In this installment of A Look Back in Time, the Friday, Aug. 9, 1935, edition of The Chronicle featured a story about fights breaking out between striking loggers and some trying to return to work at the Carlisle Lumber Company mill in Onalaska, where one unnamed striking employee was knocked out.
Miles L. Sprinkles, who had already been convicted of writing bad checks in Tacoma in 1946, was caught doing it once again in Morton according to the Tuesday, Aug. 9, 1955, edition of The Chronicle, and was sentenced to 30 days in the Lewis County Jail.
And in the Saturday, Aug. 9, 1975, edition of The Chronicle, it was reported both federal and state officials were concerned about the possibility of a Mount Baker volcanic eruption after steam vents were observed from the Sherman Crater near its summit.
A Look Back in Time is compiled using Chronicle archives at the Lewis County Historical Museum along with digital archives on newspapers.com.
Friday, Aug. 9, 1935
• After reopening earlier in the week following a two-month shutdown due to a labor strike, Onalaska’s Carlisle Lumber Company mill was forced to open late after a fight broke out between loggers still striking and loggers who showed up to work, The Chronicle reported. According to Lewis County Sheriff John Blankenship, he, along with a half-dozen other deputies and a Washington State Patrol trooper, used tear gas to finally restore order. Fighting began when workers started showing up and involved “scuffing and sporadic outbursts of fist-fighting between the strike pickets and men who reported for work … One picket, whose name was not learned, was knocked unconscious when struck on the head. His injuries were not believed to have been serious.”
• Construction had begun on the first wading pool in Tenino City Park as a part of the city’s new recreational program, The Chronicle reported. “The pool will form part of a playground to be equipped at the west end of the park. The Lady Eagles initiated and sponsored the project, with the cooperation of other civic organizations. The pool will be 10 by 20 feet in dimension with a depth varying from a foot to 18 inches.”
• Miners working for Morton’s Roy Mining Company hadn’t struck gold, but they had struck mercury, The Chronicle reported. “Jim Taylor, manager, reports they have struck a rich vein of cinnabar, 300 feet in the shaft. About two feet of the vein is high grade retort ore. Cinnabar (mercury sulfide) ore is valuable for its quicksilver content.”
• The U.S. Post Office in Knab had closed after serving the small community for 52 years with Margaret E. Layton and her mother, Delilah Schultz, acting its last “official postmistresses,” The Chronicle reported. “Today there is no longer any Knab post office, as it was closed the first of the month by the post office department … From 1883, when the office was named in honor of (John Donas) J.D. Knab, Mrs. Schultz was postmistress until 1901, when her daughter Mrs. Layton was appointed and served until the present time. The community is located on Layton Prairie, five miles east of Toledo toward the Mount St. Helens district.”
• “Waterfront tracks seven miles north of Olympia” of unspecified acreage with road access, utility hookups and “choice beach” were listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for “$125 to $250 per lot, $10 down and $10 per month.”
Thursday, Aug. 9, 1945
• Salkum residents Eddie DeGross, Chris Fisher, Kendall Edgar and M. Mullens received “painful but not serious injuries” on Tuesday after DeGross’ truck left the National Park Highway a mile east of Mary’s Corner and flipped over in the ensuing wreck, The Chronicle reported. “The accident occurred at 5:30 p.m. Two of the men were riding in the rear of the truck and two in the seat. Three ambulances were summoned to take them to the St. Helens Hospital. DeGross suffered an injured back, and Fisher and Edgar each received broken ribs. All four were suffering from bruises and shock.”
• A recent burst of “misty” weather had helped reduce wildfire danger in the southwest part of Lewis County after a recent flurry of fires had been sparked according to Fire District Warden Louis Panush, The Chronicle reported. “One serious fire remained of the approximately 50 which were set in both green timber and logged-off land Monday during a thunderstorm. Some of the fires had burned themselves out, and between 30 and 40 remained, Panush said.” The remaining serious fire was near Ryderwood where the fire had burned over 1,000 acres, “principally in slashing and old burn country. Battling the blaze are about 80 Long-Bell loggers and 250 soldiers from Fort Lewis.”
