PIONEER PORTRAITS

Fifteen Years Ago

July 29, 2010

Dayton – When it comes to enjoying his work, Dain Henderson knows what he's doing. The 18-year-old Waitsburg resident who will be attending Dayton High School as a senior this fall knew he had his senior project coming up. So, he put his mind to planning and found a way to combine his favorite pastime with his project – helping organize the annual Young Life golf tournament at the Touchet Valley Golf Course in Dayton. Henderson, who has been golfing with the high school team since his freshman year, has gone to state three times with his moves on the course. And he's participated with the Dayton Young Life program, a nondenominational, international Christian outreach group, since he was in 8th grade.

Twenty-Five Years Ago

July 27, 2000

Buildings in downtown Waitsburg, churches, and other structures are now becoming home to a flock of feral pigeons, which have been "evicted" from the former Gagnon Appliance building at 120 Main as it undergoes a complete renovation to house a bakery. The "flying rats" have been seen roosting on the former I.O.O.F. Building (now Palouse), the First Presbyterian Church, City Hall, and the Masonic Hall. Workers removed truckloads of pigeon waste from the building, according to Michaelle Huxoll, who hopes to have The Flour Mill Baker in operation by September. With no easily accessible, minimum-disturbance place to nest, pigeons have moved to other buildings with roosting sites.

Fifty Years Ago

July 31, 1975

[Photo caption] This was the remains of a combine which caught fire on the Jim Stonecipher ranch last Monday evening. Due to prompt action by neighbors and the Waitsburg and Dixie Fire Departments, no grain was lost. Local harvest has been delayed by unseasonable rains, a gigantic area-wide dust storm Monday evening, and generally cooler than usual weather.

Seventy-Five Years Ago

August 4, 1950

With wheat harvest reaching a peak this week, many of the warehouses in the Inland Empire are reaching the bursting point, due to a shortage of box cars.

Outstanding swimmers at the meet last Saturday at Dayton were Glen Vogt, Bruce Brunton, Randy Culley, Joy Johnson, Judy Donley, Patsy Stevens, Ron Milligan, Rollie LeVasseur, Mike Snyder, Victor Langdon, Jerry Todt, Patsy Stedman, Carolyn Egli, and Leenore Blize.

Mr. and Mrs. Andy Weir and son Peter have rented the Conkey cabin at Kooskooskie for a vacation of several weeks. Mr. Weir teaches at Newport.

One Hundred Years Ago

August 7, 1925

George McClure and family, and Dr. H. A. Mount and family left Tuesday to go into camp in the Umatilla Forest Reserve near Godman Springs.

Mrs. Lyman Lakin entertained about 40 friends and neighbors at the Lakin home on West 6th Street Saturday afternoon, the occasion being her birthday.

On the Clyde Brown ranch, farmed by A. W. Wisdom, one sack of Ridit wheat sown last fall over one and one-quarter acres made 21 sacks of grain, weighing 140 pounds to the sack.

One Hundred Twenty-Five Years Ago

August 10, 1900

O. B. Smith and Milan Smith, a few days ago, received a very fine hammerless shotgun which they obtained from the American Tobacco Co. in exchange for 3,000 Star tobacco tags which they had collected.

The new residence that J. H. Cox is building for himself on East Main Street is fast assuming handsome proportions. The framework is now about complete. It has a brick foundation is two stories high. The building will cost between $1,000 and $1,500.

Al Breeze arrived in this city Tuesday afternoon from Irvington, Ill after spending the winter and spring at his old home.