125 years ago
Sept. 23, 1892
From the Elma Chronicle:
Noah Taylor has sold his town residence to Mr. Marshall, and will shortly remove to his farm on the south side.
John T. Shelby had $60,000 in coin stolen from a pocket book in his bed room in the rear of his saloon Wednesday.
Master Willie Combes returned to the Bishop Scott Academy, at Portland, Thursday, where he acquitted himself so creditably last term.
J. Will Anderson left Thursday for a visit to his old home in Franklin, Kentucky. Elma society, as well as Anderson and Combes’ customers will miss his genial presence during his absence.
H. J. Bunn has again assumed the management of the Hotel Elma, Mrs. Hilligoss retiring. Mr. Bunn’s well established reputation as a hotel man will ensure him a fair share of the business.
100 years ago
Sept. 21, 1917
Last week’s Elma Chronicle carries the following story relative to the development of iron prospects on and near the upper county city:
From the time that this country was first settled and even before that, there have been rumors of rich deposits of iron ore in this section that were very plentiful and that some day they would be developed. Some mining men have gone as far as to say that the deposit would run into millions of tons.
For some years there has been prospecting going on east of Elma in the South Union neighborhood on the lands of the Port Blakely Mill Company. Specimens of the ore have been exhibited here and one or two parties have sent samples to be assayed and received very favorable reports; one report showing that there was 66 1/3 iron and 3 1/3 manganese in the ore. The tract on which this ore has been found covers several square miles and is between four and five miles east of Elma.
Some time ago capitalists of Tacoma became interested in this matter and sent representatives here to investigate it thoroughly. This was done and the report that they made to their superiors was so convincing that the parties came here in person last week and signed a lease with Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Dennis for land in section 29, township 18 north, range 5 west, containing 80 acres.
75 years ago
Sept. 24, 1942
Back in the fall of ‘88 Woodland Bros. Of Elma hired a very tall, affable young man just out from Missouri to drive passenger stage coach between Montesano and McCleary and this Tuesday, Lon Mobray, that same man, still young in spirit for all of his 81 years, died at an Aberdeen hospital as a result of an accident suffered the day previous. He is presumed to have been struck by the blade of an axe with which he had been cutting wood Monday afternoon. Mobray was found in a coma, seated in his house, 10 miles up the Wynooche, when a son, Warren, went to the place to get a load of wood which the father had been cutting.
Mr. Mobray was born in Logan county, Ohio, March 6, 1865, the son of James and Elizabeth Mobray and when four years of age went to Missouri where he lived until 1888, when he came here in the fall, following his brother Elmer, who had come in the spring.
For six or eight months he drove a four horse stage coach between Montesano and McCleary, stopping in Elma to change his span of horses for fresh ones. It was purely a passenger coach, capacity 12 people, and he made one trip daily.
50 years ago
Sept. 21, 1967
A native son of Montesano who has been good to his birthplace – even though business interests took him away years ago – has done it again.
Major and Mrs. Reuben H. Fleet now of San Diego, have presented a memorial gift of 35 shares of IBM common stock, valued in excess of $18,000, to the Grays Harbor County Rural Library.
Donated in the memory of Robert Savage, the unrestricted gift will be accepted formally by the library board at its October 2 meeting, when use of the money also will be discussed. Meanwhile, according to Miss Doris Wright, county rural librarian, it should be fun to watch the stock market, for the value of the IBM stocks already has gone up almost $1,000 since the gift was received here.
Regarding Mr. Savage, a World War I veteran who died June 17, Major Fleet noted that he served as loyal caretaker for Mr. and Mrs. E. K. Bishop of Aberdeen almost until is death. Mrs. Bishop is Major Fleet’s sister.
25 years ago
Sept. 17, 1992
“Kudos” this week go to the Montesano football team, volleyball team, cheerleaders, boosters and parents who spend a good deal of time and energy organizing fund raisers to send our varsity teams to Alaska for competition with Juneau teams. From all reports our students once again represented Montesano in the finest fashion. All teams competed well and won their respective games. It was a trip of a life time and will long be remembered.
A special thanks to the families of the Juneau students who housed our students during their stay in Alaska.
After a year of hard work and many hours of meeting, gathering facts and putting it all together our Montesano School District Health Drug/Alcohol Curriculum Guideline has been completed and adopted by the School Board.
10 years ago
Sept. 20, 2007
The cause of death for a couple found dead in a motel room in Montesano on Saturday likely hinges on results of toxicology reports, police say. A drug overdose is suspected.
There were no signs of violence, but there is evidence of drug abuse, Police Chief Ray Sowers said.
The two, Star Lutes, 44, and Sara Brisebois, 25, were found dead at the Plum Tree Motel about 11 or so Saturday by a man who came over to visit Lutes. The couple’s children told him they had been unable to wake them and that they were still sleeping.
Sowers said the couple had been staying there for about a month and the children, a girl age 10 who is the daughter of the male victim, and a boy age 5 who is the son of the female victim, were enrolled in Montesano schools about a week ago.
The girl, not realizing the two were dead, had made attempts to clean up the motel room that morning, so some of the possible evidence was no longer available to investigators, Sowers said.
