Pomeroy Pioneer Portraits

Ten Years Ago

January 16, 2013

Local youth pastor Ian Quarles and his wife Candice are organizing Garfield County Christian Youth Program (GCCYP), a program for youth 6th to 12th grade. The couple has been organizing and implementing this program over the last several months with the goal of assisting the various ministries that exist in Garfield Countym.

Pomeroy School District board took a tour of the junior-senior high school building renovation project during last week Wednesday's monthly meeting, part of the process for final project approval.

Twenty-Five Years Ago

January 21, 1998

After 27 years of "many happy memories," Dr. Shirley Richardson closed her practice in Pomeroy at the end of 1997. She brushed off inquiry about the difficult times encountered by a solo physician like herself in a small rural community. "You take the good with the bad," the even-tempered doctor said with a smile. Though her efforts to have a physician come to Pomeroy and take over her practice haven't borne fruit, Dr. Shirley said she is "still hoping someone will come and take it over." She said the presence of Pomeroy Medical Clinic, a Rural Health Clinic developed by the district in previously retired Dr. R.J. Weiland's old offices, made her feel "freer about leaving." Dr. Shirley plans to keep her house-office on Columbia and 8th streets and turn it back into a home.

Courtney Koller, a Pomeroy Junior High School eighth grader, won the school-level competition of the National Geography Bee.

Fifty Years Ago

January 18, 1973

Barge transportation on the Snake River above Lower Granite Dam is expected to begin during the high-water period this spring, but the carrier planning to operate the barges is worried about the Lower Granite contractors' bridge east of the Granite site. George H. Shaver, executive vice president of Shaver Transportation Co. of Portland, said his firm plans to honor its commitment to Nez Perce Roller Mills, Lewiston, to haul grain downstream by barge before slackwater navigation arrives, but he said "That bridge really has us worried." He said the current flows diagonally through the span. If the current should swing a barge sideways, it would crash into the bridge piers.

Garfield County Sheriff's Department has set up a program under which a dispatcher will be on duty, if possible, whenever a sheriff or state patrol vehicle is patrolling Garfield County, Sheriff Russell Pierce said this week. Mrs. Jean Koller has been hired to work part time to implement the program, and Deputy George Rowden will also be a regular dispatcher.

Seventy-Five Years Ago

January 22, 1948

Virgil B. Bennington, a member of the Washington State Game Commission, of Walla Walla, told members of the Kiwanis Club that the fish hatchery authorized to be built on the Tucannon four years ago, will be constructed when it is possible to purchase Jack Russell's spring on the Tucannon. The game department has made Russell an offer for his property but so far has not decided to sell. Until he does there is not a sufficient flow of water on the Tucannon to operate a fish hatchery. Bennington gave high praise to C.A. McCabe and William J. Houser, who did much to further wild game life in this area under the old county method of control prior to 1933. Bennington remarked with emphasis that he regarded Mr. McCabe as one of the ablest authorities on game life in the entire United States.

Numerous country homes in Garfield County served by the REA have been without electric service since Saturday, while others have had service intermittently because frost is collecting on the company's main feeder wires.

One Hundred Years Ago

January 20, 1922

Brick work on the fine Methodist Church edifice at the corner of Columbia and Fourth streets, to be constructed at a cost of approximately $25,000, will begin as soon as the danger of freezing is over, according to the church official board. The structure, for which the excavating and foundation work have already been completed, will be 91 feet in length and 33 feet wide at the narrowest point, with a 49-foot extreme width. The plans and specifications show a building modern in every detail of architecture, arrangement and equipment.

To the Editor: Now that the holiday rush is over, it would undoubtedly be very helpful to a considerable number of your readers who are still holding the 1918 issue of war savings stamps, which matured and were made payable on the first of this year, to make them understand that after the 15th of January the treasury savings certificates will have to be dated the date on which they are actually issued, and the owner would therefore lose the interest otherwise gained if such exchange was made any time during the first fifteen days of January. -Theodore Hardee, District Director.

One Hundred Twenty-Five Years Ago

January 22, 1898

A couple of Covello young bloods had a regular old-fashioned street brawl the other night after church, and by the time they had got warmed up, Justice Gordon mixed with them and brought them up for trial. They were fined $10 each and costs. Their friends responded promptly and paid their fines.

There is comfort in the knowledge so often expressed, that Dr. Kilmer's Swamp-Root, the great kidney remedy, fulfills every wish in relieving pain in the back, kidneys, liver, bladder and every part of the urinary passages. The mild and extraordinary effect of Swamp-Root is soon realized. It stands the highest for its wonderful cures of the most distressing cases. You may have a sample bottle and pamphlet, both sent free by mail. Mention East Washingtonian and send your address to Dr. Kilmer & Co., Binghamton, N.Y.