Pomeroy Pioneer Portraits

Ten Years Ago

March 16, 2011

Four Garfield County “stars” honored at the Pomeroy Chamber of Commerce banquet were Meyers Hardware, Business of the Year; Larry Bunch, Citizen of the Year; and Rev. Howard Neal and Jerrie Koller, Lifetime Achievement awards.

All proceeds from the Spinners’ annual St. Patrick’s Broomstick Pool Tournament will benefit the renovation projects at Maple Hall.

Twenty-Five Years Ago

March 20, 1996

Angie Gates was named Pomeroy’s Junior Miss for 1996-97 at last Saturday’s program.

Several roads on the Pomeroy Ranger District of the Umatilla National Forest remained closed because of flood damage, and drivers who ignore barriers across these roads risk prosecution.

Garfield County Hospital District’s second request for a $495,000 five-year bond for capital improvements of the hospital building will be put before voters next week. Most of the project work would be mechanical and not visible to those in the facility.

Fifty Years Ago

March 18, 1971

Sam Feider and Andy Herres were named to the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin 1971 Southeast “A” Conference All-star basketball team.

Those who heard the high school band and glee club performance agreed that not only does Pomeroy have fine sports teams, but also a fine team of musicians.

Garfield county’s 1970 population was classified as 100 percent rural. There were 985 households with 2,910 persons, including 217 one-person households.

Seventy-Five Years Ago

March 14, 1946

Pomeroy Dairy Products is installing in its main refrigeration room a blower type cooling system that will eliminate the coil pipes entirely. Not only is this the newer way of lower the temperature to a desired degree, the coiled pipes are removed from the refrigerator box, thus adding more storage space.

Known far and wide for delectable goodness, the annual St. Patrick chicken dinner served by the ladies of the Holy Rosary Altar Society has come to be an institution with almost infinite varieties of menu and quality. This year’s dinner will be served on St. Patrick’s Day at Maple Hall, followed by a program featuring students of both the parochial and public schools.

Large attendance is anticipated at the annual St. Patrick dance Saturday evening at Maple hall.

Wilbur Gingerich, Bob Koller, Rodney Kimble and Phillip Crawford will represent the Pomeroy Pirates at the district boxing tournament championship in Clarkston.

One Hundred Years Ago

March 19, 1921

When George Kuhn was driving his big caterpillar across the bridge on Seventh street, Tuesday, the structure gave way and the machine with its many tons of weight crashed to the bottom of the channel, a drop of ten to twelve feet. The machine is what is known as the 75 model, and is one of the largest in operation. A remarkable feat was performed following the accident when the driver pulled the machine up the steep bank out of the creek channel, by its own power. The bridge was practically new, having been built about two years ago. Mr. Kuhn was only slightly hurt, although the peril was great, according to witnesses of the accident.

Following collapse of the Seventh street bridge, the city council made arrangements to provide a ford for heavy vehicles at Eighth street, where no bridge exists.

A pioneer home erected by L. Killam over forty years on Pataha street property, recently acquired by J.H. Henley, was placed on skids and moved to Armen Tupper’s lots in Wilson’s addition using Caterpillar tractors owned by George Kuhn and Arthur Day.

Surface graveling is now in progress to close the gap between Dodge siding and Delaney. Probably six weeks will be required to complete the work. The Meadow Gulch bridge will be built during the spring or early summer months. Preparations are going forward to gravel the road east of town.

One Hundred Twenty-Five Years Ago

March 14, 1896

Marshal Sherrill wishes to inform the people of this city that hereafter any swine found running at large will be promptly impounded.

The little baby of J.A. Guinn became choked on what they supposed was a tack, and was hurriedly taken to a physician in Pomeroy who could not locate the obstacle though the child was suffering greatly. The parents returned home with scarcely a hope of their darling’s recovery, when to their great joy, on the following day, the little one succeeded in raising the cause of its suffering, which proved, as the parents suspected, a brass-headed tack which had become loosened from one of their chairs.

There were two young men went hunting on Deadman Creek the other day, and the game they killed fell near A.A. Whitmore’s place. Mr. W. ate thereof and said it was good, and he would like to see the boys go hunting again.

About sixty coyotes have been killed by Pataha Flat farmers since last fall. This will surely give our chicken roosts quite a rest this summer.

The unexpected cold snap caught a great many house plants unprotected, including a geranium which was five feet tall.

During the cold snap, mercury in Peola bobbed down to 10 below, and Eddie Fitzgerald lost a cow and three calves. James Bankson lost two head.

The cold spell didn’t exterminate the squirrels like we predicted it would. They seem to fatten on it, instead of dying.