• The Chronicle featured an Associated Press story with some of the first accounts of the destruction unleashed upon Hiroshima three days earlier, when the first atomic bomb was dropped on the southern Japanese city and nuclear power unveiled to the world. According to Radio Tokyo announcers, “seared and crushed bodies ‘too numerous to be counted,’ … litter atomic-devastated Hiroshima, one-time military and industrial city of 343,000. They were seared beyond recognition by the blinding heat of the atomic blast, or crushed by falling buildings. ‘Most of the town has been completely destroyed … The impact of the bomb was so terrific,’ Radio Tokyo said, ‘that practically all living things, human and animal, were literally seared to death by the tremendous heat and pressure engendered by the blast.’” Despite being 10 miles away from the point where they dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, the crew of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress “Enola Gay” still felt the blast shockwaves and even with protective glasses, were temporarily blinded by the atomic flash. “Most of the men in the B-29 piloted by Colonel Paul W. Tibbets Jr., of Miami, Florida, had no idea they were introducing the most terrible weapon the world has known.” It was also on Aug. 9, 1945, that the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.
• A “semi-modern” four-bedroom furnished home with a wood shed and garage on two corner lots on Hunt Street in Centralia was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $1,500.
Tuesday, Aug. 9, 1955
• Miles L. Sprinkles, who had previously been caught writing fake checks in Tacoma in 1946, was sentenced to 30 days in the Lewis County Jail after writing a fraudulent $10 check to Morton auto dealer Reg Lester, The Chronicle reported. “When apprehended, Sprinkles admitted to writing several bogus checks in Morton totalling more than $100, (Lewis County) Sheriff Earl Hilton said.” For his fraudulent checks in Tacoma, which were for $800 and $900, Sprinkles was sentenced to 15 years in prison but got out on parole after the first year. “In 1949 he was arrested on a grand larceny charge in Okanogan County involving a gun theft and served three more years at Walla Walla. Sprinkles has been sent back twice since then on parole violations, Hilton said.”
• Toledo brothers Ira and Vance Inman, 21 and 22, were still locked up in the Toledo Jail and facing additional fines after someone slipped a crowbar to them inside the jail and they damaged property attempting to escape, The Chronicle reported. After being arrested on charges of drunk and disorderly conduct and resisting arrest on Saturday night, the crowbar ended up in their jail cell and their ensuing escape attempt “resulted in a door being torn off its hinges and a wash basin damaged.” On top of the $75 fine for being drunk in public and resisting arrest, Ira and Vance were ordered to pay $22.50 to cover the damages from their escape attempt and also charged with destruction of city property.
• The Morton Police Department was once again looking for a new chief after Chief Clarence Otto resigned on Monday, just over a month after taking the helm of the police department. According to Morton Mayor Elmer Jastad, he accepted Otto’s resignation “after a discussion with him regarding personal difficulties in the office. Otto, a former Tacoma detective for the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, came to Morton in July replacing former Chief Carl Webb … Jastad said Tuesday morning that Morton would operate without a police chief temporarily until a suitable replacement could be appointed to the office. Sheriff Earl Hilton offered, and Jastad said he accepted, the help and services of sheriff’s officers in policing the Morton area until the town secures a qualified person for the chief’s post.”
• A “spacious” four-bedroom home on 70 acres of land with access to two creeks, a new barn and an orchard three miles from Chehalis was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $9,500. A one-bedroom “furnished” home in Centralia was listed for rent for $50 a month.
Monday, Aug. 9, 1965
• Bartel’s Clothing and Shoes, founded in 1922 by Howard Bartel in Chehalis, was preparing to reopen after moving into a new location in downtown Chehalis’ Boistfort Plaza, The Chronicle reported. “It is Bartel’s men’s store, whose owners, R.A. “Sy” Sylvester and W.E. “Bill” Fahey, have brought the metropolitan look in men’s clothing stores to Chehalis. Sylvester and Fahey have moved their clothing firm across the street into larger quarters that have been completely remodeled on the inside and outside. For practical purposes, the former Saindon Building is a brand new building. There is no outward trace of the former design.”
• Centralia residents finished celebrating the Hub City’s Diamond Jubilee, celebrating the 75th anniversary of the city’s incorporation, The Chronicle reported. “The five-day (event), marked by excellent weather, started Wednesday when Washington Gov. Dan Evans was a special guest. After that followed a variety of colorful activities, entertainment and just funful horseplay. The formal ending was where it should be, before the 110-year-old Fort Borst Blockhouse, now marking completion of a two-year restoration and renovation project.” Sandra Pigman, 18, was the queen for the celebration. “Sandra, who was sponsored by the Yard Birds Shopping Center, won on the basis of button sales.”
