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In this installment of A Look Back in Time, the Thursday, Aug. 30, 1945, edition of The Chronicle featured a story about three unnamed local juveniles — a pair of brothers and their cousin — who had finally been caught after a six-month burglary spree which netted them “enough loot to start a sporting goods store,” including a dozen rifles, three shotguns and a revolver.
Jack Truman, Renton, and L.D. Kludas, Seattle, who had been reported missing and feared drowned after competing in a salmon fishing derby at the mouth of the Columbia River where five others died, were found to have just gone out fishing more without telling anyone, according to the Tuesday, Aug. 30, 1955, edition of The Chronicle.
And in the Monday, Aug. 30, 1965, edition of The Chronicle, it was reported that multiple residents and law enforcement personnel in Grays Harbor County saw a UFO flying around the previous night near Aberdeen and Cosmopolis.
A Look Back in Time is compiled using Chronicle archives stored at the Lewis County Historical Museum — located at 599 NW Front St. in Chehalis — along with digital archives on newspapers.com.
Friday, Aug. 30, 1935
• “Well known Chehalis man” Jim Van Bibber had his hand crushed after getting hit by a truck, The Chronicle reported. “Knocked down by a truck when he alighted from a car, Jim Van Bibber, well known Chehalis man, received a crushed hand and a badly bruised arm east of Randle Wednesday. Van Bibber was visiting ‘Tug’ Wilson. He is being cared for at a local hospital.” A Washington state fire warden, Van Bibber first made headlines back in August 1922 after he shot and killed Carl Hemrick on the Hemrick family’s homestead near Riffe. Van Bibber was attempting to confront Hemrick about fires set on the homestead when Hemrick’s mother charged at him with an axe and Hemrick himself appeared to be reaching for a revolver in his coat, prompting Van Bibber to shoot first.
• Centralia Mayor Dale Oliver Nugent traveled down to Portland, Oregon, to compete against other mayors from throughout the region in a golf tournament, The Chronicle reported. “Entirely recovered from the jolting effects of his ride in the mayor’s horse race at the Lewis County Fair last week, Mayor D.O. Nugent went to Portland today to try his luck at golfing against Southwest Washington and Northwest Oregon mayors. Dr. Nugent predicted he would finish among the leaders today because of being able to catch his breath between swings, which was more than he could do on horseback.”
• Students in the Toledo School District had three new classes to look forward to in the upcoming school year, The Chronicle reported. “Three new subjects will be taught this coming term, biology, public speaking and applied art, with the possibility that international problems will be given.” Additionally, the school district had purchased a new “65-passenger white bus” to transport students to and from Vader.
• The Chronicle published a legal notice from the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office concerning the upcoming auction of Centralia properties seized from W.R. and Marion Horswill following their loss of a legal battle with the Ren Corporation. Bidding on the properties, located along Magnolia Street, was set to start at $2,302.41 to cover “attorney’s fees, interest, costs and increased costs” accrued by the Horswills totalling $2,073.55.
Thursday, Aug. 30, 1945
• A pair of unnamed juvenile brothers were in custody after they were arrested in connection with a string of burglaries carried out over a period of six months, The Chronicle reported. “Enough loot to start a sporting goods store was recovered Tuesday afternoon when sheriff’s officers picked up the two boys, brothers, in connection with the burglarizing of some dozen homes, mostly in the Logan Hill District south of Chehalis. The brothers later implicated a cousin, who is said to have participated in some of the burglaries. Two of the boys were 15 years of age, and the third 17 … Loot recovered included such items as a dozen rifles, three shotguns, a revolver, knives, holsters, innumerable amounts of ammunition, three radios, an iron, two electric toasters, loggers, blankets, saws, hammers, hip boots, fishing tackle, watches, rings, jewelry, groceries, sugar and canned fruit.” The boys had told their parents they got a job picking hops at a hop yard as a cover story for having to leave frequently to break into the homes. “Parents of the youths expressed complete surprise their sons could have ever been involved in such thievery. They said they had little trouble with the lads, and they thought they were working, as they said.”
• Centralia Mayor Ray Sprague announced city staff were finalizing the purchase of a water pump supplied to the city during World War II by U.S. Office of Civilian Defence (OCD) as a “wartime protective measure,” The Chronicle reported. “In disposing of and recalling its equipment, the OCD is giving communities the opportunity to purchase the pumpers, and the one Centralia has will cost $482.91, Sprague said. He added the purchase, ‘is a bargain, and three city departments have need for the equipment.’” Aside from the city’s fire department using the pump to fight smaller blazes which didn’t require their larger one, water department staff were going to use the pump to empty reservoirs for cleaning and the light department to clean the forebays of the power dam. “Sprague also disclosed the city has discontinued the circuits which operated 13 air raid sirens, and they will be removed from throughout the city.”
• The Redanga, a youth recreation center in Centralia, was set to reopen after it had been shut down due to insufficient funding, The Chronicle reported. “More than $80 was forthcoming from the boys and girls who use the center, it was disclosed, and the additional amount needed for continued operation was in the form of a gift from a local resident. The center will now remain open until further funds are received through the city’s annual community fund drive.”
• A four-bedroom home with a small barn, hen house, garage and bungalow on seven and a half acres of land on a “graveled road and mail route” was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $4,000.
Tuesday, Aug. 30, 1955
• The Chronicle featured an Associated Press story about a pair of fishermen found fishing after their friends reported them missing and feared they had drowned following a series of boating mishaps during a salmon fishing derby at the mouth of the Columbia River which claimed five lives. “They are Jack Truman, Renton, and L.D. Kludas, Seattle. Friends who reported them missing early Monday said the pair had merely returned to their fishing without notifying anyone. The five drowned in boating accidents which occurred as more than 2,000 boats congregated at the mouth of the Columbia, over the weekend.”
