county is one of the few which has not materially cut down the number of dairy cows but if feed for the cows is not raised at home, the number will have to be cut if the business is to remain profitable. As a consequence, Mr. McWhorter is making careful records of feed crops being grown. Mr. Grant also has a small patch of sunflowers grown as a silage experiment.
75 years ago
July 20, 1944
Last week, The Vidette reported that Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Stewart of this city had received a surprise call from their son, Jack Stewart, who has just returned to the States after serving three years in the South Pacific. In the telephone conversation to his parents, young Stewart stated that he was to receive a 30-day leave and was coming home.
This last Tuesday morning, Mr. and Mrs. Stewart received a special delivery letter from Jack saying he wouldn’t be home for several days. The reason — young Stewart received his 30-day leave but that he had met a young lady, a Miss Irma Welsh of Los Angeles, whom he wished to wed and bring home and thus surprise his parents. …
Then, the time came for the marriage. The guests began to arrive, the bride was ready, and then — sabotage to the groom — and the Navy! Stewart was suddenly stricken by a sudden attack of appendicitis and rushed to the navy hospital at Long Beach for an emergency operation.
However, in true Navy style, young Stewart called the Navy chaplain the next morning and then called his fiancee, who rushed to the hospital in a taxicab, and they were married.
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50 years ago
July 17, 1969
A total of six bids were opened at the Corps of Engineers’ office in Seattle, Tuesday, for the construction of the Wynoochee Dam, which will be located some 40 miles up the Wynooche River near Camp Grisdale.
Of the six bids submitted, the Dravo Corp. of Bellevue, which entered a bid of $13,318,001, was the apparent low bidder.
The overall plan and bid calls for a three-phase operation. The first would be the dam appurtenances. Phase two calls for forestry development roads to the upper reservoir, into the dame site, the Grisdale bypass and a fish release road. The third and final phase calls for an upstream fish passage facility. Dravo Corp., in bidding the tree phases, submitted a total of $10,923,800, $1,395,843 and $998,358 respectively.
Originally, the Corps of Engineers had estimated the entire project to be in the neighborhood of $11,045,468.85.
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Monday last, a few United Methodist men sat around an unadorned table and shared rolls and coffee at seven ayem. Their “program” was conversation and each had received starters — little cards with questions to be answered. Exciting? Yuk.
Bit it turned out to be just that. Exciting. There was no lull in the whole hour, no rush to disband when the hour was officially over. That each had to go to his work was really the cause for adjournment.
There has long been the necessity for rearranging men’s club meetings. Not just in Montesano United Methodist, but in many local churches in many denominations. Their structure has taken on the complexion of a service club, a lodge, a ladies’ night, etc. And a good program — that which can compete with all those things on TV and at the end of the road in a camper — is not just scarce. It is almost non-existent. And there is the need for crowds to make the event successful. Everyone knows that if only a few show up the feeling of failure prevails over all.
But here, last Monday at 7 a.m., there was no need for crowds. There was no need for formality. And there was the learning experience that comes with casualness, with lack of pressure. And there is the preacher with his hair down, too.
