125 years ago
January 26, 1894
Several ladies walked to Aberdeen last Saturday “just for exercise.” Those who have taken the same trip declare that there is no question but the ladies got plenty of it. They state it was just “too lovely for anything.” We have heard people say the same thing as they came out of the surf at the beach, blue with cold and their teeth chattering so they could not talk distinctly; but we always thought they were trying to fool us.
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The couple who wondered why their lantern would not light, the other morning when starting home from a party, found on getting home that the whole bottom part of the lantern was gone.
The young man says he didn’t worry so much about wasting the box of matches in trying to light the blamed thing, for they were borrowed, but the phosphorus left on the leg of his pants would insist on shining.
100 years ago
January 24, 1919
Ora Watson, of the Montesano Furniture Co., says: “Let our ad run for another week as it is.
“It has sold two washers for us, and we’ve got another sale in sight.”
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Rea Kellerman, who recently received his discharge from the army, has accepted a position in the L.C. Davidson Garage and is this week moving his family to Montesano from Aberdeen.
75 years ago
January 27, 1944
History of importance to every community in the Pacific Northwest was made last Friday evening when Attorney W.H. Abel of Montesano, acting for the Simpson Logging company, presented to Mayor Les Wills of McCleary documents giving clear right and title to the city of McCleary of the light and power plant which had been owned by the Simpson company since Henry McCleary had sold Simpson’s the mill and all its auxiliary properties two years ago.
The act was significant and of historical value because of the example it set of friendly cooperation between the operators of a lumber mill employing a large majority of the citizens of the community in which the mill was located.
The occasion marked the end of McCleary as a company-owned settlement of a past generation, which might have become a ghost town if logging had ceased in contributing areas.
50 years ago
January 23, 1969
If local weather conditions permit, the final link of the Ocean Freeway will be officially opened to the public next Thursday, January 30.
When this occurs, Interstate 5 will be a four lane highway from Olympia to Aberdeen and enable motorists to drive from Seattle or Longview at the legal speed of 70 mph. The first slowdown will be at Central Park, 5 miles west of Montesano, where a speed of 50 mph is observed.
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The Drug Crisis — What Can You Do?
This question will be the basis for a symposium forum sponsored by the Grays Harbor-Pacific Counties Mental Health and Retardation Corporation in cooperation with the Grays Harbor College at 8 o’clock Thursday, January 30.
On the panel will be a psychiatrist, two doctors, a counselor, a police captain and two former users, one a college student and the other a high school student.
They will discuss just how serious the “drug scene” is, who tries drugs and why, who stays on drugs, what the mental effects are, where the users are going, and how a user comes down.
25 years ago
January 27, 1994
Only three Harborites, Joanne Coker, Sherrie Loertscher and Dolores Cavanagh, all three of Montesanno, were on hand Monday to voice their opposition before the county commissioners to the concept of locating a state operated prison in Grays Harbor County, one similar to the one operating at Clallam Bay.
Mrs. Coker told the board, “Our area down here really doesn’t deserve the trash that comes from the cities. We like our country just the way it is now.”
Mrs. Loertscher told the commissioners, “We live in this county because we like the size of it and feel it’s like a pristine wilderness. There must be a more suitable location for such a prison than Grays Harbor.”
Ms. Cavanagh said, “I really believe that we can find a more suitable facility for the area than a prison. We can do better.”
Friend and Rikalo Constructin Company has offered a 250-acre site off Highway 105 about 4 or 5 miles west of Aberdeen for the proposed jail facility.
Third District Commissioner Bob Paylor told the audience, “I believe that the positive prospects far outweigh the negative ones, and I believe we should do everything we can to promote several hundred jobs in the area.” It appears that such a facility would employ 600 to 700 persons in the overall picture.”
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Al Cain, Montesano resident, recently donated a chain saw-carved ‘Bulldog’ to the student body of Montesano High School and it will be present at all athletic events. The carving took Cain some 40 hours to complete.
10 years ago
January 22, 2009
The patriarch of the Vaughan family died Monday afternoon after months of declining health. He was 72 years old.
Larry Vaughan was the son of Jim Vaughan, founder of the Vaughan Company, located just east of Montesano. The company — which started in an Elma welding shop in the 1950s hand-making specialty pumps to chop and pump agricultural waste — was founded by Jim who invented the pumps.
Larry worked in his father’s business from the beginning when he was 17 and helped build it into a $25 million a year business. The business is still family-run.
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Jim McLean of Brady turned 75 Tuesday and reached another milestone that same day — earning a pin for having given 21 gallons of blood to the Red Cross over the years. To be a blood donor, folks his age “don’t have to get our parents’ permission,” McLean quipped.
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Montesano High School band members Jared Larsen, Kevin Oestreich and Alicia Deaton recently participated in the Northwest High School honor band at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma. Larsen and Oestreich play the saxophone and Deaton plays the flute.
“They did really well,” Montesano High School band director Maria Hoffman said.
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Elma’s Brad Watson continued on his assault on top placings at regular season tournaments after earning first place at the Hoquiam Grizzly Alumni Association Invitational Wrestling Tournament on Saturday at Hoquiam’s Square Garden.
Watson, the 103-pound weight class winner was the lone East County titlist in the boys program, while Montesano’s Michaela Ecklund brought home the 160-pound title from the girls portion of the tourney held at the Hoquiam Middle School gymnasium simultaneously.
Compiled from the archives of The Vidette by Karen Barkstrom. She can be reached at kbarkstrom@thedailyworld.com or 360-537-3925.
