125 years ago
Sept. 9, 1892
As has been generally understood by the citizens of Montesano and vicinity for some time, Mr. George W. Stetson, the well-known mill man, has been negotiating for the Montesano mill property. It was reported a few weeks since that the trade had been consummated, but this was incorrect, as the deal was concluded only a day or two since.
By the purchase of the mill property, Mr. Stetson comes into possession of a good plant, well located on the Chehalis river, convenient for shipping either by water or rail, (the Northern Pacific branch to the river touching the property). He also secures other valuable land adjacent, for the purpose of erecting shingle mills, dry houses, etc.
Among the improvements which Mr. Stetson agrees to make, are additional machinery, increasing the capacity of the mill; the erection of a shingle mill to cut at least 130,000 per day; the building of dry houses and other needed buildings. Work will begin immediately.
100 years ago
Sept. 7, 1917
Mrs. Alfred Crebbs and three-year-old daughter, of Aberdeen, were killed and Mr. Crebbs and two small daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Barlett, also of Aberdeen, were seriously injured yesterday evening when the N. P. passenger train that passed Montesano at 5:15 p.m. struck the automobile in which they were riding at the country club crossing and completely demolished the car. Mrs. Crebbs was killed instantly and the child died on the way to the hospital at Aberdeen. Mr. Crebbs and the two Bartlett girls are in an Aberdeen hospital, the latter two in a very serious condition, but with a chance for recovery.
The engineer’s report of the accident shed the only light there is on the affair. The train was late and was running at high speed endeavoring to make up some of the time. The engineer did not see the car until his engine rounded the curve just at the club grounds. The automobile seemed to be stationary on the track, and it is thought the engine stalled as the machine rolled onto the track. The impact was terrific and the car was crushed to kindling wood. The dead and injured were taken aboard the train and rushed to Aberdeen, the babe dying before the city was reached. The injured man and girls were taken to a hospital in the harbor city for treatment.
75 years ago
Sept. 10, 1942
Joseph Fuquay, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ross Fuquay, enlisted in the army air corps the first week in July and last week was graduated from the Harlingen, Texas, aerial school, with the rating of sergeant.
In a letter to relatives here the young Grays Harbor junior college student writes, “This has been a busy week for us all. I’ve been in the air firing every day. You can bet my nerves were on edge toward the end. I needed a certain number of hits to pass. Took my final test this afternoon, a two hour essay type test. It was a tough one. Well I made it. We went up to the stage at the post theatre this morning and received our diplomas from the colonel. Also attached to the diploma was a sheet stating Pvt. Fuquay had been given the rating of sergeant. We will receive sergeant’s base pay, plus one-half that base pay for flying. By the time you receive this letter I may be shipped to some other part of the county.
50 years ago
Sept. 7, 1967
Montesano school administrators were caught a bit by surprise on the opening day of school Wednesday as 40 students new to the district – who had not pre-registered – showed up for classes.
“We had guessed fairly accurately,” Superintendent Carl Snyder observed, “but you can imagine the situation. We’ve got to analyze and make some changes. If some of our classrooms prove to be overloaded, we will do some switching right away.”
As a result of the unexpected arrivals, most of them in kindergarten, the Monte system got off to something less than a smooth start. “But we’ll work things out, I’m sure,” Snyder said.
Total enrollment at the close of the first day of fall business stood at 1,326, up by 28 over last year’s turnout of 1,298. The kindergarten jump was the most dramatic – 111 pupils this year, compared with 85 in 1966.
All told, Snyder reported, the elementary grades showed a total of 941, while the high school recorded 385, an increase of only four over the last year’s, 381.
25 years ago
Sept. 3, 1992
“With school opening, motorists must be extra careful on our highways, streets and in our neighborhoods for the approximately 894,000 students returning to the classroom,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Judith Billings said last week. “Motorists must be aware and obey the laws pertaining to cross walks and school buses so that all our students will be safe traveling to and from school.”
Approximately 436,000 students – nearly half of the school population – ride school buses. Billings said, “The most dangerous time of a child’s commute to school and home is when that child loads and unloads off a stopped school bus.”
State law requires by September 1, 1992, that all school buses be equipped with a six-foot crossing arm to ensure that all exiting children will walk at least six feet in front of the bus when crossing the street.
As a visual warning to motorists, a school bus will have alternating flashing amber lights when it is preparing to stop on the roadway to load or unload students.
10 years ago
Sept. 6, 2007
Mark Reed Hospital and Grays Harbor Public Hospital No. 1’s new chief executive officer, Renee Dunham, who began Aug. 1 after her longtime predecessor Jean Roberts retired, has no problem with small towns. She grew up in one – Monroe (though the town northeast of Seattle’s been growing.
Before coming to McCleary, Dunham, 30, worked for seven years at a hospital in the Eastern Washington town of Dayton, northwest of Walla Walla. Dayton is smaller than Monroe and just a bit larger than McCleary. In fact, the previous hospital Dunham worked for is much like McCleary’s she says. Both are critical access hospitals, which means, among other things, that they’re rural, not close to other hospitals and offer emergency care.
Dayton General Hospital, part of the Columbia County Heath System, has 25 beds, as does Mark Reed, though the health system in Dayton also has a nursing home and two rural health clinics. Mark Reed has a primary care clinic on site.
Mark Reed’s staff numbers 73, the equivalent of 46 full-time employees, and the hospital district extends from the boundary between Grays Harbor and Thurston counties to the Satsop River and from the boundary between Grays Harbor and Mason counties to Gibson Creek, a little south of Porter.
Both Dayton and McCleary hospitals have also had similar challenges, Mark Reed’s new CEO says. “I’m very familiar with the challenges, because they had all the same ones.”
