Cowlitz Elects New President in 1937
On June 14, 1937, The Centralia Daily Chronicle reported the Cowlitz Tribe held their annual meeting at the Moose Hall in Chehalis, with part of their time spent electing a new president. J.B. Sareault, president, had died last winter, and his son James E. Sareault was elected president. Others elected were Lewis Castama, Silver Creek, vice president, and Mrs. Margaret Ray, Oakville, secretary-treasurer.
“Before the white man came to the northwest, the Cowlitz tribe had as their territory over 4,000 square miles which comprised land west of the Cascade mountains, north of the Columbia river, south of Puget Sound and east of the coast range,” the newspaper wrote.
“At the time of the Indian uprising in 1856 the Cowlitz tribe were the only group friendly to the white men and fought with them against the fierce Yakimas and the coast tribes. Many pioneers hold that if it had not been for the Cowlitz tribe, every settler in the Northwest would have been slain.”
Master Winne Wagley Celebrates Birthday
125 years ago, in 1887
Master Winne Wagley and his little friends celebrated his sixth birthday at his home.
“They enjoyed the exhilarating games of ‘Hide and Go Seek,’ and ‘Blind Man’s Buff,’ to such an extent as to make the old folks wish they were children again,” The Lewis County Bee reported.
“At six o’clock they were invited to partake of cake, cream and strawberries, which they relished the more because they were seasoned with embryo flirtations and smalltalk, just as they had seen the older ones on similar occasions, perform. Each one wore a large red poppy as a buttonhole bouquet, which caused considerable merriment from their irrepressible fun loving propensities.
“Promptly at 8 o’clock they took their departure for home, after wishing their host many happy returns of the day. Leaving behind them many mementos in remembrance of the day, and the pleasant time they had enjoyed.”
Work Started on New Chehalis Depot
100 years ago, in 1912
Engineers from the railroad were looking at the site of the new passenger depot.
“The first move to be made will be the transferring that part of the station now being used as a freight depot to its new location and trackage built to it,” The Centralia Weekly Chronicle wrote. “The present passenger station will remain where it is until the new one is completed. Excavating for the heating plant to be installed in the new depot, began yesterday.”
Servicemen Blamed for Bomb Blast at Dance Hall
50 years ago, in 1962
The Sunday morning a dynamite blast and a tear gas bomb at the dance hall at Claquato were blamed on servicemen.
“The sheriff said officers found an Army tear gas bomb in the restroom of the Plaquato dance hall,” The Daily Chronicle reported. “Amondson said he believes servicemen took the chemical charge to the dance and ignited it about 2 a.m.
“Deputies were first called to the scene when about 20 sticks of dynamite were touched off near the dance hall, which is on the bank of the Chehalis river. The explosion, along the bank, rocked the areas but no damages to private property were reported.
“The tear gas bomb went off shortly after the dynamite explosion.”
Youth Wins ‘On the Spot’
25 years ago, in 1987
Matt Richert, 17-year-old Chehalis senior, took first place in the “High School Challenge,” part of KGW-TV’s “On the Spot” show.
Larry Parsons, Richert’s coach in the school’s Knowledge Bowl, recommended Richert for the competition. “I know that he’s real good in Knowledge Bowl, and I thought he would probably do very well (in the game show),” Parsons said. “I thought he had an outside chance to go all the way — then after the first night he thought he had a very good chance of taking it all.”
“Richert describes his first show as a ‘breeze,” The Chronicle reported. “He won the competition round with a score of 4,400 points — the prize was a stereo system — and qualified for a 60-second ‘flash’ round, where he answered all 10 questions correctly. That was worth $1,000.”
For the final round, he beat his competition by 1,000 points.
He earned $6,000, as well as $1,000 for his school.
Stray Wins State Award
10 years ago, in 2002
The Gatorade Washington State Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year Award was won by Centralia hammer thrower Jordan Stray.
Brim Tractor In Business 35 Years
Five years ago, in 2007
Brim Tractor Co. celebrated 40 years in business. It was the largest New Holland dealer in North America, out of 1,200 dealerships.
Bill and Margaret Brim founded the business in 1967. In 1997, their son Dan and wife Teresa purchased the business and opened the new Chehalis store in April 2007.
Other branches were in Everett, Lynden, Mount Vernon, North Bend, Sumner and Salem, Ore.
Broken Pipe Floods Downtown Seattle Streets, Swallows Passersby in 1942
By HistoryLink.org
This week in 1942, a water main burst in downtown Seattle, buckling pavement, flooding basements, and nearly causing several drownings. Some pedestrians were rescued after falling into the sinkhole that appeared beneath their feet, but in the end no one was injured, just soaked.
That Saturday afternoon, June 13, the sidewalks were crowded with pedestrians, many of them shopping for various sundries on their day off. At 4:15 p.m., a 20-inch water main near the corner of 2nd Avenue and Washington Street shattered 5 feet below the surface, unleashing a flash flood which quickly undermined the street and sidewalk.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer photographer Jeb Beaudin happened to be walking nearby with his camera, and immediately began snapping photos of pedestrians and cars dodging around the buckling pavement. Suddenly, as a piece of concrete gave way, two men directly in front of him disappeared into eight feet of water.
Beaudin set aside his camera, and helped pluck the two fellows out of the hole. He then resumed his pictorial coverage. By this time, other would-be rescuers had themselves fallen into the drink and were in danger of being sucked into now-flooded basements nearby. Fortunately, the crowd pulled them all out.
Swedish Americans Incorporate Seattle's Swedish Hospital in 1908
On June 13, 1908, a group of Swedish Americans led by Dr. Nils A. Johanson incorporated Seattle's Swedish Hospital.
Dr. Johanson moved to Seattle in 1907 to establish his practice. Seattle had hospitals, but Johanson felt that none of them offered the advances in care that he had seen during his medical training in Denver.
In 1908 he joined with 10 other Swedish Americans to form a nonprofit hospital that would incorporate the latest medical advances. The small hospital continued to expand and became the largest hospital in Washington state.
Dr. Johanson led the hospital until the mid-1940s. His influence is still felt in the hospital's emphasis on continuing education and at the Swedish Cancer Institute (which he founded as the Swedish Tumor Institute in 1932). The hospital has continued to grow, becoming Washington's largest hospital in 1980.
Mock Bombing Raid Held at Husky Stadium in 1943
On June 13, 1943, a mock bombing raid was held at Husky Stadium on the University of Washington campus in Seattle.
The event was intended to demonstrate how civilian and military defense organizations could respond in case of an enemy attack. More than 35,000 spectators were in attendance.