• A Packwood gas station was out of service after an eight-ton flatbed truck crashed into three gas pumps and the canopy above them on Monday, The Chronicle reported. Surprisingly, no injuries were reported and the vehicle came out unscathed too. “Damage to the station was estimated at $1,500. The driver of the truck, Earl E. Lonbord, 27, Yakima, was making a turn into the station when his brakes failed, state patrolmen said. There was no damage to the truck.”
• Following a meeting at Centralia City Hall, a new committee was formed to look into possible improvement projects at the Fort Borst Park in Centralia after residents expressed interest in either a new athletic area or a motor racing track to various organizational representatives, The Chronicle reported. “Exchange club representative Lyal W. McConnell said that while some members felt there is a need for a race track, they did not think a feasible plan could be worked out to build a race track and an athletic plant in the same area. The majority, he said, favored an athletic plant.”
• The Centralia Fire Department had accepted delivery of a brand-new 1955 Ford Station Wagon Country Sedan for use by the department’s chief, The Chronicle reported. “The new vehicle has several advantages over the older coupe which it replaces, including quicker and easier handling of emergency equipment, use as an ambulance and use as a pick-up vehicle for needed equipment.”
• A three-bedroom home on Ninth Street in Chehalis was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $7,000. A two- bedroom furnished home in Centralia was listed for rent for $65 a month.
Monday, Aug. 30, 1965
• Both residents and law enforcement personnel in Grays Harbor reported seeing a UFO flying around Aberdeen and Cosmopolis the previous week, The Chronicle reported. “The sighting was made by several persons Thursday at 10:20 p.m. and is verified by separate sightings by police in Aberdeen and Cosmopolis. Mostly red, shading to green and several other colors, the object moved up and down like a helicopter and sped around too fast for an airplane, according to one officer’s radioed comments. Four telephone calls on the UFO were received at the Aberdeen police station and three police cars carried on a discussion of the object on the police radio.”
• Organized with the help of the Cowlitz Prairie Grange, around 400 people attended the second annual “threshing bee held on the farm of Francis Borte, east of Toledo airport,” The Chronicle reported. “Steam whistles shrieked and engines popped and sputtered in an exhibition of old machinery by the Western Steam Fiends Association … Feature attraction was a demonstration of threshing oats with an oldtime separator powered by a steam engine. The steam engine is owned by Norman Nietzel of Olympia, who described it as a 16-48 horsepower Port Huron engine. It was built in 1909. Gene Frase of Route 2, Onalaska, also displayed an ancient wheezer. It was a 14 horsepower Russell engine, built about 1909. It powered a belt-driven saw which cut cordwood.” While the Cowlitz Prairie Grange Threshing Bee continued to be held for decades, it ended in 2020 after the property owners of the location where it used to be held did not renew the lease with the Cowlitz Prairie Grange for the land. However, in 2023, grange members and Cowlitz River Two-Cylinder Club members were contacted by Ethel resident Ken Olsen, who offered his land for use to keep the traditional festival going, now known as Olsen Field Progress Days. The third annual Olsen Field Progress Days was just held this past weekend in Ethel once again featuring vintage tractors and more. Photos and videos, including of Mossyrock resident Jim Harry’s 1928 Rumely oil-pull tractor and Woodland resident Fred Schultz’s 1906 Case steam-powered tractor, can be found on The Chronicle’s website at https://tinyurl.com/bdfvbmma.
• Approximately 3,000 people lined the shores of Mayfield Lake for the inaugural Mossyrock Lions Club Mayfield Lake Water Carnival as nearly 70 racing boats sped around the lake for races. “In addition, the Portland Water Ski Club presented a colorful and thrilling water show and two members of the Tacoma Skydivers plunged from about 7,000 feet into the cool water.”
• A four-bedroom home on two acres of irrigated land with a small barn in Centralia was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $21,500. A three-bedroom home with a garden in Centralia was listed for rent for $85 a month.
Saturday, Aug. 30, 1975
• Onalaska residents Randy Kempf, 15, and Don Letteer, 17, were both recovering after a "bizarre shooting” where they were both shot the day before at a residence east of Onalaska, The Chronicle reported. According to Lewis County Undersheriff Don Barnes, the boys had gone to the house at around 8 p.m. to ask about renting it, after they had already been at the residence earlier that day attempting to look at it. “Apparently the youths did not think anyone was at home at the time, Barnes said, and they began looking around the buildings at the residence. When the youths attempted to enter the house, Kempf was shot in the shoulder and a few minutes later Letteer was shot in the lower leg. Barnes said the man who owned the house is believed to be responsible for the shootings but declined to name him … A search is underway for the suspect.”
• A new office for hunters to check in and out of in Packwood was being set up, according to Lewis County Sheriff William Wiester, The Chronicle reported. It was being set up by members of the Packwood Lions Club and White Pass Citizens Band Radio Club for hunters entering the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. “Purpose of the signup system, Wiester noted, is to make it easier to locate hunters, should they become lost and fail to check out, or should it become necessary to take emergency messages to those in the woods. The information booth, Wiester said, will be located in Harold Blanton’s real estate office, across the White Pass Highway from Bob’s Trading Post in downtown Packwood … Hunters may list their names, the area in which they plan to hunt and other pertinent data.”
• A three-bedroom home with a small barn, fruit trees, large garden and attached garage on five acres of land on Newaukum Hill was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $34,900. A three-bedroom home in Centralia was listed for rent for $175 a month.
