World gone by
Published 1:30 am Friday, March 20, 2026
85 YEARS AGO
March 17, 1941
Grays Harbor PUD commissioners took under advisement today petitions asking extension of power lines to Tokeland and a sharp cut in the rates charged Harbor school districts.
More than 100 residents of Tokeland asked the commissioners to extend power southward along the beaches this summer.
School officials of Ocosta, Moclips, Cosmopolis and Wishkah valley asked the commissioners to change the schools from the municipal to the residential rate, thereby cutting their power costs more than half.
Robert W. Beck, PUD manager, estimated all schools in the district now pay about $850 a month to the PUD. The change requested would cut this to about $250 a month.
March 18, 1941
The tug Arthur Foss, working for the Allman-Hubble company, Hoquiam, left for Astoria today to tow the disabled steam schooner Esther Johnson to San Francisco. The coaster lost her rudder on the Grays Harbor bar last week and was towed to Astoria.
Captain V.A. “Vince” Miller will be skipper of the Arthur Foss and expects to take five days on the way to San Francisco. The job is expected to be “tough” in that the Esther Johnson has no rudder and will be difficult to keep in line. However, to make the ship tow easier, 40 fathoms of anchor chain will be trailed over her stern to act as a drag.
March 19, 1941
John Burgess, 36, employee of the Polson Logging company camp 4 was killed instantly this morning when struck by a flying hemlock sapling. He was a choker setter.
Burgess had been employed at the camp since March 1. Before that he was employed by the Bloedel-Donovan company.
Oyehut residents are up in arms over the conflicting claims of Ocean City and Copalis that the state clam reserve area belongs to them.
“We’re not letting either Ocean City or Copalis ‘muscle in’ because the reserve is at Oyehut, and don’t let anyone tell you differently,” an Oyehut resident said today. “It always has been known as the ‘Oyehut clam reserve.’”
Old timers said Oyehut, an old Indian village, is older than either Ocean City or Copalis and entitled to the reserve on the basis of seniority rights, too.
March 20, 1941
• The public was invited today to take at look at the “innards” of the Grand Coulee dam on Saturday.
Frank A. Banks, reclamation bureau engineer in charge of the construction, issued the invitation in connection with the ceremonies Saturday noon which will mark the first transmission of power from the huge $126,000,000 dam, man’s largest engineering structure.
Banks urged visitors to “wear warm clothing and walking shoes.”
Hoquiam advanced in the consolation round of the Washington state high school basketball tournament today in Seattle.
Hot where it was cold yesterday, Hoquiam walked away from Walla Walla, 46 to 31.
Hoquiam started its substitutes, including Harry Tokas who finished the game with 13 points for scoring honors. After the first few minutes, Walla Walla never threatened, and at the half, Hoquiam had a 26-14 lead.
The “highest quality car in the lowest price field” — the Studebaker Champion — is available at Picco Motors in Montesano, Harbor Motors in Aberdeen and Arris Motor Co. in South Bend for $695.
March 21, 1941
The Hormel Men and Girls are still at work in Aberdeen, Hoquiam, Cosmopolis, Montesano and Elma, paying crisp new $1 and $2 bills for people’s qualified answers to our question of “How do you like Spam and Hormel’s Chili Con Carne?”
Mrs. Arthur Manley of Aberdeen Avenue in Hoquiam was under the machine at the beauty parlor when a Hormel man invaded that sanctuary and asked her “the question.” She had her Spam key and Hormel chili label handy and collected her $2 bill.
60 YEARS AGO
March 17, 1966
The Gemini 8 astronauts were riding a violently tumbling spacecraft during a hair-raising 30 minutes in space Wednesday, tape-recorded conversations with the astronauts revealed today.
“We have serious problems here. We’re tumbling end over end,” command pilot Neil Armstrong told a tracking ship as he emerged from a communication blackout over the Western Pacific Ocean.
Minutes later, Armstrong said he had switched to an emergency control system because he was unable to do anything with his main engines.
Shortly thereafter Armstrong reported the Gemini 8 spacecraft was starting to stabilize. He followed this with: “Relax. Everything’s OK.”
March 18, 1966
John Wilson, Northern Division scoring champion and floor leader of the division champion Aberdeen Bobcats, is one of the two unanimous choices for the 1966 All-Northern Division quintet selected by ballot among The World, Daily Olympian, Centralia Chronicle and Longview News.
Joining Wilson in receiving unanimous acclaim was his counterpart with the Centralia Tigers, Wes Peterson.
Harborite athletes dominated the second unit, with Aberdeen’s Jim Richardson and Walt Failor named along with Bill Quigg, the 6-6 Hoquiam workhorse.
