125 years ago
Dec. 21, 1894
Quite a party of teachers went to Aberdeen, Wednesday morning on the Josie Burrows, to attend the teachers’ institute.
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Harry, the little son of Mr. and Mrs. H.M. Sutton, gave a birthday party to a number of his friends last Saturday, it being his sixth birthday. A jolly good time was had by all the little folks.
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A. Beaulieu, one of Ocosta’s business men, was in the city Tuesday on business.
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Miss Minnie Burnham, formerly a resident of this city, was recently united in marriage with a Tacoma gentleman.
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The lecture of Mrs. Fifield, president of the state WCTU, at the Presbyterian church last Friday evening, was not as largely attended as it would have been had there not been another meeting in the city.
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S.S. Ford, the old time resident of the upper Chehalis, was in town the first of the week, on business and also to visit his daughter, Mrs. E. Kellerman.
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Mrs. Chas. Lyons, of Hoquiam, has been visiting the family of J.E. Lyons this week.
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We understand that our members of the legislature from this county have received more applications for positions at Olympia during the legislative session than the total number of votes they received. Of course all applicants for clerkships call attention to the service rendered during the campaign.
100 years ago
Dec. 12, 1919
Grover Smith has purchased the Elias Bryan home on Academy street. There are three lots, several fine fruit trees and a house that would cost double the price of the place now. The sale was made by William Allen and the price was $1,300.
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Even the police found their hearts soft toward the kids on the Main street hill of Montesano last night. The paved street was like a toboggan slide and as there was little travel, anyway, probably no damage was done.
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J.J. Rottle made a business trip to Seattle and Portland the last of the week trying to buy more clothing for the Christmas trade.
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Mrs. L.C. Davidson entertained a party of guests at a very delightful dinner party last week in honor of Mr. Davidson’s birthday. Covers were laid for ten.
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Of course your pipes may be froze up and bursted, but you’re not the only pebble that’s on that beach.
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Elvis Eaton of Humptulips was a business visitor in Montesano Saturday.
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Mrs. V.A. Paulson arrived this week from San Francisco to spend the holidays with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. L.B. Bignold.
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The Dan Cloud family moved into their new home corner of Chehalis and Spruce street Tuesday.
75 years ago
Dec. 21, 1944
All regular employees of the Simpson Logging company in Shelton and McCleary that are heads of families are being presented with turkeys this Christmas. This is in keeping with a tradition established 23 years ago by Mark E. Reed, president of the company at that time. The custom in the past has been to give the festive birds at Thanksgiving. However, this year the company was unable to secure turkeys in sufficient quantity to distribute at Thanksgiving, but have been able to do so at Christmas time.
About 950 turkeys are being distributed to the employees in Shelton and McCleary amounting to about six and one-half tons of turkey. The birds are being distributed by the Lumbermen’s Mercantile for the company.
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Word was received this week from the War department by Mr. and Mrs. Earl Wright, Route 1, Montesano, that their son, Corporal Howard Wright, had been killed in action December 3, in Germany.
Corporal Wright was a member of the 297th Combat Engineers and was a member of one of the first troop units to enter Germany. He was 19 years old, and was born in Muscatine, Iowa. He graduated from the Montesano High School in 1942. He was a letterman in baseball, a member of the Sylvan staff and the Bulldog staff. … A brother, Earl Wright, is serving in the army in Panama.
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Ray Miner, ship’s cook in the Merchant Marines, who is serving on a tanker in the South Pacific, wrote his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Miner, that he had just met his brother, Wayne, at a South Pacific base. This is the first time that the two brothers had met in the past two years.
“Wayne was sure surprised when I walked in on him and he could hardly believe it was me,” Ray said. “His commanding officer gave him time off and we had a swell visit and he showed me around the island. Wayne looked fine and was in the very best of health.”
Wayne Miner has been serving in the Army air corps in the South Pacific for the past two years, while his brother, Ray, has served in the Merchant Marines for the past year. Another brother, Don Miner, served in the Navy until invalided home last year.
50 years ago
Dec. 18, 1969
“Air pollution is here, and it is here to stay.” Those were the words Wednesday of Joe Durnan as he spoke to the Montesano Chamber of Commerce on the subject of air pollution. Durnan is a representative of the Olympic Air Pollution Control Authority, whose jurisdiction encompasses Grays Harbor, Jefferson, Mason and Pacific Counties.
Durnan was quick to point out to members that though the Authority had received little favorable press mention in the Harbor area, “It is our intent to treat both big and little business equally as far as the control of air pollution is concerned.” He was commenting on the rumor that big business may not be affected by the controls.
Pointing to the general policy of the Authority, Durnan said, “Our basic intention is to prevent pollution in the atmosphere, but at the same time, maintain a liberal and cooperative attitude toward industry that is affected. I should like to point particularly to the E.C. Miller Lumber Co., here in Montesano, I think we will have nothing but cooperation with them. They realize the need for pollution control.”
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Log exports from all ownerships in Washington, Oregon, northern California and Alaska totaled 170.7 million board feet in October 1969, according to Research Economist John Austin, of the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station in Portland. This volume was 8.5 percent below September shipments and 13.2 percent below last year’s October exports.
Shipments in the first 10 months of 1969 totaled 1,769 million board feet, down 7.5 percent from the January-October shipments of 1968.
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Editorial: The request of the military defense counsel and the military prosecutor, in the pending court martial of 1st Lt. William L. Calley Jr., that publication of statements by witnesses and photographs of the alleged massacre at Songmy be prohibited by court injunction, was certainly unprecedented but is a reflection of the trend in legal thinking in this country.
There have been several requests by attorneys in other cases recently that the press should be prohibited from publishing anything about a case. The excuse has been that it is necessary to protect the right of the accused to a fair trial. The implication is that press coverage has not only been unfair to the accused but may somehow be responsible for the predicament of the accused.
In the Songmy case the United State Court of Military Appeals unanimously turned down the appeal. It was the right decision and the only legally correct one.
