Pomeroy Pioneer Portraits

Ten Years Ago

October 5, 2011

The Peola Road Project is about 70% complete and the road between just south of the city limits and Dutch Flat Road is expected to re-open around Nov. 1. The $4 million construction project started the middle of June and is the biggest road project ever for the county, in terms of cost and the more than six miles of road.

Twenty-Five Years Ago

October 9, 1996

Two hundred roof trusses are being put in place this week as part of the Pomeroy Retirement Center project.

During her 30 years employment with the Garfield County Hospital District, Janis Smith worked for 13 administrators.

Fifty Years Ago

October 7, 1971

Indian pictographs near Lower Granite Dam were approved for listing in the National Registry of Historic Places, as were Lyons Ferry (the ferry boat) and the site of its operations across the Snake River near the mouth of the Palouse River from 1860 until it was replaced in 1968 by the old Vantage bridge. The ferry operation was the last of the river current-powered, cable-suspended ferries in the nation.

Dye Seed Ranch reconstruction is on schedule despite a delay in receiving a truckload of sheet metal for the roof and end walls of the building. The plant is said to be the largest bluegrass seed treating plant in the world.

Seventy-Five Years Ago

October 3, 1946

Two self-propelled turnapulls, each capable of scooping up 10 yards of dirt at a single dip were leased by the fair association from a Spokane firm and will be used in leveling the fairgrounds and racetrack. It is estimated that it will take at least 30 days to complete the dirt removing job at the fairgrounds.

The special elk hunt in Columbia and Walla Walla counties this week was a disappointment to many hunters from this section who participated in the affair. Up to this morning not a single hunter from Pomeroy had taken one of the forty-eight elk reported to have been killed from an estimated over 1,000 in the field. Reports circulating about town this morning was that eight deer and a white-faced heifer had been killed or mistaken for elk during the two-day hunt.

The guest speaker’s topic at the Kiwanis meeting Monday was “Fire Prevention.” An incident, serious enough in its nature, proved amusing to his listeners when, during the course of his remarks, the fire alarm was sounded summoning to the City Fire Department to a grass fire in the east end of Pomeroy.

One Hundred Years Ago

October 1, 1921

C. Christensen has moved his frame building back, so as to give room for the erection, between the walls of the Knettle Building and the Liberty Theatre, of a brick structure covering the frontage of 60 feet and a depth of 50 feet. The frame building at the rear will be converted into a woodworking shop, adding a new line to the blacksmith business.

The fine cottage of Mr. and Mrs. J.H. Henley, costing probably $8,000 or $10,000, has just been completed on Pataha Street, between Fifth and Sixth, adding another creditable residence to the better class of homes in Pomeroy.

The high school is organizing a debating club and a French club, while the seventh and eighth grades have formed a treble clef club, made up of pupils especially strong in music.

A man and woman walked into town Wednesday evening and reported themselves “broke” and on a return trip from a hike out of Sacramento, Calif. The sheriff found the pair and kindly took them in out of the cold. Upon being questioned the man admitted they were not married. They were still in custody at noon Thursday.

One Hundred Twenty-Five Years Ago

October 10, 1896

The racket kicked up by some of the boys in the rear of the house during the speaking Wednesday evening adds nothing to the good name of the youth of Pomeroy. Our young friends should know that rowdyism is not patriotism.

Tom Burlingame will load 12 cars of stock at the depot in this city Monday. The train is billed for Billings, Mont., and constitutes the first shipment of livestock from Pomeroy to that point. Heretofore stock have been driven to Uniontown and shipped over the Northern Pacific line.

At the City Council meeting Tuesday, the ordinance restraining stock from running at large was passed by a vote of 3 to 1. The marshal was instructed to collect water rents during the next six months, at one-half the regular price.

George Howe had an experience a few days ago that he will not soon forget. His four-horse team attempted to run away and in some manner George got his legs through the spokes of a front wheel, but fortunately at that moment succeeded in swinging the horses around so as to pile the whole outfit up in a heap. Unable, however, to extricate himself he called loudly for help for a half hour when Elmer Start came to his assistance and the wheel had to be taken off to get Mr. Howe out of his perilous position. No bones are broken, but he is bruised from head to foot and is yet confined to his bed at the residence of D.B. Stone.