March 19, 1966
Aberdeen school district lunches this week: Monday — Macaroni and cheese, buttered green beans, peanut better sandwich, peach pie, milk; Tuesday — Wiener winks, Spanish rice, orange wedges, cookie, milk; Wednesday — Chili, hot rolls and butter, cabbage slaw, fruit cup, milk; Thursday — Hamburger gravy, mashed potatoes, buttered green beans, fruit Bavarian, milk; Friday — Tomato rice soup, tuna fish sandwich, celery sticks, cinnamon rolls, milk.
March 21, 1966
The Aberdeen Eagles Lodge, 200 W. Market St, was the victim this morning of a burglary and apparent willful vandalism.
Virtually every locked door in the Eagles building was forced, according to Aberdeen Police, but the main office safe was not entered although a number of tools were found scattered around it when police entered the room. A jukebox in the cocktail lounge was forced open and a locked refrigerator upstairs was also pried open.
Police say that entry was gained by coming across the roof of the Quick Print Co., 224 W. Market and drilling a hole in the upstairs exit door and lifting a lock bar.
35 YEARS AGO
March 17, 1991
You don’t have to tell Tom Quigg and Dave and Patty Woodland that opportunity only knocks once.
When Quigg announced in late February that he planned to open an Aberdeen real estate office affiliated with Windermere Real Estate Co. of Seattle, Patty Woodland didn’t waste any time. “Tom, we have to talk,” she said.
In the space of a weekend, the Woodlands agreed to sell their business to Quigg,
Quigg will be the owner, David Woodland will be the broker, while Patty Woodland, Barbara Johnson and Brenda Richardson join Quigg as sales agents. Rita Frey will continue as secretary-receptionist.
March 18, 1991
Waiters and waitresses are up in arms over legislation that could cut their basic pay to $2.12 per hour if employers can prove workers would make the minimum wage after their tips are added.
“That would really devastate my people,” said Letha Johnson, business agent for Local 791 of the Culinary Alliance & Bartenders union, which represents about 300 restaurant workers around Grays Harbor. “If this legislation goes through, I’m not kidding you, there are a lot of waitresses who will quit working and go on welfare,” Johnson said.
Gordy Massoth, owner of the Smoke Shop Cafe in Aberdeen, says the tip credit might save him some money, but the morale problems it would cause would be bad business in the long run.” To me it’s a holdup,” he said, ” … it would be unfair to our employees. I don’t think I’ve have an employee in the house if I did it.”
March 19, 1991
Lt. Jay Scott Finlayson, 37, of the Utah State University Police Department in Logan, is Hoquiam’s new police chief.
Mayor Phyllis Shrauger called Finlayson “personable and knowledgeable” and “very, very qualified” from a field of “excellent candidates.”
The new chief will be on the job April 8 and will earn a monthly salary of $3,735.
March 20, 1991
The call to “Cast off!” will sound Saturday in Aberdeen as the tall ship Lady Washington sets sail on a 100-day voyage to Puget Sound and Vancouver Island.
By the end of the voyage, the Lady Washington will have stopped in 28 ports and have offered a full slate of day tours and night charters. Overnighters between ports are also being offered.
A good number of trips are already booked solid reported Capt. Les Bolton, including trips arranged through schools, Scouts, parks departments and chambers of commerce in various cities.
One of the highlights of the trip will be the rendezvous with the Spanish vessel Juan Sebastian El Cano near Sooke, B.C., off Vancouver Island. The second largest sail training ship in the world, the El Cano is 376 feet on deck and carries a crew of 300. That’s more than triple the size of the Lady Washington which is sailing with the captain and a crew of six.
March 21, 1991
Randy Hancock, who coached Aberdeen High School to its greatest single basketball moment, has resigned his post as the Bobcats’ mentor.
Hancock, 42, submitted his resignation to the Aberdeen school administration yesterday. He had coached the Bobcat varsity for 11 years. Prior to that, he was the C squad coach for six seasons.
In 1982, his second year in the head job, the Bobcats won the state AA championship, the lone state cage crown in Aberdeen’s long and proud history.
Flag in hand, 9-year-old Kyle Pauley escorted Airman 1st Class Jon Smith into the Wishkah Valley School cafeteria last night as some 40 residents of the valley warmly welcomed the 1989 Wishkah graduate home from the Persian Gulf. Smith was overwhelmed by the surprise party.
He had served with the 354th Tactical Fighter Wing in Saudi Arabia since August. Al and Juanita Smith of Wishkah are his parents.
Compiled from the archives of The Daily World by Karen Barkstrom, Editorial Assistant at The Daily World. You can contact her at karen.barkstrom@thedailyworld.com or call her at 360-537-3925.