• Fifty-five people participated in the Glenoma Garden Club’s “Show Me” trip, where Gifford Pinchot National Forest Randle District rangers Harold Coates and Bruce Smith led attendees on a driven tour of East Lewis County. “A car caravan left the Randle ranger station and made a tour of the Woods Creek area and Iron Creek campground. Five stops were made with the rangers explaining planting, spraying, clearing and reforestation work. The group ended its trip at the Tower Rock campground, where a picnic lunch was served. The hostess club furnished the hot dishes, rolls and coffee. The visiting clubs of Morton, Mineral, Kosmos, Mossyrock, Illahee and Randle furnished the salads and desserts.” Following lunch, the group visited and toured the Job Corps camp on the Cispus River.
• The Chronicle featured an Associated Press story about residents of Nagasaki, Japan, holding a prayer ceremony to honor those killed on the 20th anniversary of the dropping of the second atomic bomb during World War II. “The bells of the Buddhist temples and Christian churches tolled and sirens wailed at 11:02 a.m., the time the second of America’s wartime nuclear weapons exploded over Nagasaki and killed an estimated 75,000 persons. … Eighteen-thousand persons crowded into Nagasaki’s Peace Park to hear a message from (Japanese) Prime Minister Eisaku Sato. He promised that Japan, as the only nation to suffer the ravages of the bomb, would redouble its efforts to get a worldwide ban of nuclear weapons.”
• A “liveable” home with two barns, an outbuilding, Chehalis River bottom land, creeks and slough areas for “private duck hunting” on 111 acres of land near Onalaska was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $22,500. A one-bedroom “partly furnished” home in Centralia was listed for rent for $40 a month.
Saturday, Aug. 9, 1975
• The U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Geological Survey and University of Washington scientists were closely monitoring Mount Baker for potential volcanic activity after steam vents were observed from the Sherman Crater, just southwest of the volcano’s summit, The Chronicle reported. “State governmental agencies such as the Department of Ecology (and) Fish and Game, also have their eyes on the mountain and a hand in collecting data. Should the crater ‘let loose’ with another steam eruption or other volcanic activity, sending a mudflow into the drainage area below the crater, the result could well be damage to properties managed and regulated by these agencies.” Baker Lake and many of the campgrounds surrounding Mount Baker were temporarily closed to the public amid the eruption threat.
• A new one-day attendance record had been set at the Southwest Washington Fair on Friday, with 27,290 people going through the gates during the day, The Chronicle reported. “Fair manager Tony Wildhaber, elated with the upturn in attendance after an attendance slump Thursday, attributed the expanded crowds to improved weather Friday and the attraction of a Friday evening grandstand performance by country-western music star Jeannie C. Riley. ‘The ones that stayed away Thursday came out Friday, plus a few more,’ Wildhaber said.” Total attendance for the first four days of the fair was at 91,527, on pace to beat the six-day attendance record of 126,508 set in 1974.
• Cartoon illustrator Errol McCarthy was featured in a Chronicle profile article. “Errol McCarthy is, expectedly, a humorous, creative individual. He is surprisingly modest regarding both his talent and continued success as a free-lance cartoonist.” Errol and his wife had recently moved to Centralia to escape the “rat race” of California, and ended up settling at Offut Lake. McCarthy’s resume included being a Los Angeles Art Center graduate who worked for the aerospace manufacturer McDonald Douglas Corporation making illustrations for its publications department. He was also hired by multiple publishing houses, including the Werner Publishing Corporation as its art director. “At the time he began cartooning, McCarthy claims it was an art frowned upon by most illustrators. The wave of nostalgia which brought cartoons back into widespread popularity has helped dispel such conception and place cartoonists in their rightful limelight as artists.” While he only started drawing cartoons on the side, McCarthy was now doing it full-time for the national publications CARtoons, Hot Rod Cartoons and Apple Pie — a National Lampoon competitor. “His cartoons are drawn in a caricatured, comic book style accompanied by incisive, satiric dialogue.”
• A “super deluxe 2,640 square-foot luxurious home” with “one of the finer barns in the county” and views of Lake Mayfield, Klickitat Prairie and Mount Rainier on 10 acres of land near Mossyrock was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $62,500. A two-bedroom home in Pe Ell was listed for rent for $125 a month.
•••
Chronicle reporter Owen Sexton can be reached via email at owen@chronline.com.
