125 years ago
Aug. 26, 1892
To all who intend furnishing milk to The Satsop Creamery.
We expect to have the machinery in place, ready for operation on or before September 10th. You will be notified through this paper of the exact time.
We want all the milk we can get delivered to the creamery once a day, as early in the day as possible, either in the wagon or on the train.
All evening milk should be strained into cans, and cans set in cold water, the milk stirred a few minutes while cooling, thus driving out all the animal heat from the milk; this milk if kept in a cool place is ready for delivery to the creamery the next morning. The morning milk should be cooled and stirred in the same manner before being put into wagons for delivery. Do not mix morning and evening milk together under any circumstances, until cool and of even temperature.
For pure clean milk thus handled we will pay not less than 90 cents per 100 lbs, as the cost of working up a small amount will be almost as great as a large amount.
100 years ago
Aug. 24, 1917
The Montesano Chapter of the Red Cross has prepared for shipment two boxes of supplies for hospital purposes. The Satsop Circle, Mrs. W. E. Johnson chairman, the West Montesano Circle, Mrs. Sherman Hoover chairman, and the five Montesano Circles of the Chapter made the garments that fill the two boxes. Box No. 1 contains the following articles: 132 sheets. 96 pillow cases. 12 ice bags. 120 handkerchiefs. 24 emergency handkerchiefs. 96 napkins. 8 tray cloths. 60 wash rags. 66 comfort bags. 18 splint pillows.
Box No. 2 contained the following articles: 93 suits of pajamas. 30 operating socks. 72 bed socks.
Mrs. Mary Tarr, the oldest member of the Chapter, made one complete suit of pajamas. Mrs. Martha Zenor, who is also 89 years old, made some of the articles in the box. Miss Ruth Abel is the youngest member to assist in the work. Miss Josephine Law, in a plaster cast at her home, has been a faithful worker for the Red Cross.
75 years ago
Aug. 27, 1942
“Elimination of the Montesano ration board and the requirement that Montesano and nearby rural people must go to Aberdeen or Elma for ration cards is one of the most inconsiderate acts these people have ever suffered at the hands of a government bureau,” said Chapin Collins before he departed for army service Monday.
Similar expressions of dissatisfaction have been heard throughout Montesano since William B. Owens, state director of the office of price administration decreed the elimination of the Montesano ration board, which included Harry B. Latimer, chairman, Claude Vanderpool and Roy Kemp.
The protest sent to Director Owens appears in this newspaper. Copies of the telegram were sent to Governor Arthur B. Langlie and Congressman Martin F. Smith. In the letter to the governor, written by K. C. Kerstetter, secretary manager of the Montesano Chamber of Commerce, the following was included: “We can all understand the advantage of combining local boards where two communities are located side by side or within reasonably close distance of each other, but no logic can justify the elimination of the ration board in Montesano, county seat of Grays Harbor County, which serves several thousand people scattered over a good many square miles.”
50 years ago
Aug. 24, 1967
This is the Diamond Jubilee year for the Montesano Volunteer Fire Department, certainly sufficient cause for special celebration. Indeed, an appropriate 75th anniversary show – originally scheduled for August, the birthdate – still is being considered for presentation before the end of 1967.
Whether a special day of recognition is observed or not, Monte’s firemen already have conducted an observance which they recognize of tremendous importance – an annual affair that has occupied a summer’s day for many years.
Just two Sundays back, the volunteers held a vital six-hour testing of equipment at Sylvia Lake. Many volunteer departments don’t bother to run these painstaking tests, but the men of Monte regard them as solid protection against future emergencies.
Test gauges are used to determine the workability of truck gauges, the sensitive pieces of machinery which control the volume and pressure of water being pumped through hoses. Complete records are kept on these tests, for they are employed by the Washington Survey and Rating Bureau when it comes to the important matter of setting fire insurance rates.
According to Bill Rozen, a member of the department since 1952 who has served as chief for the past five years, an unusual feature of the yearly pump testing is the fact that it is conducted at the lake. “We have plenty of hydrants in Montesano,” he said, “but we feel it’s an excellent idea to draft from the lake – it’s a good technique to know – and, what’s more, it enables us to develop a high-powered stream.”
25 years ago
Aug. 20, 1992
The Elma Chamber of Commerce has introduced a coupon book offering hundreds of dollars of shopping values at retailers in east county. Chamber member Tom Rose of Grays Harbor Pellet said while most of the businesses in the first book are in Elma, the chamber is planning to expand its area with each new quarterly printing of the book.
Selling for $3, part of the proceeds go for a number of projects, such as the city parade float, Christmas decorations and banners, murals, the stone garbage can program and the slug fest scholarship.
Groups which help sell the books are entitled to half the proceeds, said Rose.
In the edition released Aug. 1, there are 23 businesses included. Items include a coupon for 20 percent off purchases at Clevengers, 10 percent off at Elma Variety, a chance to win a free Nintendo, free egg rolls, movie rentals and much more.
10 years ago
Aug. 23, 2007
After sending its engineer back to the drawing board, the Montesano City Council on Tuesday awarded a $1.5 million contract to Quigg Bros of Aberdeen to build a steel wall to stop erosion at the wastewater treatment plant south of town.
Council members were shocked in July to learn it could cost about $3 million to stop the migrating Wynooche River from literally washing the treatment plant away and sending millions of gallons of sludge into the Wynooche and Chehalis rivers.
The council asked the engineers to shorten the proposed steel wall and use other methods such was riprap and woody debris to come up with the recommended 600-foot strip of stabilization.
The city has been trying to come up with a solution since early April when the rain-swollen river receded to reveal the channel had shifted during the winter and was now scouring the bank by the treatment plant. The channel is now within a few feet of the sludge ponds.
The state Department of Ecology ordered the city to come up with a solution before the next winter storm season sets in. The contract awarded Tuesday is still in time to beat the Nov. 1 deadline.
