125 years ago
Nov. 18, 1892
From the Elma Chronicle:
The steel piers for the Elma bridge have arrived and are being hauled to place.
S.B. Reynolds shipped two cars of cedar lumber to Portland yesterday.
We are glad to announce that Charles Byles is recovering from his illness.
J.B. Jones, that old hard-shell Kentucky democrat, won nine hats on the election of Cleveland.
J. Will Anderson, the efficient and gentlemanly clerk for Anderson & Combes returned yesterday from a visit to his old home in Kentucky.
Intelligence was received at Oakville Tuesday, by telegraph, that Bartley Commins had been mortally injured while at work in a tunnel on the Great Northern railway, and could live but a few hours. His wife left Oakville on the morning train to join him, and the message was not received until in the afternoon. Mr. Commins was well known and had many friends in and about Elma.
100 years ago
Nov. 16, 1917
The Oakville co-operative cheese factory since it began operations July 17, 1917, has done a prosperous business. It receives at present 3500 pounds of milk daily, with a prospect of continuing all winter. The cheese finds a ready market. The pay checks amount to $3000 per month. The cheesemaker, Thos. Phillipson, has proved his ability.
75 years ago
Nov. 19, 1942
Army officers assigned by the Provost-Marshal for the northwest sector are making regular night inspections in Montesano and and vicinity to enforce the dim-out regulations, according to Bruce Hood, county civilian defense director. Last Monday evening three violations were found and those responsible were warned that a repeated violation would bring prosecution.
The violations included, 1. Porch light on a private home. 2. Strong lights showing from a cigar store. 3. Strong lights at a local service station.
Inspections are being made regularly by the army authorities, it was stated.
•••
Customers of state liquor stores who buy their weekly “one quart or two pints” are going to find themselves carrying another ration card besides their gas coupons, according to Joe Healey, local liquor store manager.
It’s a nice looking card, but just a little too big to fit the average wallet. And it says just what it means when the purchaser finds that he signs a pledge under oath that he holds no other permit than the one numbered on the ration card.
The “one quart or two pints” may be purchased at any time during the calendar week starting on Monday. For instance, one who buys his two pints after next Monday must realize that he has bought his “allotment” for his Thanksgiving celebration.
Perhaps many will be really “thankful” for the above arrangement–the day after Thanksgiving.
Ho, hum–wonder how the vendors of “hangovers” remedies are going to make a living now.
50 years ago
Nov. 16, 1967
Dr. Betty Davis will be guest speaker at the special meeting on November 21 of the Montesano T.O.P.S. Figure Fighters Club. Her talk will be on diets, weight loss, and problems of overweight people.
•••
Montesano has long been proud of Bryan Parkway, its colorful entrance from the east. Natives have sung its praises. Visitors have viewed it–and remembered it.
Just this Tuesday night, belatedly, City Clerk Bertha Satterstrom reported to Council that Nell Kemp had planted six rhododendrons in the parkway area in memory of her parents. It seemed a most appropriate gesture, for it was her parents who donated the right-of-way when the gateway to the Monte was built.
Over the week end, however, juvenile vandals apparently were determined to spoil the quiet dignity of one of Monte’s most cherished sites. Police Chief Bruce Curtright reported that three wooden rifles which usually adorn the parkway monument were stolen, one of them shattered and tossed away nearby and the other pair missing.
“We don’t have much to go on,” Curtright said, ‘but we’d sure like to nab those involved. If anyone has any information regarding the destruction, we’d appreciate it. We can’t believe anyone would do such a thing.”
And yet someone did. Someone you or I may know. So please, if you can aid the police, do it today … and benefit Bryan Parkway, one of Montesano’s prime assets.
25 years ago
Nov. 19, 1992
Thursday, Nov. 12 became another ‘Black Day’ in the history of Grays Harbor County when ITT-Rayonier announced the permanent closure of its pulp mill in Hoquiam and the adjacent Grays Harbor Paper Company, a subsidiary of International Paper Company. Both mills were ‘temporarily’ closed about a week ago when company officials cited high prices for raw materials and the slumping market for paper products. During 1992, both mills have been shut down for a total of 2.5 months. The company also noted that so far this year the operation has lost some $11 million.
•••
The county commissioners Monday put their stamp of approval on the proposed renovation of the former Juvenile Detention Center in Hoquiam that would change the building into a comprehensive Crisis Clinic for Harborites who are chemically or drug dependent when they approved a request for funding for the Department of Community Development. The amount of funding available is in the neighborhood of $478,000.
Maryann Welch, director of Social Services, explained to the board that, “In the past there have been an average of 25 to 35 Grays Harbor residents who, for one reason or another, have had to go to Western State Hospital for treatment. If this county can get the block grant necessary, our proposed Center would be able to treat them.”
10 years ago
Nov. 15, 2007
Anyone asking Grays Harbor residents would likely be told that the county’s Cancer Relay For Life teams are undisputed winners.
Each year, they expend incalculable time and energy raising funds to fight the dread disease, using creative ways to keep the battle fresh and ongoing. But now the county’s two Relay for Life groups, East Grays Harbor, which has an annual 24-hour Relay walk at the county fairgrounds in Elma, and the “Grays Harbor” group, which has its 24-hour walk the same Friday and Saturday at the Hoquiam High School track, have received national recognition for their gallant efforts.
An American Cancer Society representative told those attending the Oct. 27 “Relay University” in Seattle that Grays Harbor County’s teams together raised the second highest amount per capita in the nation this year for counties with populations between 60,000 and 74,999, said Darla Sauer of Montesano who attended the Seattle training.
